Welcome Kees Meinders!

Part-Time Dutch Teacher

Welcome to Kees Meinders who is our new part-time Dutch teacher. Kees has come to Bangkok Patana from Aruba where he taught a Primary class. Prior to that, he worked in Suriname as vice principal of a school there.

“I saw this opportunity to work as a Dutch teacher at Bangkok Patana through the Dutch Cultural Society and was attracted as I wanted to live somewhere different. It’s been a totally different challenge from the Caribbean, and I like it so far! I saw that the school had a good vibe going on and they were happy that I had a good grasp of online teaching as well. I have to say, after being here for a few weeks, it is even better than I expected. This is not the first time I have moved to another country, but everything here at Patana has been done very well. It is great to be able to come into my classroom and make my preparations, the staff here are available and want to help you out. It is a great environment to work here. I just started my Dutch lessons, but they have gone well, MS Teams does what it needs to do. I enjoyed teaching a group of five children but it will be even better when the school opens up as there are tons of resources here. I am looking forward to going back into the classroom.”

“In Aruba, although we were only closed briefly, we had very tight restrictions on students in the classroom and one resource I found that worked really well was Kahoots. Kahoots is an online quiz platform where I create fun quizzes and the children become very engaged in the learning. I use the quiz to reflect on the lessons they have already had, and it allows me to determine their knowledge for the coming class. It’s a great way to open up with the kids and I plan to carry on using it once we are in the classroom as the quizzes are great for engagement and evaluation.”

“In my free time I love to play beach tennis, it’s the most popular sport in Aruba. The ball doesn’t bounce obviously because of the sand, and the net is the same height as the volleyball net, so I have an advantage being two metres tall! I also play tennis and am looking forward to playing tennis with the Patana community. I really enjoy playing chess. I started with Taekwondo in Suriname and when things open up will look for some schools to continue. I love being active.”

“I have to add, I love pub quizzes and am looking forward to joining a Patana team when things open up. I am a walking music encyclopedia, I know songs and artists, from the 60s on up. I can hear the music and tell you who it is or just tell me the name of a song I can name the artist. I am the music round guy in pub quizzes so look me up if you are interested!”