The Bottom/Oranjestad- Last week the Dutch Taalunie organised a Dutch as a Foreign Language (Nederlands als Vreemde Taal, hereafter referred to as NVT) workshop on St. Eustatius and subsequently on Saba. The participants were all teachers – primary and secondary education – who teach Dutch. The objective of the workshop was to identify questions and needs regarding nvt education.

The workshop was followed by class visits. Based on the findings from these visits and the input of the teachers during the workshops, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Taalunie will consider what is required for successful NVT-education on St. Eustatius and Saba.

As part of the transition to English as instruction language in education, proper consideration is given to the Dutch language, which has the status of ‘strong foreign language’. After all, the islands are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and annually a group of pupils set off to the European Netherlands for further education. The guiding principle of English as instruction language is that this transition should not be detriment to a good command of the Dutch language. NVT-material has been developed for the forms 5 through 8 of primary education and for the classes 1 and 2 of secondary education in the past three years in collaboration with the Taalunie, by order of the OCW.

On St. Eustatius a local work group is currently working the creation of NVT-material for the youngest pupils.