In this episode I’m talking with Harm-Jan Langelaar. Harm is an English teacher and coordinator of his school’s bilingual programme in Sassenheim, The Netherlands. In addition he’s a marker for the IBDP English A course.

We discuss: 

• The best text he’s ever read, studied or taught and why
• An Introduction to his career to date and current position at Rijnlands Lyceum.
• Harm’s approach to balancing canonised writers with new or Dutch voices in the IBDP curriculum
• The specific challenges Rijnlands students face in English and how the English department combats this
• The part technology plays in delivering the English curriculum at Harm’s school
• Harm’s work/life balance and how living in Sassenheim or The Netherlands affects this?
• And finally, recommendations for resources teachers can use to improve.

Thanks again to Harm for giving up a portion of his Summer, very early in the morning, to chat with me about education in The Netherlands and the IB more broadly. 

If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you usually get them and/or give me a follow on Twitter @chrisjordanhk if you’d like to be kept abreast of this kind of education chat. 

Links: 

Fiela’s Child by Dalene Matthee

Dutch writers: 

Harry Mulisch 

Tim Krabbe

Marga Minco

Herman Koch

Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer 

Lesson Up - Create your own online lessons, add interactive elements to your lessons like polls, clickable hotspots, mind maps and many more

Test Correct - a Dutch, independent specialist in digital testing and CO-Learning, founded by teachers, for teachers. 

InThinking  - IB English course support

Brad Philpot - IB English course support