After a life of traveling, working, and studying, Rikje became a teacher of Dutch as a second language. She has been teaching for a long time and does so with great pleasure and enthusiasm. She enjoys helping people feeling at home in the Netherlands, and she considers the language an indispensable tool for cracking the Dutch cultural code.
Rikje studied Chinese in China, Dutch in Amsterdam and she learned some Arabic from a Syrian resident of Amsterdam. As a result, it is not very difficult for her to understand the perspective of the foreign language student.
For Rikje it is important that the students have a good time in class. The atmosphere in the classroom is personal, gezellig and safe. Students often say that they gain a lot of confidence from Rikje’s lessons and that made it easier for them them to speak Dutch outside of class.