Integrated Language

Piet, Dutch nationality, studied general linguistics at Leyden University, Netherlands. From 1983 till May 2017 he has been teaching Dutch as a second language at Delft University of Technology to students and university employees from outside the Netherlands, as well as to business people. He is a co-author of several text books in the series “The Delft Method”, a method well known in and outside the Netherlands for its unconventional approach of language learning, briefly characterized as a natural way of language learning, “learning by doing”. The text books of he series are used in university and commercial language institutes in as well as outside the Netherlands.

He performed research in order to improve learning materials , focusing on the effectiveness of language exercises, and contributed tot he development of online materials. He assisted at developing Dutch language courses in other institutions. He valued very much supervising teacher trainees and instructed teachers of language institutes on teaching with the “Delft Method”. Currently he contributes to new learning materials, advises teachers in workshops on The Delft Method and provides language training to students.

In his classes, chiefly devoted to speaking, students are challenged to use the language experience while having a normal conversation with each other and the teacher. He is tolerant towards errors initially, overcoming the communication barrier being the main initial goal. Grammatical and lexical correctness and fluency will improve while speaking with and listening to others. Of course feedback will frequently be given. Students will experience from day one: it works.