Our Teachers

Johanna

Dutch is my native language 🇳🇱 and I have been teaching it for several years. What I love most is seeing the transformation when students realize, “I can actually say this in Dutch!” ✨ Stepping into a new culture and language can be exciting but also overwhelming, so I aim to create a friendly, supportive space where students feel safe to make mistakes and grow. My lessons focus on speaking 🗣️, interactive exercises ✍️, and a touch of Dutch culture 🎡—because language is not only about grammar and vocabulary but also about connecting, sharing stories, and building new experiences together.

Outside of teaching, I enjoy yoga 🧘, traveling 🌍, and going on long walks with my dog Koda 🐕—who reminds me daily that patience and joy are key in every journey.

Roderick

I began teaching Dutch to adults in early 2016, shortly after my wife and I moved back to Amsterdam from Brazil 🌎, where we taught English. In October 2018 we moved to a small town, Zevenaar, near the German border: my American wife and I, our two daughters 👨👩👧👧, and now a handful of pets as well 🐾. My approach is to make the language a part of your daily life as quickly as possible, and to have fun doing so 😄. I will be honoured to guide you during your journey of mastering the Dutch language.

What sets my experience and background apart from other teachers is that I have been an expat myself on several occasions (having lived in Colombia and Brazil). Also, being married to an American woman, I am acutely aware of most of the challenges people moving to the Netherlands may face. This has resulted in a high level of understanding 🤝 of my clients' experiences and positions, which has certainly added a valuable angle on more than one occasion, and sparked many a clarifying, meaningful, and also enjoyable conversation during lessons 💬.

Serra

I still jokingly call my husband my “roommate” ❤️—we live together with our other housemate, our cat Büdü 🐈. Dutch entered my life about 12 years ago through him, and that first spark grew into a full journey: today, I’m a Dutch–English and Dutch–Turkish translator 🌐 and a final-year psychology student at Utrecht University 🎓, studying in Dutch. Because I learned the language from zero myself, I know exactly how it feels to struggle with grammar, to freeze in conversations, and to wonder if fluency will ever come. The steps, tools, and little breakthroughs that helped me are the same ones I share with my students.

My lessons are practical and supportive 🤗, with a strong focus on speaking 🗣️, real-life tasks 📝, and strategies that make Dutch part of your everyday routine. I want to teach you the exact foundation 🪴 that helped me go from beginner to studying psychology in Dutch. For me, teaching isn’t only about rules—it’s about confidence, connection, and consistency. If I could reach the point of studying psychology in Dutch, you can absolutely reach your goals too. I’d love to walk that path with you and share the journey together 🚀.

Diane

Dutch is my native language 🇳🇱, and I’ve been teaching it with great joy for the past three years at different schools. I am half Iranian and grew up closely connected to Iranian culture and language. As a second-generation immigrant who has also lived in three countries outside the Netherlands 🌍, I understand the challenges of starting a new life here. It isn’t always easy, and language can be a powerful tool to help you navigate daily life with more ease.

As a half-Dutch person, I also love gossiping about Dutch culture 🧀 and having a good laugh about it. In my teaching, I find it important to practice a lot of speaking 🗣️, to not be afraid of making mistakes, and to show examples of how language is a personal thing. You don’t need to fit into one single way of speaking or “being Dutch”—whatever that means! Our differences are what make society truly beautiful 🌈.

While I love teaching Dutch, my main profession is as a performance artist 🎭. I work in theatres and galleries, where I perform, direct, and compose my own pieces. My work is very physical and sound-based, and rarely uses language. The themes I explore often deal with the absurdity of everyday life and the violence of socialization, interests that come from my academic background in sociology 📚.