How difficult is it to learn/teach a language without a lingua franca between pupil and student?

I'm in the early intake class, so these are children that have been in The Netherlands for anywhere ranging from a few months to a few weeks. We don't really get into grammar yet, the early intake is just to assess their learnability and where they stand in terms of fluency at the end (so they can be placed in the right class). I imagine from there on out it's easier to explain things since they already have some knowledge of Dutch.

You have to keep in mind that these kids are immersed pretty much consistently from 8 to 3 and only speak Dutch in class, so once they really find their learning rhythm, so to speak, things really take off for some!

/r/languagelearning Thread Parent