Hallo iedereen, I’m Lena, a third year student of Dutch, French and Linguistics. This summer I was lucky enough to be one of the hundred students attending the Taalunie Dutch Summer School in the wonderful city of Ghent (Belgium) and to represent not only the University of Sheffield but also the UK!
This Dutch Summer School takes place every year in Flanders and is organised by the University of Ghent and the Taalunie, the organisation that promotes Dutch in the Netherlands, Flanders and Suriname, and champions the Dutch language around the world.
Yes, the Taalunie Summer School is two intensive weeks of language classes, group research projects and excursions, but time absolutely flew by and I enjoyed every second of it. You are so immersed in the Dutch language and it was a rare circumstance where Dutch was the lingua franca!
Pathways
There is a choice of four pathways and I chose Dutch Linguistics and Didactics as this was particularly relevant to my degree at Sheffield too! It was really interesting and I had the opportunity to:
- Create my own mini-research project and present my findings to the class
- Interview an expert linguist about her research and discuss linguistic theories
- Write an short academic blog
- Work with a Dutch corpus database
- Lead my own mini-lesson
These are things that I sometimes struggle to do in English let alone in another language, however the environment was so welcoming and the teachers were extremely supportive. They really ensure you make the most out of your time with them.
I can’t recommend this Summer School enough. The friends I made, the things I learnt and the confidence I built will stay with me (hopefully) forever.
Lena Bradley
Dual Modern Languages and Linguistics (Dutch, French)
Language and Culture
And that’s just the academic side of things, the programme you follow allows for cultural activities too. We had a Music Night for example where we sang well-known Dutch and Flemish songs, and we went on a trip to the Ghent Museum of Fine Art. The programme includes a day in Brussels with an activity of your choice. I chose the Royal Library of Belgium where we got to go behind the scenes and see how all their inventory is sorted, the history of the library and some of their oldest books! I had a very bookish time in general as both Brussels and Ghent have a whole range of amazing first and secondhand bookshops. I was very glad I left room in my suitcase as I brought back several books!
And Ghent is not just good for bookshops, the city is full of history and culture, from the Gravensteen to the Graffitistraat there is so much to see and do. Plus there was plenty of free time in the afternoons, evenings and weekends where we were able to explore the city, have beers on the Vrijdagmarkt and walk around the Plantentuin.
"Unmissable opportunity"
In short: the Taalunie Summer School is such an unmissable opportunity to practise your Dutch whilst also learning about your chosen pathway, the culture around you and gaining the confidence and people skills needed to excel in a language. I furthered my knowledge of everyone’s favourite word ‘er’, learnt about how we can incorporate multilingualism in the classroom and even wrote a – less complimentary – creative piece about public transport in the UK!
And finally: I met incredible people. The course is open to university students of Dutch from all over the world and I made friends with people from Slovakia to Indonesia, each with a unique perspective on learning Dutch. And how lovely it was to be in a place where I didn’t need to explain to everyone why I am learning Dutch, everyone had just as much love for the language as I did!
I can’t recommend this Summer School enough. The friends I made, the things I learnt and the confidence I built will stay with me (hopefully) forever. A huge thank you to the Taalunie, the University of Ghent and Dutch at Sheffield for allowing me such an unforgettable experience!
Each year, Sheffield is allocated a number of places on the Taalunie Zomerschool. Enrolment normally takes place in late January. In addition to the Taalunie Summer School, the Association for Low Countries Studies (ALCS) also organises a weeklong Dutch language and cultures event each summer at one of our UK institutions. In 2025 the ALCS Summer School is scheduled to take place in Sheffield in early July. Watch this space.