Host Nation

All children in the Elementary School attend the Host Nation program for approximately 12 weeks in the school year. The program is designed to help the children recognize Dutch customs and prepare them to take an active part in typical Dutch traditions, celebrations and festivities such as Sinterklaas, carnival, etc. All this will make their experience in the Netherlands even more enjoyable!

The Host Nation Program is as previously mentioned an exciting lesson cycle. Each year level will learn about different topics and themes. During these action packed lessons the children will be learning about the Dutch culture, traditions, food, landscape, history, etc.

All the topics the children are covering and experiencing during the classes will be of great value for them in and outside the school.

Subjects and themes

The subjects and themes the children will be exploring, depend on the year level. IY1 and IY2 will learn about themes that are closely related to ?all about me? for example; how children of their age grow up in the Netherlands. IY3 and IY4 will be learning about the themes relating to their close neighbourhood for example the mining industry in South Limburg. IY5 and IY6 will be studying themes relating to the Netherlands as a country. For example the Golden Age and William of Orange: the Netherlands as a free country.

M1 has a special program, as they will be preparing for their fieldtrip, which has taken place in Arnhem the past few years. The children will prepare for their trip by looking into information about Arnhem as they will be spending a few days there visiting interesting sites. They will be studying bike safety and learning traffic regulations. This is necessary, as the children will be cycling through Arnhem. The subjects and themes that M2 will be covering will be highlighting the influence in the Netherlands of the Ancient civilizations of the Middle Ages; for example the Romans in the Netherlands and the Middle Ages in this region.

Fieldtrips

Each year the children in every year level are given the opportunity to visit an interesting site or attend an activity. Due to connections built up over the past years the children of the AFNORTH Elementary School have easy access to numerous interesting places.

The Host Nation Program encourages family participation. These present great opportunities for you to experience your host nation and expose your child to different and new things.

By opening up new situations to your child, he/she will learn to accept and/or deal with different ideas and attitudes, which he/she needs to become a modern world citizen. Mentioned above are just some of the functions of the Host Nation Program Coordinator, which together with parental involvement can give your child an exciting, educational, and happy experience in the Netherlands.

Your Host Nation Coordinator,

Michael van Zinnicq Bergmann