Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Additional Terms and Conditions Virtual Classroom Dutch Academy Eindhoven

‘The Student’ hereafter refers to the person who is registered for the Virtual Classroom Dutch Course or Dutch Course or Online Dutch Course and who will be the person participating in the Virtual Classroom Dutch Course.

‘Dutch Academy Eindhoven Virtual Classroom’ or ‘Virtual Classroom’ or ‘Virtual Classroom Dutch Course’ or ‘Virtual Classroom lessons’ hereafter refers to a live training course session as well as the technical platform on which a Virtual Platform training course is hosted, whether or not a live training course session is in progress.

1. Purpose
This document defines the conditions for participation in a Virtual Classroom Dutch Course of the Dutch Academy Eindhoven.

2. Obligations of the student in our Virtual Classroom

2.1 Your responsibility for information
You agree to keep confidential any information related to our students, teachers, and Dutch lessons in your Virtual Classroom Dutch Course. You agree not to permit any third-party access to the virtual classroom course or to disclose the above mentioned confidential information.

2.2 Mandatory use of a separate room
You agree to take online classes at home in a separate room (e.g. your bedroom or study). Nobody except you is allowed to stay in this room and watch or listen to our students and Dutch lessons. You are not allowed to share your screen, computer, or room with anyone else during your Dutch classes.

2.3 Mandatory use of the webcam
You agree to use a webcam in the virtual classroom. The use of a webcam is mandatory. We want to make sure that there is no one else watching or listening to our students or following our Dutch lessons. Your webcam should be switched on during your lesson. If you want to turn (or keep) your webcam off, you are expected to explain why before or after the start of the lesson. When you switch your cam off without prior consent, you will receive a warning, and after a second time you will be excluded from the virtual classroom without warning.

2.4 Mandatory use of a headset
You agree to use a headset in the virtual classroom.

2.5 You are partly responsible for the privacy of your fellow students and teachers.

If you do not comply with this rule, you may break the Dutch privacy and copyright law. See the Consequences of Breaking Dutch Privacy and Copyright laws below. We advise you to take this warning seriously.

2.6 Personal use only
You agree not to make any other unauthorized personal or professional use of the virtual classroom.

2.7 Intellectual property & Copyrights
The Dutch lessons and any documentation used during our virtual classroom course are the property of the Dutch Academy Eindhoven. The Dutch lessons and materials are protected under Dutch copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. You may not take photos, screenshots, make audio/video recordings, post, distribute, sublicense, translate, print, or reproduce any such materials or lesson in any way without express written consent of the Dutch Academy Eindhoven. This includes all terminology and content of the Book Simpel Nederlands. The book Simpel Nederlands is not available for purchase in any bookshop. You are not allowed to sell the book or use it in any other Dutch course without express written consent of the Dutch Academy Eindhoven. Please read the Consequences of Breaking the Dutch Privacy and Copyright laws below.

2.8 Plagiarism
You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, or resell any part of our site, books, or Dutch lessons in contravention of the provisions of our terms of the website use.

2.9 Prohibition of recording the Virtual Classroom lessons by students
You are not allowed to take screenshots, photos, record videos or audios of any lesson, books, materials, or students of the Dutch Academy Eindhoven.

By taking screenshots, photos, recording videos or audios of any lesson, books, materials, or students of the Dutch Academy Eindhoven you will:

1. break the copyright law of the Netherlands and/or
2. break the privacy law of the Netherlands.

Please read the Consequences of Breaking the Dutch Privacy and Copyright laws below.

2.10 Consequences of breaking the Dutch Privacy and Copyright laws
When you do not comply with these terms and conditions, you may be prosecuted and held liable for breaking the Dutch law. It will cost you between 25,000 and 100,000 Euros in penalties and damages. We advise you to take this warning seriously.

2.11 Your personal responsibility
You are responsible for all activity that results from your use of the virtual classroom.

3. Recording of Virtual Classroom lessons by the Dutch Academy Eindhoven
For quality assurance or to permit later viewing by registered students of the Dutch Academy Eindhoven who are unavoidably absent during a lesson the Dutch Academy Eindhoven may record the lessons unless a student requests in writing not to record a lesson. You agree that a request not to record a lesson will be explained and will not be unreasonably made. The recordings may be published on the e-learning part of the website of the Dutch Academy Eindhoven protected by a password and will be accessible only to students and teachers of the Academy. The Academy will never make the recordings public.

You accept by default to be recorded and by signing the registration form consent that the recording can be used in the manner indicated above.

The Academy agrees not to use the recordings for any purposes except those indicated above without express written consent of the people in the recordings.

4. Exclusion from the classroom and course
The Academy expects you to behave politely and appropriately when attending our classroom or contacting us in any way (by email, phone, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.) and reserves the right to exclude you in the event of disruptive, abusive, disrespectful, or threatening behaviour (for example to our teachers or students). No refund will be paid to you.

5. Students’ equipment
The Academy bears no responsibility for the students’ equipment (computer, modem, internet connection, speakers, webcam, microphones, bandwidth). You are solely responsible for the condition of your equipment and for performing the obligatory technical checks at the commencement of this agreement and prior to attending the Virtual Classroom course.

6. Responsibility of the Dutch Academy Eindhoven
The Academy is not responsible for potential risks or damages caused by the use of the virtual classroom and associated software, online tools, audio and visual content, and communication systems. The Academy is not responsible for any problems related to the Virtual Classroom website or malfunctions related to or caused by any network or telephone lines of the student, any technical restrictions or security policies imposed by the student’s internet service provider or computer services department, (including but not limited to the use of proxies, firewalls, IP blocking, port blocking, restrictions imposed by the use of Virtual Private Networks, etc.), problems with the student’s equipment and Internet connection, or the student’s inability to access any website. If in doubt, the student should communicate with his or her internet service provider or computer services department.

7. Liability of the Dutch Academy Eindhoven
The Academy declares that the company liability for any student’s claim is limited to the sum that he or she has paid for the course(s). We will not be liable for indirect, special, or consequential loss (including loss of privacy/personal data, anticipated profit, or other data) howsoever arising caused by the use of Skype, Google Hangouts, Google Meet, the Virtual Classroom and associated software, online tools, audio / visual content, and communication systems. The maximal aggregate liability will be the charges for the course from which the loss or damage has arisen.

8. Rescheduling of Virtual Classroom lessons
If your teacher does not join the Virtual Classroom due to technical issues (e.g. broken internet connection on his side) or illness, the Academy will reschedule the lesson and plan an additional lesson at the weekend. Students’ failure to attend the additional lesson will not be eligible for refund.

9. Failure to attend
The failure to attend a Virtual Classroom will not be eligible for refund whatsoever.

10. Individual Copyright Student Agreement
We have found out that one of our students was illegally making recordings of our lessons (students and teachers included) and photos of course materials on our website. We take the privacy of our students, copyright, and the Dutch law seriously. Our lawyer may hold him liable for infringement of our copyright and our privacy policy and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This student may be charged with damages.

We want to make sure that you know and understand the copyright and privacy rules and the consequences of breaking them. That is why every student of the Academy must sign the Individual Copyright Student Agreement. This agreement is part of the terms and conditions and the privacy policy of the Academy. You must sign the Individual Copyright Student Agreement and send it to us.

11. Exclusion from the course
The Academy reserves the right to permanently exclude you from the Dutch course if you do not comply with our terms and conditions or privacy policy. In such an event no refund will be paid to you.

We reserve the right to change the physical group lessons at any location where the Academy offers them to lessons in our virtual classroom (via the internet) under extraordinary circumstances such as:

1. If our teacher is sick and we are not able to find a replacement in time, we may offer you an online lesson instead of one at the Academy. This also means that you may have the replacement lesson via the internet at a time other than your usual class time. Replacement lessons are offered on Saturdays or Sundays. We will send you an email with all instructions. Missed replacement lessons are not eligible for refund.

2. Epidemics (like the COVID-19) or other extraordinary circumstances. The outbreak of COVID-19 can constitute extraordinary circumstances as it is a serious public health emergency which can result in draconian public measures that are entirely out of our control. We follow the advice of the RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and Environmental Protection) and keep track of the public situation in Eindhoven. As long as universities (TU/e, Fontys) continue education, we will continue our lessons. If they close, we will continue lessons in our virtual classroom on the internet. You will not be eligible for any refund.

We will always inform you by email about all changes to your course in advance. It is your responsibility to add our email address to your contacts and check your email (as well as Spam and all Gmail Tabs) daily.

If we are forced to close our offline lessons due to extraordinary circumstances and cannot offer online lessons instead, we reserve the right to postpone, change, or cancel your course and offer you a partial refund for the missed lessons.

Corona clausule in hybrid class format (online and offline students in 1 class)

Please take note: in a hybrid format, it is your choice as a student to attend the lessons online or face-to-face in Eindhoven. If you are anxious about getting infected by corona, we advise you to attend the class online.

We as a school feel the responsibility not to send a teacher to class if he is obviously sick. We expect the students to do the same. However, we cannot guarantee that no-one in the room is at risk of spreading corona.

Also take note that we do not, nor the venue, check for your vaccination status or QR-code. Under these circumstances, and by coming to class, please understand that you withhold us from any liability in connection to (possible) infections or illness after you having attended the lesson, whether the infection was actually (probably) contracted during the lesson or not.

If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you should always self-quarantine and stay at home. In this case you can attend the lessons online. There are other circumstances in which you may need to self-quarantine, depending on your situation. If you arrive in the Netherlands from a very high-risk area, you must self-quarantine unless you are fully vaccinated. If a coronavirus test shows that you are infected, you must self-isolate, even if you are protected against coronavirus.

3. Our lessons take place in the building that also hosts musical events (The Dynamo building). The classroom is well isolated, but sometimes (special) musical events are held that can still cause disturbance. In such cases, we may decide to do one or more face-to-face lessons online. The teacher will communicate this timely in your Google Chat.

We care about a quiet learning environment and take precautions where possible, but if there is unexpected continuous noise disturbance during a lesson due to a (musical) event, the teacher can decide to stop the lesson and repeat it online at a later time.

These terms and conditions apply to all agreements between the Dutch Academy Eindhoven and consumers that concern educational services, whether formal education or informal instruction, and to all agreements that exclusively concern the purchase of teaching materials.

By becoming a student of the Academy or subscribing to the Academy Online Learning or using the information, tools, features, and functionality located on www.DutchAcademyEindhoven.nl and in the book Simpel Nederlands (the “Service”) you are entering into a binding contract with the Academy.

Your agreement with us includes these terms and our privacy policy (the “Agreement”) and represents the entire contract between you and the Academy.
The Service and the Content provided by the Academy are provided to you for personal noncommercial use.

The book Simpel Nederlands & materials
All materials of the Service, including the book Simpel Nederlands, content, text, images, software, audio/video files, and documentation remain at all time the sole property of the Dutch Academy Eindhoven. All materials are protected by international copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. You may not use, post, distribute, sublicense, translate, print, take pictures, reproduce any such materials in any way without express written consent of the Academy. This includes all terminology and content of the book Simpel Nederlands.The book Simpel Nederlands is not available for purchase in any bookshop. You are not allowed to sell your book after finishing the course without express written consent of the Academy.

If you do not agree with these terms, please do not use the service.

Class lessons missed by the student will not be rescheduled. Retrieving (or refund) of missed group lessons is not possible. We are expecting you to catch up on your missed lessons. You can find study materials (video, audio, books) and homework from all missed lessons on your Student Dashboard. You can also book one private lesson (€95).

1. Your commitment
You commit to the course for its duration.

2. Latecomers. Are you late for your class?
We expect you to be present at least 5 minutes before the start of the lessons. Our lessons are designed according to a very strict schedule. If you arrive late, you will disturb the lesson and other students, and may miss important information about the course or the Dutch language.

5 to 15 min late
If you are between 5 and 15 minutes late for the class, you cannot participate in it. You can ask your teacher for permission to participate. Please do not walk in and have a seat without asking for permission. If you arrive late once, your teacher may allow you to participate, but next time please do not enter the class. You will have to learn your lesson via our website at home or book a private lesson.

More than 15 min late
If you are more than 15 minutes late, you cannot participate in the lesson. Please do not enter the classroom. You have to catch up on the missed lesson or book a private lesson. You can ask your fellow students to share their notes with you.

We don’t want students to be structurally late. If you foresee that you will be late several times due to your job, discuss this with your teacher or send us an e-mail beforehand. We may make an exception for you.

3. Missed lessons (responsibilities and consequences)
Suppose that you are our student and cannot attend the lesson. You must notify the Academy 24 hours before the start of the lesson by e-mail (we accept notifications only by e-mail).

When you miss lessons, your fellow students may have trouble doing exercises with you. This can be frustrating for them and slow down their progress.

If you miss 3 or more lessons in a row without notifying us by e-mail, we assume that you quit the course. Your student account will be deactivated and no refund will be payable to you. If you want to rejoin the course, you need to ask our permission. We may or may not allow you to rejoin the course depending on your reason, attendance record, motivation, and achievement.

4. No homework exit rule
Learning Dutch takes a lot of effort. We expect you to do the homework so that your fellow students can do exercises with you. When you do not prepare for lessons, your fellow students may have trouble doing exercises with you. This can be frustrating for them and slow down their progress.

We accept only committed students. If you don’t do your homework 3 times in a row without any further notice (contacting us and explaining your reason), we assume that you are not further interested in taking our classes. You are expected to quit our course. Your course fee will not be refunded.

5. Your testing & certification according to our course plan
If you wish to receive our certificate, you will need to take our final test online. You can take the test only once. Your certificate will automatically be generated by our system after you complete the test. We will send the certificate to you by e-mail. We provide only digital certificates. You will receive the certificate only once.

The final test should be taken at the end of the course according to our course plan. If you do not follow the plan and take the test early, you will not have another chance to retake the test and will not receive any other certificate. If you want to take the test again, you have to book our private lessons or take the course again.

6. Your responsibility to keep the information confidential
You agree to keep confidential any information related to our students, teachers, and Dutch lessons in your Dutch Course. You agree not to permit any third-party access to our courses and websites or to disclose the above mentioned confidential information.

7. Your responsibility for the privacy of your fellow students
You are partly responsible for the privacy of your fellow students and our teachers. If you do not comply with this rule, you may break the Dutch privacy and copyright law. Please see the consequences of breaking the Dutch privacy and copyright laws below. We advise you to take this warning seriously.

1. The Dutch Academy Eindhoven offers open admission for all Dutch courses to all students and not students. We do not make reservations and operate on a first-come- first-serve basis. We recommend that you reserve your place on our course as early as possible by paying the course fee.
2. Private course fees must be paid 24 hours prior to the start of the course.
3. Skype course fees must be paid 24 hours prior to the start of the course.
4. The Academy reserves the right to increase the course fees.

Registration

1. You must speak English well and pass our Placement Test in order to be admitted to our Dutch course.
2. Registration only happens after the receipt of the completed and signed registration form. Through registering you agree to our Terms and Conditions.
3. Students will be registered in the order in which their registration forms are received.
4. Fully booked course means that all 12 spots in the course are taken. You cannot enroll in the course. You can enroll in our next course >.

Start of the course

1. Group lessons can only be offered if there is a minimum of 8 students. Should a course have to be cancelled or rescheduled, we will inform you at least three working days in advance. You will not be charged.
2. Dutch Academy Eindhoven offers open admission for all Dutch courses to all students and non-students. It is a first-come-first-serve principle. We recommend that you reserve your seat in our course as early as possible by paying a course fee.

Pre-course & Personal Copyright Student Agreement

You must complete our pre-course and send your Personal Copyright Student Agreement before your first lesson!

Please take note, you will not be permitted to our lessons if:

1. you will not complete your Pre-course before your first lesson or
2. we did not receive/approve your Personal Copyright Student Agreement before your first lesson.

Class size

Our standard class size is 12 students per group. In exceptional cases we can allow 1 or max 2 more students to participate in one group.

Hybrid class (Online and Face-to-face together)

Some Online Dutch students and Face-to-Face students in Eindhoven could be merged in a hybrid course (online and offline students following the same lesson in one class at the same time). It means that some students will be following and participating from their homes and some of them will come to the class.

Online and offline students will be able to participate equally in the lessons and get exactly the same amount of attention from the teacher. The only difference is that you will be staying at home or sitting in the classroom.

Every student has the freedom to try both the online format and the face-to-face lessons (to see what works best for you) during the course as long as you notify us in advance. There may be a constraint for the maximum number of students in the physical classroom.