‘What kind of work do you do?’
It’s a standard question at parties.
My standard response is, ‘I teach Dutch to non-native speakers’.
‘Wat goed van je’ (how good of you), is the standard reaction I then get. This, accompanied with a compassionate expression and some encouraging nods.
These four little words assume a heap of things: that I do voluntary work, that I teach war refugees, and that, in short, this makes me a good person.
Whether I am a good person, I don't know. And whether that depends on whom I teach, even less so.
I teach whoever enters my Amsterdam class.
These may be labor or knowledge migrants, climate refugees, internationals who fell in love with a local, and yes, people who fled oppressive regimes and/or war.
Does this make me a less good person?
Because it earns me money (albeit very little)? Because people who are not arguably in a life-threatening situation also join my classes?
This mix is precisely what makes it precious. All kinds of worlds meet in my class. Diverse individuals who treat each other indiscriminately, without labels. They are, after all, on common unfamiliar ground.
Besides, if a job opportunity is your ticket out of an oppressive country, what is your label? Knowledge migrant, labor migrant, refugee?
Isn't it better to unite people rather than keeping them in isolated groups - knowledge migrants this way, refugees that way - creating a divide from society and one another?
In my classes I see friendships flourish between individuals who otherwise might never have met.
As Indian geopolitical expert Parag Khanna states in his book Move, the world is increasingly shaped by migration of all kinds - providing abundant opportunities, and not only for the ones migrating.
It is quite simple. Anyone relocating to Amsterdam from whatever background and wanting to learn my language to be part of this society, is welcome in my class.
Goed van mij? Well…
I teach NT2 (Dutch as a second language), mainly to internationals who came to Amsterdam for or with love and are here to stay. The conversations presented here were all held in Dutch. For privacy reasons the names are fictitious. Soon in the stores: my bilingual book Nederlands is zooo makkelijk | Dutch is sooo easy.
Migration lingo
De kennismigrant - knowledge migrant*
De arbeidsmigrant - labor migrant*
De vluchteling - refugee*
* Why not use the umbrella term migrant for all?
