Recommendations

Nico

"Last summer I joined the English Intensive Summer course that was taught by Heleen de Pater and Eli ten Lohuis. Before that I did a winter course English Conversation with Heleen de Pater.

I joined these courses because I felt the need to improve my knowledge of the English language after many years of living and working in the Spanish speaking countries of Latin America. So my school English had almost fallen away and I did not feel confident to speak and write in English.

Through the conversation lessons I got back the "English feeling" and I could again use the English from my intuition. Heleen was able to take away my scruples to express myself. And it helped me to find back the English vocabulary that still was somewhere in my mind.

Then I did the Intensive Summer Course. In two weeks we brushed up the important grammar rules and the correct use of expressions, phrasal verbs and others. This course was very important for me, not only because of the opportunity to learn fast, but also because of the international setting of our group. It gave me the opportunity to meet with nice and interesting people from Italy, Argentina, Nepal and the Netherlands. A great experience."

Alessia

"I have had the great pleasure of learning English with Heleen. She is an organised teacher who develops inspiring relationships with her students. Her ability to connect with them and her talent as a teacher are both really great. Heleen accomplishes all these tasks with a positive attitude."

Devaki

"I attended the Summer Intensive English course, which was provided by BplusC Language Center in Leiden. It was for two weeks. There were two English teachers for the course and one of them was Heleen.

I would like to recommend her as a very good English teacher. She always came to the class well prepared for any kind of questions that students might ask her and she was always happy to answer them. She clearly had a lot of experience in teaching beginners and both young and older age people. For example in my class there were six of us and three of us were young and from different countries and the rest were older, but all of us were enjoying the course because of the teacher. She had the right approach towards each student.

The another thing I would like to mention is that if there were any questions asked by students which she couldn't answer straightaway, she would come up with the answer that same day through the email if she didn't teach the next day. I would like to share with all of you that during the classes and even now I do not feel any hesitation to ask her for any kind of help such as writing some articles or essays or any kind of English work because she is so friendly, I can feel that she is one of my friends not just an English teacher. That is why I felt I could speak freely in the classes without any hesitation though my English was not very good.

I think I made quite a bit of progress in my English level during the course. I am very happy about it!

Finally, I would like to say that if she gives another intensive English course, I will be very happy to attend it."

Patricia

"I attended to an intensive summer course where Heleen was one of the teachers. During the classes, we had different activities, not only grammar tasks. For example, we made some role games, that made us break the ice and feel more confident about what we were learning. I've really enjoyed the classes and I've learned a lot! Heleen has always been ready to clear up our doubts. She is an excellent teacher and a wonderful person, who is always looking for helping her students to improve their English".