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flexible courses

ENGLISH & DUTCH

with a personal touch

We are specialised in English language courses for EXPATS, tailored to their needs and requirements.

Refine your skills to communicate effectively in English-speaking working and living environments worldwide. Book your Zoom online sessions with us! Wherever you are, we speak the same language. Our personal touch will encourage you to feel confident and at ease when you speak and write [international business] English.

CUSTOMER-BASED COURSES FOR PROFESSIONALS WHO WANT TO TAKE THEIR ENGLISH OR DUTCH TO A HIGHER LEVEL

what's in it for you?

Why would I go for AM Business English? What can they do for me? And how?

WE OFFER FLEXIBILITY

Lessons are taught on a one-on-one basis, or in small groups on request. We can offer you several options:

On location in the centre of the Netherlands (Hoevelaken)
In-company in The Netherlands
Distance learning via Zoom (world wide)
Via blended learning (distance combined with face to face).
Flexible schedules: not only during the day, but also in the evenings and weekends. We realise that many of you find it difficult to commit to a specific day or time every week. The lessons are in line with your level and prior knowledge, specifically tailored to your needs and circumstances.

WITH A PERSONAL TOUCH

We feel personally involved in your learning process and always try to find what works best for you to achieve your aims. We know how difficult it can be to participate and communicate in a (business) environment in which the language spoken is not your mother tongue. Many people feel reluctant to speak English or Dutch, because they are afraid of making mistakes. We are dedicated in helping you to overcome this and to expand your skills in English or Dutch as a second language, based on your needs. Thus you will improve your competences and gain confidence.

SMALL AND PERSONAL

We operate as a small team of experienced language teachers from Hoevelaken (near Amersfoort) in the Netherlands. Because the personal touch element is essential to our way of teaching, we do not intend to expand. We prefer to keep our business small and personal. This way we can keep our prices very reasonable.

OUR EXPERIENCE

In our experience the initial reason why most people come for lessons is because they feel (slightly) insecure at work. They feel that things would move more smoothly if they had a better command of English or Dutch. Therefore our first priority is usually to help them to overcome this and build up the confidence they need so that they feel more relaxed and at ease in their working environment. We are always surprised to see how little it takes to achieve this! Our students tell us how confident they feel after just a few lessons.

OUR VIEW ON LEARNING

You learn what you need: no fixed content, but flexible delivery of content (attuned to usability, your needs and requirements), based on your prior knowledge of English or Dutch. We don’t outline what you have to study, neither do we simply leave it up to you, but we discuss together with you what your needs are, what ways of learning suit you best and where your interests lie so that we can e.g. offer reading material that appeals to you. This is what we call “our personal touch” our “guided discovery mode” so to speak. So you as a student are in control of your learning, but we wholeheartedly help you along the way.

You learn in the way that works best for you: no “one size fits all”. We take learning modalities into account: (visual, auditory, kinesthetic). As a student you may prefer to read as many texts as possible, or you may prefer to watch videos, listen to particular podcasts, write emails or give presentations etc.

You learn at a pace that suits you best: we try to be as flexible as possible. As a student you may want to intensify your number of lessons because you need to hold a presentation in the near future, or you may need to postpone for a while because you need to go abroad on business or intend to go on holiday. Therefore we offer you the possibility to purchase a custom "punch card" for 10, 20 or more lessons. This way we can offer you additional discounts.

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SPECIALISED COURSES

focus on a particular area of communication in English or Dutch

A specialised AM Business English course helps you to improve your professional communication in English or Dutch for successful business interactions in exactly that area in which you don't have enough confidence to achieve your professional goals.

SPEAK ENGLISH PROFESSIONALLY:
In Person, Online and On the Phone

from October 2020

If you can speak English well enough in daily life, it does not mean that you participate with confidence in more profound conversations in your business environment. This course "Speak English Professionally" will improve your English speaking skills. If you need to give instructions, have to present a plan, have to join a conference call, you need to defend a project plan in a meeting, etc., in all these cases you learn to express and understand the key information, you learn to speak your English more smoothly, you can rely on a increased vocabulary.

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY SKILLS

from October 2020

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IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS
effective and diplomatic business mails, reports and articles

from October 2020

SCHRIJFVAARDIGHEID NEDERLANDS niveau 3F/4F

najaar 2020

Uit ervaring weten wij dat taalgebruikers voor wie het Nederlands niet de moedertaal is vooral worstelen met schriftelijke communicatie. Anders dan in gesproken Nederlands blijven taalfouten in schriftelijk taalgebruik langere tijd bestaan en worden ze vaak meermalen door anderen gezien.

Om die reden hebben wij de cursus Schrijfvaardigheid ontworpen. In deze cursus leer je gedetailleerde teksten te schrijven over onderwerpen van zakelijke aard.

Wij geven ruim aandacht aan puur talige aspecten:

taalverzorging (spelling, interpunctie, zinsstructuur, stijl)
hantering van verwijs- en verbindingswoorden
alinea-indeling (signaalwoorden)
variatie in woordgebruik, woordkeuze (connotaties)

Daarnaast is er ook grondige aandacht voor aspecten als:

informatieverwerving en -verwerking (hantering van bronnen)
logische samenhang (coherentie, oorzaak/gevolg relaties, hinderlijke zijsporen)
afstemming op doel en publiek (voorkennis, redundantie, taalniveau, leesgemak, diplomatiek en effectief taalgebruik, instruerend/informatief/ activerend/overtuigend schrijven )
argumentatie (formulering van de stelling, het voor en tegen van een bepaalde mening, de voor- en nadelen van een bepaalde keuze)
tekstopmaak (lay-out, witregels, marges, tussenkoppen)

Alle oefeningen en opdrachten zijn gericht op adequate zakelijke communicatie in de vorm van brieven en e-mails, rapporten, instructies en handleidingen, (pers)berichten.

See our PRICE LIST

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GENERAL COURSES

An AM Business English General Course helps you to master the English or Dutch language to a higher level, from basic user (level A2), to independent user (level B1 or B2) or even proficient user (level C1).

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(BUSINESS) ENGLISH TO NEXT LEVEL
A2 - B1

all year around - teacher: Michelle Meewezen

In this course we will help you to 'upgrade' from the A2-level to B1- level. We will intensively coach you in growing from a basic user (who communicates in simple words and short sentences and who just understands basic information) into an independent user of English (who has the necessary fluency to communicate without effort with native speakers).

If you add sufficient self-study time to a weekly 1:1 lesson of an hour, and if you immerse yourself as much as possible in English spoken environments (e.g. watching BBC, listening to English podcasts, reading English novels) this 'upgrade' to a next level will take 40 - 60 lessons. If your native language is not related to English (e.g. Spanish or Chinese) it could take longer to master the B1 level.

The most efficient way to do this study is by following 1:1 lessons an hour a week, via distance learning (Zoom) or face to face on location. You can start with a series of 10 lessons, then we can evaluate how to continue (every series of ten lessons next give you a higher reduction on the price of the course).

(BUSINESS) ENGLISH TO NEXT LEVEL
B1 - B2

all year around

This is a citation of your published piece. Write a brief description to give a snapshot of your work. Make sure to specify the medium for publishing, such as an academic journal, book, essay or magazine. If your work only appears on certain pages, include that information so it’s easier for your readers to find.

NEDERLANDS NT2

Niveau B1 of B2 - docent: Henk Aalberts

Deze cursus is in het bijzonder bestemd voor hoger opgeleide anderstaligen op A2 niveau, die de beheersing van het Nederlands op een volgend niveau willen brengen. Bijvoorbeeld omdat zij zich blijvend in Nederland willen vestigen en zich willen laten naturaliseren of omdat zij in Nederland een studie willen gaan volgen waarvoor niveau B1 (MBO) of B2 (HBO/universiteit) vereist is.

Het is beslist niet de bedoeling om de cursist via deze cursus "klaar te stomen" voor het afleggen van het Staatsexamen NT2 programma 1 of programma 2. Wij vermijden de valkuil van 'learning to the test', wij willen in de eerste plaats anderstaligen voorbereiden op een hoger en vertrouwder niveau van communiceren in het Nederlands, zowel in het werk als in de thuissituatie.

Maar als wij in de loop van de cursus merken dat de cursist in de buurt is of komt van het vereiste niveau voor het Staatsexamen, dan zullen wij de cursist hier natuurlijk wel op wijzen. En als hij of zij dan die stap wil nemen, bieden wij complete ondersteuning in de voorbereiding op het examen.

De cursus kan online of f2f op locatie worden gegeven (indien gewenst in combinatie: blended learning). Het meest effectief is een 1:1 les, maar begeleiding van een groepje van 2 of 3 cursisten is ook mogelijk. De cursus Nederlands NT2 is opdrachtgestuurd (zelfstudie buiten de les is nodig). Er kan gewerkt worden met ons eigen materiaal, maar voor cursisten die groepsgewijs studeren, hebben wij goede ervaringen met het leerboek Contact! van Intertaal (niet in de cursusprijs opgenomen).

ELEMENTARY DUTCH
for newly arrived expats

from level 0 tot level A1/A2 - teacher: Henk Aalberts

Too much on your hands to follow a regular Dutch course right now? Nevertheless would you like to be able to understand topics of personal interest, such as the message on the answering machine (when making a doctor’s appointment)? Or how day-care is organised for your toddler? Or how to read basic information when using public transport?

Then this is the course for you! In this course we set the priorities together. You can choose from any topics you like, for example finding accommodation, introducing yourself, “advertising jargon” such as “Op=Op”, “2 Halen 1 betalen”, how to ask the way (and understanding the answer!), how does the Dutch Museum Kaart” work. Etcetera.

Our aim is to teach you the necessary words to find your way around on your own. We encourage you to learn as many words as possible per week, but you set the pace.

We try to keep the course as practical as possible, only teaching you the basics of grammar to help you function on your own. As soon as you are able to make a distinction between verbs, nouns and adjectives et cetera it will be easier for you to read basic texts in Dutch.

We can gradually ease you into more aspects of Dutch grammar at your request and take it from there. If you would like to continue after the 10 lessons, we can build on the knowledge you have required.

see our PRICE LIST