My name is Kristin De Geus Harrison, or as your children will come to know me, ‘Ms. Kris’. After a few years of teaching, and being called ‘Engelse Juf’ and ‘Ms. Christmas’, I decided to shorten it to something easier for children to remember, so ‘Ms. Kris’ it is!
I’m originally from New York and have been living in The Netherlands for the past five years with my Dutch husband and my two very own ‘Small Talkers’. My daughters, Stella and Zoe, ages 6 ½ and 3, are both being brought up bilingually.
While there are many things I love about my new home here in the Netherlands (cycling, hagelslag and stroopwafels to name a few) the thing I love most is watching my daughters’ language development and being fascinated by how naturally and effortlessly they pick up both languages.
Me, on the other hand, not so much.
Though I’ve really enjoyed learning Dutch, it has been a slow and sometimes frustrating process. My struggles with learning Dutch at the age of 32 have certainly supported the theory that learning a language is much easier when done at a young age.
Through my work experience I’ve also seen evidence of how quickly young children learn a new language when it’s presented in a playful and interactive way.
For seven years I worked as a teacher in Brooklyn, New York, first in the classroom, then as a Literacy through Drama teacher. In this role I was able to work with many young children who were recent immigrants to the U.S. and didn’t speak much English. Through lots of role play, stories and drama activities the children were motivated to speak and picked up English quickly.
Working at an international school in The Hague for a year, I encountered several kindergarten and group 1 children who came to school speaking no English and within a few months were nearly fluent.
I currently work for a stichting in Hilversum where I teach children in groups 1-8 in several schools throughout ‘t Gooi. While almost all the children are enthusiastic about English lessons, it’s the children in the lower year groups that pick it up the quickest and seem to enjoy it the most.
It’s with this insight and motivation that I decided to begin Small Talk. As a mother of young children, a teacher of early English and a second language learner myself, Small Talk is the perfect way to combine my interests and experience.
I hope to give your child a positive association with learning English and confidence in their ability to pick up other foreign languages as well.