The municipality of Rotterdam has approximately 97,000 inhabitants with an insufficient command of the Dutch language and this prevents them from fully participating in Dutch society. In practice, the standard language programmes fail to reach these Rotterdam inhabitants. After completing a language course, part of them moreover need a further course focusing on the day-to-day usage of the Dutch language.
Taal Dichtbij! is a low-threshold, community-based, language programme and the main factor of success is that the courses take situations from the participants' daily lives. Voluntary organisations, general and sports clubs as well as self-help organisations form an important pivot within this project because they are low-threshold and far-reaching. These organisations bring in the participants and facilitate the courses.
A Taal Dichtbij! course comprises 24 weeks. The participants take 2.5-hour classes three times a week.
The lessons are given by professional teachers in Dutch as a foreign language. They are supported by volunteers with a sufficient proficiency of Dutch reading and writing, have experience with the target group, and have an affinity with teaching. The lessons are low-threshold because they are given in the local community. Initially Taal Dichtbij! was a pilot aiming at parents and child carers in the 7 districts of the programme Kwaliteitssprong op Zuid (Quality Leap in the South).
Besides learning the Dutch language, participating in society is also central to the course. This can be achieved by a more active involvement in the school of the children or by contributing more actively in the neighbourhood, etc.
During the courses, parents are made aware of the importance of parental involvement in the school and the impact of their own "language behaviour" on that of their children. For instance, parents are encouraged to read to their children at home. They can do this in Dutch, but certainly also in their own language. The basic principle is that the children grow up in a language-rich environment. This has a positive influence on the Dutch language acquisition of the children.
