Reviews

Juliano Burke

I come from Brazil and wanted to learn Dutch for my studies. As I already have a job I needed someone who was flexible for me. Marielle is not just flexible, she understands my culture and language which helps me to understand the Dutch language quicker and better. I thought that speaking Dutch would be very scary, but she made me feel at ease trying it. And pretty soon I was not afraid anymore to talk in Dutch. Sometimes she comes by to my work just to see how I am doing. It is really appreciated.

Juliana Bessa – owner of CNA Jardinópolis (Brazil)

For one semester Mariëlle was an English teacher at our school. After completing the first term teaching a beginners’ course, her students were transferred to another class. Their new teacher was very surprised to notice that they were much more advanced than was to be expected after one term. She even requested Mariëlle to teach her class one lesson so that she could observe her methods.

Magda Miedzianowska

Mariëlle is a very dedicated and passionate tutor. She wants us to learn, and to do it effectively. She is flexible and accommodating to the students’ needs, but at the same time she is assertive in passing the message: students need to spend some time practicing, otherwise effort is slowed down. Mariëlle is running her school very professionally with clear way of arranging lessons and having all the administration in order. That also gives the nice feeling of being taken seriously as a student. Mariëlle puts a lot of effort to prepare the lessons and make them interesting - which is for sure not so easy if you start learning a language as an adult, so it cannot be too much of a “game”.  

Fouad Raja & Nour Tamin

In 2015 I came to the Netherlands as a refugee. One of the places I stayed for a while was Haarlem. That’s where I met Mariëlle. She was the first Dutch teacher who convinced me to learn Dutch. Not only because of the language, but also as a way to be understood and respected in the Netherlands. When my wife Nour arrived she also wanted to learn the language. In Mariëlle we had and have a tutor who is always willing to help us with Dutch. She is amazing: she speaks slowly when necessary. She double checks to make sure that we understand her. And she made us feel confident and safe enough to make mistakes, because she showed us that that’s how you learn. In short, she is an terrific teacher.

Inanc Koroglu

I started to take Dutch lessons from Marielle in February. After a couple of weeks, my 2 kids (7 and 10 years old) started to take school support lessons from Marielle as well. We are all very happy with Marielle and enjoy the time that we spend with her. I especially like her way of teaching and style. She really knows what to do and how to do it. She doesn’t use old fashioned teaching methods. In a very short period, I see a very good improvement on myself in terms of speaking and understanding. 

Anneleise Smillie

Marielle is an outstanding teacher! Both my son and I have been having individual lessons on zoom for over a year and we can highly recommend Marielle to anyone looking to improve their Dutch language skills and build their confidence. I am British and when we moved to Holland from Hong Kong just over 18 months ago my son spoke limited Dutch but absolutely refused to have extra lessons! I "persuaded" him to try 6 sessions with Marielle and after the very first lesson with her all his resistance fell away! He really enjoyed the sessions and in addition to building his language skills Marielle provided a really important source of support and a safe space to ask questions and talk in more detail about life in Holland, as well as checking in about school tasks like his spreekbeurt and boek bespreken. I am very grateful to have found Marielle as her help has made an enormous difference for my son during his last year and a half of basisschool and the lead up to the all important middelbare school advies! My own experience with Marielle has been equally positive - I am a pretty terrible student, often badly prepared, struggling with motivation and frustrated, however she has been so patient and accommodating and continues to encourage me to stick with it! The lessons are always enjoyable with a mixture of content that is personalised to my level and interests and I really appreciate the planning, as well as Marielle's sense of humour and care. Dank je wel Marielle!!