Teacher: Samantha

Dutch teacher

Learning Greek made me realise how valuable it is to know multiple languages and become familiar with other cultures. It has opened up a new world to me and I have gained invaluable friendships. This awareness inspired me to become a teacher. I want to pass on my affection for language learning to everyone in my classroom and, each lesson, I want to get the most out of my students by creating a friendly environment and showing sincere interest so we can work on this puzzle together. Through cooperative learning and interactive excersises I aim to motivate even the quiet students to talk. Cheering for you, give positive feedback and inspire to speak outside of the classroom from the start can be expected from my classes.

Brief CV

From a young age Samantha was interested in languages and their puzzling qualities. Pursuing her love of languages, she decided to study Modern Greek at the University of Amsterdam (2008) and later also Linguistics (2010). She obtained a bachelor’s degree in both (2012), but wanted to further explore the possibilities of putting linguistics into practice. A master in applied linguistics at the University of Utrecht followed, where she had the chance to expand her knowledge of Dutch as a second language. She graduated with honours and continued working at Utrecht University as a research assistant (2012-2016). It was during this time that she created the stable foundations for Kookoovaja which was established in 2014. Since then her aim is to connect teachers and students on social and professional level and offer a welcoming environment where learning and connecting are facilitated.

Reviews

Passionate and patient teacher!

Really great intro to Dutch with a passionate and patient teacher! – Liam

Interesting and productive learning experience

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Kookoovaja. Small classes and a variety of learning methods resulted in an interesting and productive
learning experience. – Kester

Excellent experience!

My experience with Kookoovaja has been excellent so far. Fun lessons that will definitely help you improve your Dutch language skills. Highly recommended! – Ilias

A fun, structured and innovative way to learn!

If you want to learn Dutch in a fun, structured and innovative way, this is the place to be! In a short amount of time I felt very comfortable with the language and the way of learning in Kookoovaja! – Christina

My Dutch has improved and my confidence also

Thank you Samantha for the wonderful semester class. I enjoyed our cosy, stimulating sessions. Thank you for supporting and encouraging us, and challenging us to learn a bit more each day. I definitely feel my Dutch has improved and my confidence also 🙂 – Yukari

Interesting course with really nice energy!

The energy during the class was really nice as well as the environment, making learning Dutch interesting and fun! – Nikos

Super fun and useful!

My beginner’s Dutch class at Kookoovaja was super fun and useful! I can now confidently order at a cafĂ© or shop at the market and make small talk with Dutch colleagues at work. Totally recommend it! – Eva

Learn while having fun

After the course, I am able to introduce myself and make my orders at bars or restaurants. I can initiate small conversations with the locals. It feels great to learn while having fun. – Sofia

A sense of community

This is my second course with Kookoovaja and it has been just as worthwhile as the first! It was nice to see most of my class companions from the previous block, because then there was a sense of community and speaking and learning became more easy-going. – Julia

I would definitely recommend it!

I am very happy that I’ve chosen to learn Dutch with Kookoovaja! I enjoyed the exercises, the grammar was very well structured and being exposed to Dutch conversations developed considerably my ability to follow the people around me. The teacher made learning a difficult language very fun and I could see progress shortly after I started the course. I would definitely recommend Kookoovaja! – Luiza