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0.0 - Perfect for total newcomers: Simple words and phrases, clear visuals and context.
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1 - Expert: The content is designed for fluent speakers, with niche terms and ideas that might not be known to all native speakers.
 Description: If I said “bicycles” or “tulips”,&nbsp;
where would you think of?&nbsp;
Today, I'm with my friend Alike&nbsp;&nbsp;
who's from Holland, and she's going to tell&nbsp;
us a lot about her part of the country.
Alike hello!
Hi Rachel!&nbsp;
Thanks for being with us today. First of&nbsp;
all, can you, can you tell me... should I&nbsp;&nbsp;
be saying “Holland”, or perhaps “The Netherlands”?
Yeah, I prefer you say “The Netherlands”, because&nbsp;&nbsp;
Holland is only the western part of our&nbsp;
country. It’s North Holland and South Holland,&nbsp;&nbsp;
North Holland and South... that's also where&nbsp;
Amsterdam is and the other parts... in total&nbsp;&nbsp;
it's “The Netherlands”... so it's in&nbsp;
fact better to say “The Netherlands”.&nbsp;
Okay. Is it as bad do you think,&nbsp;
as saying, um, “Are you English?”&nbsp;&nbsp;
to somebody who comes from Scotland? Because&nbsp;
that's a mistake that a lot of people&nbsp;&nbsp;
make when they come to the United Kingdom (!)
I think you can compare it&nbsp;&nbsp;
with something like that.
Some some people are quite sensitive to&nbsp;&nbsp;
that then... we have to be careful?
Yeah.&nbsp;
Okay. Okay now when I think of The Netherlands,&nbsp;
because I have been quite a long time ago, now&nbsp;&nbsp;
um, I went with my family, but I always think&nbsp;
of bicycles, tulips, windmills and clogs!&nbsp;
Do you have a pair of clogs? No,&nbsp;
really? Do you do you wear them a lot?&nbsp;
I wear them in the garden!
Oh do you?&nbsp;
Yeah, when I…
You don't&nbsp;&nbsp;
wear Wellington boots like we do in the UK, you&nbsp;
know the big rubber boots? You don't wear those?&nbsp;
No! Clogs, because we're in The Netherlands!
Okay, okay. Do you find them practical?&nbsp;
Oh yeah! They're really warm in winter they,&nbsp;
they are, it's really warm and um.. but for,&nbsp;&nbsp;
I sometimes... I see people who cycle with&nbsp;
clogs and I don't dare to, because they can&nbsp;&nbsp;
slip and... or they can go off your pedals,&nbsp;
and I wouldn't dare to do such a thing!&nbsp;
But over here not a lot of people are still&nbsp;
wearing them... but I'm living in um, in the,&nbsp;&nbsp;
a bit north of the centre of The Netherlands&nbsp;
in Ermelo, and it's a very tourist area…&nbsp;
...do you say tourist area?
Touristic perhaps, touristic.&nbsp;
...a very touristic area and, um, but we also&nbsp;
have a lot of farms and, and so, and farmers and&nbsp;&nbsp;
some of them they really wear clogs!
And sometimes it's also...&nbsp;&nbsp;
for instance my son, he's 23 and um, boys&nbsp;
of his age... sometimes when they are...&nbsp;&nbsp;
they want to show they are from the&nbsp;
countryside, so they put them on to show we are&nbsp;&nbsp;
not from the from a city or town,&nbsp;
we are from the countryside! So&nbsp;&nbsp;
for fun they wear clogs when they go out!
So what’s it really like where you're from?&nbsp;&nbsp;
I mean when we think of The Netherlands, I&nbsp;
mean I always imagine it being very flat.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Is it really flat everywhere?
It is, it is, but um at the, at the German border&nbsp;&nbsp;
we have hills, and they’re really beautiful.&nbsp;
And also in the south near Maastricht and&nbsp;&nbsp;
Limberg (Limbourg (in French)), that's uh, that's,&nbsp;
there are hills over there... and over here we&nbsp;&nbsp;
also have a few tiny tiny little hills. So where,&nbsp;
this is uh, really a touristic area... and we&nbsp;&nbsp;
have everything we have water, we have forests, we&nbsp;
have farms... but we also have heather, and also…&nbsp;
Heather, what’s heather? I'm not&nbsp;
sure everybody knows what heather is!&nbsp;
It's um, it's a beautiful plant. The...the “les&nbsp;
moutons”…the sheep... they eat them. They have…&nbsp;&nbsp;
in August they bloom, and they are purple...&nbsp;
purple flowers. It's a small, a small bush about…&nbsp;
Okay…
And um, and when it's...&nbsp;&nbsp;
here it blooms in August and then everything is&nbsp;
purple, it's beautiful, and we have a few little,&nbsp;&nbsp;
well it's not really a hill, but you can see that&nbsp;
it's not exactly flat... that's really beautiful.&nbsp;
If you want to visit it has to be August.
But now in May it's beautiful too. We have the&nbsp;&nbsp;
tulips are... some tulips are still flowering and&nbsp;
a lot of, um blossoms... apple trees, pears and&nbsp;&nbsp;
cherries and beautiful...&nbsp;
it's really beautiful now.&nbsp;
So where, where you live, you say it's&nbsp;
quite agricultural. Is, is that crops?&nbsp;&nbsp;
Is it cereal crops? Or is it more animals?
Well it's, um, the crops are more in the polder.&nbsp;&nbsp;
We are at the other side of the water. There&nbsp;
is the polder which was, which used to be the,&nbsp;&nbsp;
an inner sea, but they um, they made land out&nbsp;
of water. It was an inner, an inner sea, but&nbsp;&nbsp;
they, because we have such a small country and we&nbsp;
needed more land, so they, they put sand in the,&nbsp;&nbsp;
in the water, and they made a&nbsp;
big uh polder it's called. And,&nbsp;&nbsp;
and there you really have big crops of, of all&nbsp;
kind of things, but also um fields of tulips and,&nbsp;&nbsp;
and bulbs. Beautiful, colourful… it's wonderful.
In fact flowers in general in Holland is quite a&nbsp;&nbsp;
big business, no?
Yeah.&nbsp;
I'm saying that because I believe that a lot&nbsp;
of flowers we have in the shops here in France&nbsp;&nbsp;
come from The Netherlands.
Yeah that, that's,&nbsp;&nbsp;
that's in Holland. That's the western part, mainly&nbsp;
the South-west. There they have lots of also, um,&nbsp;&nbsp;
bulb fields and flowers that come from bulbs.&nbsp;
Yeah, so tulips... um what are those yellow ones&nbsp;&nbsp;
with like trumpets? I don’t know...
Daffodils. I love daffodils they're&nbsp;&nbsp;
my favourite in the spring.
Yeah daffodils and um hyacinths?&nbsp;
Hyacinths yeah. Hyacinths.
And we we have this very, very big, but now&nbsp;&nbsp;
during the pandemic it was hardly open, but it's&nbsp;
a very big... it's called the Kirkenhof, and they&nbsp;&nbsp;
really have thousands and thousands of all kind&nbsp;
of bulbs and it's beautiful... and sometimes&nbsp;&nbsp;
in special forms... if you see it from above&nbsp;
and it's... for instance we have this Miffy,&nbsp;&nbsp;
you know this is... this rabbit.
Yes yes.&nbsp;
And then uh, a big kind of a field of Miffy&nbsp;
in a, in a, in kind of a pink uh dress, and...&nbsp;&nbsp;
but it's all hyacinths. So it's white... the&nbsp;
ears... the face... all high hyacinths... and then&nbsp;&nbsp;
a pink dress... and that's in the Kirkenhof.&nbsp;
But that's also in the west, in the south west.&nbsp;
My husband, who you have met, I'm&nbsp;
afraid he really doesn't like tulips,&nbsp;&nbsp;
so he's not happy in Holland. If we have tulips&nbsp;
growing here, he takes the lawn mower you know…&nbsp;
Yeah.
...and he mows over them.&nbsp;
Oh là là.
Well…&nbsp;
Not his favourite flower but…
No. I have some little… I have a little free&nbsp;&nbsp;
library, and behind it I... and it's for kids...&nbsp;
I planted all colourful kind of tulips and in...&nbsp;&nbsp;
beautiful... also with special forms and um, so&nbsp;
I hope your husband is not going to visit us!&nbsp;
He might destroy your tulips!
Yeah yeah.&nbsp;
No he wouldn't dare don't worry! But your&nbsp;
question about what is... crops. It's uh,,&nbsp;&nbsp;
over here it's very (hilly), in this (area)...&nbsp;
that's why it's such a touristic area. We have&nbsp;&nbsp;
a lot of, lots of camping sites and second homes,&nbsp;
and uh, and also because we have woods, we have um&nbsp;&nbsp;
the fields where the... where cows eat.&nbsp;
How, how do you call them? Meadows.&nbsp;
Meadows, yes, meadows with pretty flowers.
And also beautiful farms with... um&nbsp;&nbsp;
the roof is... of plants that grow in&nbsp;
the water... what is the name in English?&nbsp;
the roof is... of plants that grow in&nbsp;
the water... what is the name in English?&nbsp;
Is it... plants that grow in the water…&nbsp;
you mean like the... water lilies?&nbsp;
No no no, the... reed we call it…
Rice? That you&nbsp;&nbsp;
eat? (reed sounds like “riz = rice in French)
No reed it's... it's a long, long and thin, and&nbsp;&nbsp;
you can... in France they also have it… “chaume”.
Ah “chaume”, yeah, that... that's... thatch.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Thatched houses, yeah we have&nbsp;
a lot of those in England too.&nbsp;
Yeah, but over here as well...&nbsp;
it's beautiful... and we also have,&nbsp;&nbsp;
um, near here, uh, it’s the smallest city of&nbsp;
The Netherlands. It isn't even a city, it's a…&nbsp;
...little village?… hamlet?… town?…
No, it's a little castle. It's a&nbsp;&nbsp;
little white castle.
It's the Vatican?!&nbsp;
No, it’s called “Staverden”, and they,&nbsp;
um, they have peacocks, white peacocks!&nbsp;
This province is called&nbsp;
Gelderland, “Gelder”, and we had…&nbsp;
Gelderland…
Hell? Like “Hell?” Down there?&nbsp;
Gelderland.
Gelderland…&nbsp;&nbsp;
what does that mean? Does it mean anything?&nbsp;
Oh probably... but that's a&nbsp;
good question... I don't know!&nbsp;
But we used to have a duke, centuries ago, and&nbsp;
he... on his helmet, he wore white, uh feathers,&nbsp;&nbsp;
of the white peacock... and they were grown at&nbsp;
this smallest city of The Netherlands, Staverden,&nbsp;&nbsp;
and they are, they still have those white&nbsp;
peacocks… beautiful... when they open their&nbsp;&nbsp;
tail... it's like, like a bride’s dress, you&nbsp;
know... when a woman is marrying, she has this…&nbsp;
...a veil, yeah…
and, and if you see their,&nbsp;&nbsp;
their tail, yeah... I can show you... I have a…
...like a fan…&nbsp;
Yeah. I'll show you, I have a picture!
Ah okay, that would be cool.&nbsp;
What is she bringing?
I'm a French teacher…&nbsp;
Ah you're a French teacher, aha… I knew that!
And in my lessons we…&nbsp;&nbsp;
we make up stories... and this is... here is one…
Yes, I can see... I can see it!&nbsp;
Yeah but these… these... you see the, the tail?
Yes, and then you made a fan!&nbsp;
No they are... we make stories in our&nbsp;
lessons, and these were main characters...&nbsp;
Okay.
...of the story…&nbsp;
Okay… okay, so the white peacock.&nbsp;
You know my husband? Guess what&nbsp;
he doesn't like peacocks either!&nbsp;
So I think you... what else can you tell us&nbsp;
about that he might like to come and see,&nbsp;&nbsp;
because he doesn't want to see the tulips&nbsp;
and he doesn't want to see the peacocks!&nbsp;
Well perhaps he likes...&nbsp;
would he like to see this?&nbsp;
He would love to see that, definitely!
This is... this is the little castle where the&nbsp;&nbsp;
white peacocks... where they... where they live.
And that's the smallest town in The Netherlands?&nbsp;
Yeah it has city rights, but it never&nbsp;
became a town. It always stayed...&nbsp;&nbsp;
only... it was only a castle, and, and a&nbsp;
few farms... and... with thatched roofs!&nbsp;&nbsp;
But that, uh, it never grew bigger! And perhaps&nbsp;
they got these rights because they, they&nbsp;&nbsp;
gave the... they were the ones who supplied, who&nbsp;
gave the, the feathers for his, for his helmet!&nbsp;
So it sounds like there's quite a lot of&nbsp;
things to see then, where you come from?&nbsp;
Yeah you can do a lot of cycling here,&nbsp;
because it isn't, it's quite flat,&nbsp;&nbsp;
or a little bit um... so it's really nice!
So it sounds like it's a good place for an&nbsp;&nbsp;
outdoor holiday? Yeah?
Yeah, it is. Yeah and we, we also have um,&nbsp;&nbsp;
sand dunes... but there is no sea... but there&nbsp;
is, it's the, this yellow fine sand like you see&nbsp;&nbsp;
on a beach in the, here in The Netherlands…&nbsp;
but it's here in the middle of the country.&nbsp;&nbsp;
We, we have these um yeah... kind of sand dunes.&nbsp;
It's also very special with special little plants&nbsp;&nbsp;
and flowers, and it's very, very, yeah it's&nbsp;
really very nice surroundings over here. Great.&nbsp;
I’ll invite you all to visit!
Don't say that too loud!&nbsp;
And we also have a mill over here.
A mill, of course! Like&nbsp;&nbsp;
a windmill or an old windmill?
A windmill, and it about...&nbsp;&nbsp;
I don't know, 40 years ago perhaps, or 30 years&nbsp;
ago, there was thunder and lightning and it struck&nbsp;&nbsp;
the mill. It burned down. But&nbsp;
only the foot, the foot stayed...&nbsp;&nbsp;
and then for a few decades, for several... 10,&nbsp;
20 years, there was a group of people who were&nbsp;&nbsp;
raising money, who were doing all kinds of things&nbsp;
to get money to rebuild the mill. Yeah and I think&nbsp;&nbsp;
about, I don't remember, 10 years ago, it was&nbsp;
rebuilt... and I think it even has also a thatched&nbsp;&nbsp;
roof. I don't remember. I see it very often, but I&nbsp;
don't remember. I think the roof is also thatched.&nbsp;
But I saw when it was rebuilt, the&nbsp;
top of the mill... it had to be&nbsp;&nbsp;
reinstalled with a very big, um how do&nbsp;
you call these machines?... they are...&nbsp;&nbsp;
a crane, or what is it?
A crane, yeah, like the bird!&nbsp;
The bird?
Yeah... we&nbsp;&nbsp;
have... there's a bird as well called the&nbsp;
crane. It's a very tall bird with long legs!&nbsp;
Yeah we call it in Dutch also&nbsp;
“een Kraan”, “een kraanvogel.&nbsp;
A crane, yeah.
A crane.&nbsp;
So I saw that they, uh, with a crane they put&nbsp;
it on top of the mill. The top of the mill was&nbsp;&nbsp;
installed with a big crane&nbsp;
and then we had a mill again.&nbsp;
So now you have everything traditional.&nbsp;
You have the bikes, you have the tulips,&nbsp;&nbsp;
you have the clogs and you have the windmill!&nbsp;
Okay, well it's been really lovely chatting to&nbsp;
you. Thanks so much for accepting. I think if you&nbsp;&nbsp;
wouldn't mind chatting again, I would be so, so&nbsp;
interested to know how people in The Netherlands&nbsp;&nbsp;
learn English, because a lot of people speak&nbsp;
English very well... and I know you personally,&nbsp;&nbsp;
you speak French very well too, because&nbsp;
like you said you're now teaching French so&nbsp;&nbsp;
that would be great if you could come&nbsp;
back and tell us about that sometime.
I will, and thank you very much for&nbsp;
inviting me... and it was really nice&nbsp;&nbsp;
to talk to you… and uh seei you again.
Yeah I hope I'll see you really again soon…&nbsp;
...me too…
in real life…&nbsp;
...yeah… yeah...
Okay right thanks a lot…. take care of yourself…&nbsp;
... yeah, you too…
...see you soon... bye bye!
Title: Flowers, castles, clogs & bikes with Alike from the Netherlands // Intermediate English Conversation
Caption: This is a really interesting intermediate English conversation, full of useful vocabulary for travelling to visit places… and some pretty pictures!

I met Alike at the first Agen language lab 8 years ago.  She was camping near Agen with her family and teaching French at the language lab.  Alike isn’t from France, she’s from the Netherlands… but she has a genuine interest for French culture and traditions.
In this video she tells us about her part of the Netherlands.  We go from clogs to flowers to sand dunes and to castles with white peacocks, sometimes mixing English with Dutch and French… but we manage to understand each other in the end… that’s the fun of languages!

00:00  introduction to ‘The Netherlands’
01:48  Do you really wear clogs?
03:38  Ermelo – hills and heather
05:38  polders, crops and flowers
08:56  a library outside Alike’s home
09:24  the countryside and thatched farms
10:33  the smallest city and its peacocks
14:20  cycling, sand dunes and a windmill

** QUESTION : Have you ever been to the Netherlands, or would you like to go there? **


// LEARNING TIPS

https://youtu.be/y98R-QV5mN4
- listen and watch all the video
(try to understand with the images, gestures and context - adjust the speed if necessary)
- listen again with the subtitles if necessary
- if you want to, write new words (not more than 10)
- listen again with NO SUBTITLES – you should understand more
++++ move on to another video


// MORE about Alike

Alike Last introduced TPRS (Teaching English through Reading and Storytelling) into the Netherlands in 2007, and since then, she’s been a TPRS/CI teacher trainer at her company Taalleermethoden.nl.

Website :  languagelearningmethods.com

She’s a certified organizational psychologist and a certified French teacher and CI (Comprehensible Input) teacher trainer. Together with her colleagues from Vrolijk & Frans (Funny & French) she developed a French CI curriculum of 15 modules, and every year, she participates in international conferences, in order to use the latest CI techniques in her French lessons and in teacher training.  She founded the ETPRS conferences held in The Netherlands in 2016 and 2018.

The most important things for Alike are having a good relationship with her students and cooperating with other language teachers to provide fun, but effective lessons.



// WHAT to WATCH NEXT

Other intermediate English conversations playlist : https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0J8XtnnCuEM4gxcAlfDfYQqGO1jwt7_l



// MUSIC

Bike Rides - The Green Orbs (Youtube Music Studio)



// IMAGES

Miffy Statue, Sharon  VanderKaay from Toronto, Canada, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Map of Dutch Provinces
Alphathon, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons