Age: 55+
Origins: Born in a tiny rural village in the Netherlands. Until we moved house at the age of 10 I spoke both standard Dutch (at home and in the classroom) and the local dialect (with my friends and in the school playground). I must have picked up the dialect in Kindergarten – didn’t get any formal tuition ;-). I was always very much aware of how different the 2 varieties of Dutch felt, as if I was a young girl with a split personality…! Despite my Dutch origins, I feel at home in the UK, especially in Wales.
Current roles: Freelance pronunciation coach at university language centres here in the NL, Cambridge English speaking examiner and driving force behind setting up my own (online) pronunciation coaching practice for Chinese PhDs.
Previous teaching experience: Business English (at colleges and in-company ), general English (primary and secondary school levels), academic English (speaking and writing) and music teaching (toddlers and their parents)
Other articles in the What’s your WHY? series (if you’d like to contribute, please get in touch!):
James Egerton (yours truly)
