» Dutch course outlines

The Cactus Course Outlines provide a learning framework for the Cactus Foreign Language Evening Courses. They are designed to provide you with a good idea of what you might cover during the course and include typical themes, vocabulary fields, grammar, cultural content and skills work for the language and the level. The Outlines are flexible rather than prescriptive, in that our teachers always plan their lessons with the specific abilities, aims and interests of the students in their classes in mind.

• Dutch Beginner 1
• Dutch Beginner 2
• Dutch Beginner 3
• Dutch Elementary 1
• Dutch Elementary 2
• Dutch Elementary 3
• Dutch Intermediate 1
• Dutch Intermediate 2
• Dutch Intermediate 3
• Dutch Upper Intermediate
• Dutch Advanced
• Dutch Proficiency

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Introductions- incl. greetings, nationalities, names of different European countries, reasons for studying Dutch
• Dutch alphabet
• Asking ‘how are you’? (Formal and informal addressing)
• Introducing somebody else
• Counting
• Getting familiar with telephone conversations
• Personal details (address, postcode, telephone number, date of birth)
• Describing people (character, appearance)
• Giving an opinion (likes & dislikes)
• Talking about family and friends
• Time (clock), days

Grammar:

• Personal pronouns
• Possessive pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Present tense (regular and irregular verbs)
• Negations
• Some prepositions
• Some interrogative pronouns
• Word order in main and question sentences
• Definite and indefinite articles
• Using the adjectives
• Adverbs
• Plural nouns
• Use of ‘er’

Cultural content:

• Geography
• Formal and informal language
• Cycling

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/(inter) active practice
• Spelling
• Lots of listening (dialogues)
• Pronunciation
• Exercises and Language-Learning activities, such as role-plays

Topics & Vocabulary:

Review & practise Beginners 1 vocabulary (e.g. through dialogue creation, exercises and explanation where needed)

• Daily life
• Home activities
• Describing daily routine and weekend activities
• Common feelings; having an argument
• Talking about your daily routine in the past; biography
• Professions; job advertisements, talking about work
• Making compliments

Grammar:

• Review & practice Beginners 1 grammar
• Separable verbs
• Reflexive verbs
• Modal verbs
• Reflexive pronouns
• Adverbs (frequency)
• Use of ‘er’
• Perfect tense, participial
• professions gender (male/female form)
• Irregular verbs

Cultural content:

• Food Culture
• Famous Dutch artists
• Dutch landscapes

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/(inter) active practice
• Spelling
• Lots of listening (Dutch/Flemish pop music, dialogues)
• Pronunciation
• Exercises and Language-Learning activities, such as role-plays

Topics & Vocabulary:

Review & practise Beginners 2 vocabulary (e.g. through dialogue creation, exercises and explanation where needed)

• Eating & Drinking
• Making suggestions
• Ordering and paying in a café or restaurant
• Orientation; giving directions, asking the way
• Leisure Time

Grammar:

• Review & practice Beginners 2 grammar
• Diminutives
• Prepositions
• Adverbs (direction)
• Indirect questions
• The imperative
• The ordinal
• Conjunction, combining sentences (word order)

Cultural content:

• Money
• Dutch versus Flemish food culture
• Tourism in the Netherlands
• Sport

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/(inter) active practice- dialogues, presentations
• Spelling
• Lots of listening (Dutch/Flemish pop music, dialogues)
• Pronunciation
• Exercises and Language-Learning activities, such as role-plays

Topics & Vocabulary:

Review & practise Beginners 3 vocabulary (e.g. through dialogue creation, exercises and explanation where needed)

• Home; weekend activities, interior
• Making an appointment
• Describing something (making comparisons)
• Talking about future events
• Talking about past events
• The weather, months, seasons
• Expressing a general agreement
• Talking about holidays

Grammar:

• Revisiting the previous levels’ grammar
• Future tense
• The imperfect (simple past) (regular and irregular)
• The comparative
• Use of ‘er’

Cultural content:

• The way of living in the Netherlands
• Ice skating
• National feasts: Queen’s day and Sinterklaas

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/(inter) active practice- dialogues, presentations
• Writing practice- personal stories
• Lots of listening (Dutch/Flemish pop music, dialogues)
• Pronunciation
• Exercises and Language-Learning activities, such as role-plays

Topics & Vocabulary:

Review & practise Elementary 1 vocabulary (e.g. through dialogue creation, exercises and explanation where needed)

• Eating & Drinking
• Dutch recipes
• Buying goods and clothing
• The body
• Asking for the price
• Expressing personal likes and dislikes
• Asking and giving information

Grammar:

• Review & practice Elementary 1
• Relative pronouns
• Superlatives
• Some/any
• Ordinal numbers
• Word order direct object and indirect object
• Diminutives –etje and –pje

Cultural content:

• Food culture
• Dutch mentality
• Grocery shopping in the Netherlands

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/(inter) active practice- dialogues, presentations
• Writing practice- personal stories, reviews, etc.
• Lots of listening (Dutch/Flemish pop music, dialogues)
• Pronunciation
• Exercises and Language-Learning activities, such as role-plays

Topics & Vocabulary:

Review & practise Elementary 2 vocabulary (e.g. through dialogue creation, exercises and explanation where needed)

• Holidays
• Newspapers & Magazines
• Health/illness
• Asking for information on the phone (holiday bookings)
• Nationalities
• Telling a story
• Expressing personal likes & dislikes

Grammar:

• Review & practice Elementary 2
• The conditional
• The passive voice
• Conjunctions omdat and want

Cultural content:

• Geography
• Medical care
• Ethnic minorities in the Netherlands

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/(inter) active practice- dialogues, presentations
• Writing practice- personal stories, reviews, etc.
• Lots of listening (Dutch/Flemish pop music, dialogues)
• Pronunciation
• Exercises and Language-Learning activities, such as role-plays

Topics & Vocabulary:

Review & practise Elementary 3 vocabulary (e.g. through dialogue creation, exercises and explanation where needed)

• Introductions- incl. small talk; personal information
• Talking about personal interests
• Leisure Time & Holidays
• Inviting and accepting invitations
• The world of work; writing cover letters
• Describing people and situations

Grammar:

• Revisiting the previous levels’ grammar
• The indirect question; inversion
• Modal verbs
• Relative pronouns
• Suffixes
• Adverbs

Cultural content:

• Dutch literature
• Dutch family games
• Dutch labour force

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/(inter) active practice- dialogues, presentations
• Writing practice- letters, reviews, adverts and short articles etc.
• Lots of listening (Dutch/Flemish pop music, dialogues)
• Pronunciation
• Exercises and Language-Learning activities, such as role-plays

Topics & Vocabulary:

Review & practise Intermediate 1 vocabulary (e.g. through dialogue creation, exercises and explanation where needed)

• Living; houses
• Expressing your opinion and point of view; asking for clarifications
• Complaints
• Politics
• Debating
• Culture; stereotypes; multicultural society
• Describing information

Grammar:

• Review & practice Intermediate 1
• Use of verbs + infinitive, double infinitives
• Subordination
• Adjectives
• Comparatives & superlatives
• Synonyms

Cultural content:

• Famous Dutch buildings
• Dutch Politics
• Multiculturalism

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/(inter) active practice- dialogues, monologues
• Writing letters, reviews, adverts and short articles etc.
• Lots of listening (Dutch/Flemish pop music, dialogues)
• Pronunciation
• Exercises and Language-Learning activities, such as role-plays

Topics & Vocabulary:

Review & practise Intermediate 2 vocabulary (e.g. through dialogue creation, exercises and explanation where needed)

• Media; the computer
• Asking for advice
• Giving your opinion and arguments
• The society; nursery, family
• Writing a plan; formulating opinions
• Studying & School
• Talking about your education
• Landscape and living environment
• Describing the panorama and environment

Grammar:

• Review & practice Intermediate 2
• Conjunctions
• Use of ‘er’
• Use of plural
• Imperfect
• Word order of prepositions

Cultural content:

• Dutch magazines and newspapers
• Education
• Geography

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/(inter) active practice- dialogues, monologues
• Writing letters, reviews, adverts and short articles etc.
• Lots of listening (Dutch/Flemish pop music, dialogues)
• Pronunciation
• Exercises and Language-Learning activities, such as role-plays

Topics & Vocabulary:

Review & practise Intermediate 3 vocabulary (e.g. through dialogue creation, exercises and explanation where needed)

• Primarily topics of students' choice
• Expressing expectations, doubts, and hopes
• Talking about social, religious and political issues
• Talking about changes in your life
• Giving instructions
• Analyzing and evaluating newspapers articles
• Relating an extraordinary event
• Cultural differences in perception and expression
• Discussing topical news of the day

Grammar:

• Choice of grammar topics according to students' needs
• Review of past grammar

Cultural content:

• Literature and film - extracts
• Personal experiences

Skills Work:

• Focus on speaking
• C.V. writing
• Writing practice – e.g. short stories, reviews and comments, advertisements
• Plenty of listening activities – authentic sources, e.g. Radio, TV, films and CDs
• Analyzing and evaluating newspapers articles
• Summarizing interviews, biographies
• Carrying out an interview

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Primarily topics of students' choice

Grammar:

• Choice of grammar topics according to students' needs

Cultural content:

• Literature and film – extracts
• Personal experiences

Skills Work:

• Focus on speaking
• Writing practice – e.g. short stories, reviews and comments, advertisements
• Plenty of listening activities – authentic sources, e.g. Radio, TV, films and CDs
• Analyzing and evaluating newspapers articles
• Summarizing interviews, biographies

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Primarily topics of students' choice

Grammar:

• Choice of grammar topics according to students' needs

Cultural content:

• Literature and film – extracts
• Personal experiences

Skills Work:

• Focus on speaking
• Writing practice – e.g. essays on an Academic level, reviews and comments, advertisements
• Plenty of listening activities – authentic sources, e.g. Radio, TV, films and CDs
• Analyzing and evaluating newspapers articles
• Summarizing interviews, biographies