The Dutch Play came highly recommended. Older students who had taken part in the years before said it was as great way to improve Dutch speaking skills, especially for a beginner like me, as I only picked up Dutch in my second year. At first, I was really quite unsure. Surely my Dutch was nowhere near good enough to participate in a whole Dutch play? I could not have been more wrong!
There I went, together with my classmates Lizzie and Em, off to the first get together. And despite all the different levels of Dutch, we were welcomed completely and immediately! We soon felt right at home with everyone else and my worries of not being good enough disappeared entirely.
Collaborative project
The following weeks were utter chaos in the best way possible. The Dutch play is a very collaborative project. We create it together and there is always space for everyone to try things out and to add ideas. And as the number of rehearsals increased, so did my confidence in speaking Dutch. We even spoke Dutch outside the theatre!
Looking back, I can only conclude it was a wonderful experience. It felt so amazing once the play was done, but I also felt really sad that it was over. I missed spending time with everyone in the rehearsals. We really had become a small family. The Dutch play was so unbelievably helpful in improving my Dutch and my speaking confidence. I could not recommend it enough to all students of Dutch, but especially to those new to the language, just like me!
Lily Thacker
