Ten, twenty, thirty. As a class, the six students recite the numbers written on the lesson board. It is for some to guess what is now. It takes some getting used to, naming all those numbers in Dutch. Nobody has a problem with the zero. Because that is exactly the same as in Ukrainian.
It is Tuesday evening at the Praktijkschool in Emmen. The young people of the day have given way to adults who want to learn. The Practical School then becomes the Evening School. People learn how to bake a loaf of bread. Or having to deal with a needle and thread. But also to learn the Dutch language.
The latter subject has now been by far the most popular for a month. What’s called, the Evening School has been practically overrun with Ukrainian refugees since September who want to master the Dutch language.
“In a month’s time we have had forty to fifty registrations,” says Wieb van der Leij of the Evening School. A number that is impossible to place. “We have five teachers, but we need double that amount, so we had to sell a lot of no.” There is now a waiting list with eighteen names.
That Evening School felt taken by surprise is putting it mildly. “We really thought: oh, what’s going on here?” Many students, such as Kateryna, count on having to stay in the Netherlands for a long time. In order to cope better, she decided to enroll in Evening School.
Van der Leij: “The Ukrainians enjoy a different status than other refugees. They are allowed to work here. The point is that language often forms a barrier in that case.” By mastering Dutch, they hope to find new or better work, says Van der Leij.
Just over a month ago, the Evening School, a collaboration between the Thrianta School, Pro Emmen (Practical School) and Renn4/De Atlas, held another information evening. “There were also four or five people from the Ukraine. I believe they did a lot of advertising.”
In the weeks that followed, it was stormy. When Evening School started seven years ago, there were regular Syrians in the language classes. “But that number was limited to ten to fifteen in total. This is unprecedented.”
The Evening School has now issued an appeal to supplement the teaching team (often former professionals). So far, that call has not yet resulted in a registration.