If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Amsterdam

In a pleasant turn of events, something in my life has gone according to plan. I spent the summer getting certified to teach English as a second language, with the intention of teaching Business English. After a brief recovery period from the intensive certification course, I started my job hunt. I found a site on the internet that listed all the language schools in The Netherlands. After visiting school websites, I chose ten schools that seemed like a good fit. I emailed ten letters with my CV. One hour later, I had my first invitation to an interview. The next week I had an offer. The internet is a beautiful thing. This was the shortest job search I have ever conducted. I guess it just confirmed that I made the right decision.

Now I work for a talencentrum (language center) with schools in Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam. I have a general contract with the school and get additional contracts for every course that I agree to teach. Just about every week, I get a call from one of the coordinators asking about my availability to teach a course. The classes are usually 2-3 hours long, once a week, for 12-15 weeks. Sometimes I teach in classrooms at the school, but most of my classes are taught “in company”. This means that I teach in a conference room at the client’s location.

Teaching in company is the best of both worlds. I have access to corporate amenities like well-equipped conference rooms, canteens where a generous hot lunch can be had for 2 or 3 euros, coffee machines with cappuccino, frappacino, macchiato and more. I still have an excuse to wear my nice clothes and shoes with heels. I, however, am not stuck in a cubicle. I can come and go. In most cases, I leave my electronic key card with the receptionist on the way out.

Every day of the week, I am in a different place. I have to look in my appointment book just to figure out which train to take every morning. On Mondays I work in Rotterdam. I teach a class at a law firm, then I have an individual lesson with an Electrical Engineer from Turkey. On Tuesdays, I teach two classes at an international bank office in Amsterdam. On Wednesdays, I work in the Hague teaching an early morning class at a different international bank. Then I teach a group of HR professionals from a major oil company. On Thursdays, I am back in Rotterdam teaching a different group from a law firm. Then I have Dutch language school in the evening. On Fridays, I teach a mixed group (from different companies) at the school in Rotterdam.

Most of my students are Dutch, but I also teach students from Surinam, Aruba, Curacao, Venezuela, and Morocco. By next month, or the month after that, all of this will change. Then I will have new groups of students, from other companies and other countries. Since part of my job is to encourage my students to speak English, I learn new things from them every day. It’s a fantastic job…getting paid to have conversations with interesting and intelligent people.

Most of the English textbooks I work with use British English (yes, there is a difference). I frequently have to explain that I speak and write American English and use American slang and expressions. Most Dutch people have more exposure to the UK than the US. Often this leads to fun discussions about British versus American culture. Everyone is curious about Americans. The students want to know things like whether we all really watch Oprah and Dr. Phil and eat at Applebee’s. I was recently treated to a student interpretation of Americans talking on the telephone. It was too funny to even think about being offended!

I am also conducting intake interviews for a new group of classes. The interviews are scheduled one after the other. I have 15 minutes with each new student to evaluate their level of English and their work schedules so I can divide them into classes. I think some of the students are used to a Dutch person conducting these interviews. During an interview last week, a student asked me if I was pretending to be English. Of course I said, “I’m American. I never pretend to be English!”

Lynelle Barrett lives in The Netherlands, where most of the people speak English but there is always room for improvement. Check out photos of her adventures on her website at: http://lynelleinholland.spaces.live.com