Raj Sahu

I work for a Dutch company so having some understanding of Dutch is needed for my job. I've done a business Dutch course in the office - and that went well - but still when talking with colleagues, we just switch to English after a few minutes. It's very frustrating and it felt it was a seen as a bad mark against me. My colleagues who have Dutch partners and children feel much more comfortable speaking Dutch.
Then a colleague suggested I try these online very short courses to brush up one troublesome topic at a time. It's been very useful. As an analyst I like to identify a problem then solve it. These chapters do not waste my time but go directly to the point  so I can read them on the train on my tablet.  I sometimes repeat a chapter until it fully sinks in. It's been like a magic bullet for me, going directly to the places where I need help. Very useful. Thank you.

Raj Sahu, Rotterdam
February 2014

Elizabeth Acton-Bell

Love these short, sharp directed lessons. They do just what it says on the tin and fix things you feel unsure about in a short time. I took the courses just before taking my NT2 II as revision - and passed! I'm a happy bunny - thanks Jos!

Elizabeth Acton-Bell, Amsterdam

February 2014

Robert Manly

Targeted learning. Love it! These language 'sound-bites' are written in such a pleasant way that it's like having an old Dutch friend explain something to you. An excellent resource I recommend them all the time.

Robert Manly, Amsterdam (Canadian)
January 2014

Harriet Wannemaker

I'm very pleased to write a review of these  courses offered by Plezier in Taal. I just managed to impress my Dutch sister-in-law! Romberta had studied the 't kofschip rule at school but she had forgotten it ha ha ha :) I had just revised it here and could show off my knowledge! These language bites are very useful and affordable.

Harriet Wannemaker, Düsseldorf, Duitsland

januari 2014

Natiq Hason

Jos van Craaikamp is een deskundige cursusleider en ze heeft veel ervaring. Tijdens de cursus deelt zij haar kennis en visie met je! Je krijgt les in een ontspannen sfeer.
Haar ervaring en tips hebben mijn uitspraak verbeterd.
Ik heb een leuke, leerzame en interessante cursus van haar gehad. Het was een mix van oefeningen, adviezen en theorie. Hierdoor was er een goede afwisseling van theorie en praktijk. Mijn verwachtingen zijn in alle opzichten vervuld.

Natiq Hason, Gemeente Alphen a/d Rijn
juni 2012

Confidence to speak

Confidence to speak, grammar explained in a simple way

Learning Dutch with Jos was great fun and effective.  I had a significant learning curve in a very short time that was commented on by colleages and friends.
The lessons were interactive and comprehensive. She would clearly explain the grammar in a simple way that made learning easy. Best of all, she gave me the confidence to SPEAK! I am grateful for her patience, good humour and encouragement. Jos is a wonderful teacher and I have no hesitation in recommending her.

Natalka Abrat,
June 2012

Clarissa Köhnken

'I took Dutch classes with Jos via Skype and experienced this as a very efficient and flexible method. A business contact of mine had recommended Jos to me, and I was very satisfied with the quality of the language course. Jos is very competent and knows how to design the course according to the student’s specific needs. During the course, I did not only improve my Dutch language skills but also got very interesting insights into the Dutch culture, including valuable tips for Amsterdam. I can fully recommend Jos’ language courses!'

11 april 2011

Dadinha Selderbeek

Ik kom uit Portugal en woon al ruim 30 jaar in Nederland. Mijn Nederlands is op zich goed, maar er zijn sommige klanken die voor mij moeilijk blijven door mijn Portugese taal. Bijvoorbeeld klanken als “AU” en “TJE” (vooral woorden als HOUT zijn moeilijk uit te spreken) en nog een paar. De cursus Uitspraakverbetering met Jos werd mij aangeboden door Swets, wat ik met beide handen heb geaccepteerd.
Dit was het begin van een leerzame en mooie tijd met Jos. Ik keek elke week weer naar haar les uit. Ze is ontzettend goed professioneel, heeft zeeën van geduld en ideeën , voelt aan waar de meeste aandacht nodig is en werk intensief daaraan en op een ontspannende manier. Bovendien is ze vriendelijk en heeft ze humor.
Ik vind dat mijn moeilijke klanken aanzienlijk verbeterd zijn en dat de mensen mij minder vaak vragen: 'Wat zeg je?' Bijna dagelijks als ik woorden met de klanken die ik zo vaak met Jos heb geoefend spreek, denk ik met plezier aan haar.
Jos, ik wil je bedanken voor je geduld, een leerzame tijd en vriendelijkheid.

Guiomar Perez, legal contracts officer

Jos is an excellent Dutch teacher. Lessons are amusing and interesting. She motivates students and keeps good track of their progresses. She adapted her lessons to our company needs and services to help us to perform our tasks better.” February 20, 2008

Top qualities: great results , expert , good value

Guiomar Perez, legal contracts officer

Monica Velasco

Although I had lived in Holland for four years, my Dutch was not very good and people had trouble understanding me.
This undermined my confidence so that I spoke Dutch less and less. Then I met Jos and I think she is the best teacher I could have had. She saw exactly what I needed and was very patient with me. In short she is a real professional. She encouraged me and said when things were going well so that I soon started to get my confidence back. Really, Jos was so good at knowing exactly what I needed that her lessons became a very enjoyable part of my week. I learned so well with Jos that within one year I had passed my NT2.
I now speak almost faultless Dutch and have Jos to thank for that.

Caroline G.

Although I have lived in Holland for a while, I had found learning Dutch quite difficult. Dutch people like to speak English and quickly switch over to English as soon as they hear an accent. I could manage with the small amount of Dutch I had picked up, but, for my work – and for my social life, I really needed to improve my understanding and speaking skills. I just didn’t have the energy or application, after a day at work, to use self study books. Then through my work, I had the opportunity to take Dutch lessons and was lucky enough to get Jos as a teacher. I can honestly say I always looked forward to her lessons. Jos quickly identified the areas I needed to improve and we used books, DVD’s, word games and conversation to make areas like Dutch word order come more naturally. We had a lot of fun in her class but learnt all the time. Jos is one of those teachers you always remember; she loves the Dutch language and has real passion for teaching it. She takes pride in helping her students improve. I surprised myself by passing NT2 II Dutch exam after taking Dutch lessons with Jos.

and what other students say about their course

The goal for taking this course was to improve my fluency. This was achieved. I find Jos very easy to converse with. She is friendly and very open to discuss any topic. I was interested in her answer to my questions. This allowed me to feel confident in speaking Dutch.

Excellent teacher. I really enjoyed the different methods we used to learn, especially pronounciation, grammar. I would love to have further lessons with Jos. She is an exceptional teacher.

I am really very satisfied. I found it very pleasant having private lessons and Jos adjusted her teaching to fit my tempo. Having worked as a teacher myself, I admire her patience and how she smiled when I said something incorrectly for the tenth time! I’m only sorry I have finished my week long course with her.

Mrs Craaikamp is a very good and experienced teacher who is able to create a very relaxed but also very interesting athmosphere with excellent teaching results. I came to Amsterdam not able to read or write Dutch. Now I understand a lot, read books. My writing skills still need improvement, but are much better than expected. I enjoyed the course a lot, especially because of our excellent teacher. I feel after these 4 weeks up to cope in my daily and working life in the Netherlands. I enjoyed the course and the learning so much, that I will continue to study.

Jos  is very perceptive of the needs of different students, has  lots of insight, flexibility and humor. I could not have had a better individualized teacher – even if I had chosen her myself.

Professional approach, good coach, pleasant personnality. Sticks to her plan. Easy to laugh and connect with. Great patience. Encourages self-responsibilty, fair.

I expected to understand the medical and nursing terms used at the hospital and understand the process of admission/discharge of patients. I have learned more than I expected to. Jos’ presentation was excellent, involving all the students at a level which they understood.

I expected to feel more anxious going to class each day. Thankfully mw Craaikamp made us feel at ease from the first day. This rapport with the teacher gave me more confidence to speak Dutch. I expected to be embarrassed when I made mistakes, but mw Craaikamp was encouraging and correcting us in her pleasant way. Mw. Craaikamp recognized when our morale was low and adapted the schedule content to suit.

For only one week I got a lot of material that will help me very much to start practicing Dutch now. After a certain period of time I would like to have another course in order to further improve my Dutch. I have learnt more than I expected to.

Easy to realize that she did already a lot of these courses: heaps of experience. Mrs. van Craaikamp supplied me with very relevant material. She is very flexible. Glad I was here.

I want to extend my sincere grattitude towards Jos for her patience, skills, and positive energy. It made my learning much more fluid and pleasing. I enjoyed my week’s course with her and look forward to returning in the future.

The way Jos teaches made the lessons a very pleasant experience. Because she is sensitive to the level of interest and response shown by her students, and because of her pleasant character, a productive and pleasant learning environment was maintained at all times. The material and professional literature that the teacher selected was particularly well suited to learning grammar as well as to the specific interests of the group. Specifically ‘Langue française et agriculture tropicale’ in the second part of the course was very useful.

Jos has good didactic ideas. I always felt motivated. She could easily put herself in my shoes and the exercises were useful. She is professional through and through.

Mevrouw Van Craaikamp is an excellent teacher who is able to provide serious intervention with a liberal dose of ‘Amsterdam’ humor. She has a complete grasp of her teaching methods, and she communicates them clearly and effectively.

It was a fun class, with lots of real life examples. I particularly enjoyed not just using the textbook, but using other teaching methods as well. Overall, an excellent introduction to learning Dutch.  The teacher was very good. She was interesting and kept things varied. Good job!

I really enjoyed the course. Jos gives lots of positive energy. Thank you!!

I am very satisfied with this course. It was very interesting.

I really enjoyed this course. Jos was a wonderful teacher. I’m sad to see this course end. Thanks very much!

I found the course interesting and enjoyable. Mrs van Craaikamp is an excellent tutor. We worked at my pace – very fast tempo – which allowed me to gain maximum benefit and insight from the course.

Course, content and teacher were excellent. Jos made it fun to learn. I would definitely be interested in further lessons probably after three months or so of practice.

In my opinion, Mw. van Craaikamp has, in a short time, taught me a lot of French language.