Junior researcher Nynke Anna Varkevisser derives a lot of energy and satisfaction from helping to improve language use and learning. As part of the Frisian Language Plan project (Taalplan Frysk) she visits schools to see what they are doing with regard to the Frisian language and what ambitions they have.

“I have always been fascinated by language and learning, partly because I had a multilingual upbringing. I did the primary school teacher training course at Windesheim in Zwolle, and combined this with a Bachelor’s in Educational Sciences at VU University Amsterdam. I have also completed my Master’s in Educational Pedagogy and Multilingualism. In February 2016, I started work at the Language Use and Learning professorship.”

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Drs. Nynke Anna Varkevisser

Ambitions regarding Frisian as a subject

“I derive a lot of energy and satisfaction from helping to improve language use and learning. I work for the Frisian Language Plan (Taalplan Frysk), a project of the provincial authorities of Friesland that aims to find out to what extent the Frisian language is (or is not) used in teaching at primary schools. By talking to the head teacher as well as the language coordinator and/or teachers of a school, I map out the situation at that particular school. The school is then awarded a profile to which a certain degree of exemption for Frisian classes is attached.”

“I am mainly concerned about looking at the school’s ambitions with regard to the Frisian language as a subject. The good thing about the project is that schools develop a greater awareness from these talks. They often discover that they actually do not have to change that much to get more out of the Frisian classes.”