In 2021, I took part in my first ever efficient course at Una Paloma Blanca, and as someone who has quite a busy work week, I was sceptical as to whether it would do me any good. I was worried mostly about my commitment, would 2 lessons per week burn me out? Would I be able to actually retain anything I learn? Would I feel overwhelmed?
I decided to give it a go despite these worries, cos if you never try, you never know, right?
The first 2 lessons were already full of information. With this being B1+ Dutch, we jumped in at the deep end and began communicating right away. In the first lesson, I took 2 notebooks (one for vocabulary, one for grammar… I know, I like to be prepared!)
I was sure that I would feel overwhelmed in the first lesson, but it was actually nice to let me Dutch run free, and already fix some problems I was having with it. When it came time to have the second lesson, I was still thinking about the corrections to my mistakes, so when the class began, I was using the correct sentences right away. This meant that I would learn something new, or correct a mistake, and I didn’t have to wait a week to apply it again. (My brain tends to forget things…). This saw my immediate level go up quite quickly, I didn’t have time to forget the corrections.
Another problem I thought I would have with the efficient course was the commitment to the schedule. Twice a week is a lot to commit to, especially when you work full time and need to relax after a long day. What I didn’t expect was how much I would actually relax while being there. My teacher was Vera, and she’s such a character, that we would spend half the lesson laughing and having fun in Dutch, meaning that it didn’t feel like I was draining my energy on grammar exercises. I began looking forward to spending an hour and a half speaking Dutch, with fun classmates and an interesting approach to learning.
Something I really appreciated about the course was the content. It was full on, with this being an efficient course, but it didn’t feel too much. It felt really appropriate, and Vera was always on-hand in class to answer any questions or fix any corrections we had with the homework, or our self-study outside of the class. With an efficient course, the teacher usually gives a little homework after the first class of the week, and then after the second class, they give more to get stuck into over the weekend. There was a great mix of homework, some grammar practice of course, but also articles, songs and videos to watch to keep it interesting outside the class. This made the course a really well-rounded one. I was really pleased with all aspects of learning being catered to.
All in all, doing an efficient course ended up suiting me more than a standard course. I surprised myself with how much attention I was able to give to the language, and also how I’d misjudged it before, assuming it would’ve been draining. Luckily Una Paloma Blanca only has interesting teachers who understand you’re joining them after a day at work, and make it feel like your stress stops at the door.
A rating? 10/10 would recommend.