Lente – Spring! Learn Dutch on the go in the sun!

Oh, how I love spring! The sweet, fresh smell of flowers in the air. And the spring storms that blow all the blossoms of the trees at once. The smell of hope and new beginnings. Speaking of new beginnings and fresh air, have you started your Flowently Dutch lessons yet?

Now is the time to schedule a walk-and-talk session with your tutor. If you want to be completely immersed or blown away in the spring atmosphere, you may still have a chance to see the flowers in bloom in ‘het Bloesempark’ in Amstelveen. Run! With some luck, you might find the Van Gogh experience close to your home, on that little square just around the corner, in the playground, next to the café terrace perhaps?

Anyway, April doet wat hij wil! (April does what it wants!)

Is April too windy and unpredictable for you? Do you want to be exposed to the Dutch language but not to rain and snow storms? Read our tips for learning Dutch safely at home on your comfy couch.

2Doc.nl
Looking for relaxation and feel-good or for deepening and confrontational documentaries? Take a look at the new documentaries page and discover the best of 2Doc.nl. You can find here documentaries, both in English with Dutch subtitles, and, if you want to plunge in deeper, there are also many in Dutch. Some are very short.

NPOstart
Check out  the programmes of  NPOstart, the website for the national television channels. Some broadcasters, like VPRO, make beautiful programs and documentary series, while others might have a higher cringe level. But in either case here you can find the news (NOS Journaal), shows, series, documentaries and some movies, and you can almost always switch on the Dutch subtitles (ondertiteling), even when Dutch is already spoken.

NOS
And, last but not least, NOS (the national news broadcaster) has been experimenting lately with short weekly news overviews in easy language. This is not actually meant for NT2 learners, but rather for Dutch people who have difficulties with reading and/or writing. But it could still be worth a try, since the news items are subtitled and the information is a lot less dense than the “official” news.

And in case Spring is calling irresistibly, go and find your tutor here. You can also contact us for help finding a good match.

By Nathalie Ezendam Keller and Flowently