Celebrate language at Taalhuis Festival
Taalhuis Amsterdam celebrates its 10th anniversary with a language festival in De Hallen. Join them for a day filled with language and culture. This day is powered by teachers, students and the many organisations and friends they've worked with over the past 10 years.
Visit the market
From 1pm to 5pm, you can visit the market for free. Play the Dutch dictionary game, do Greek vocabulary memory games, play backgammon, or write your name in Arabic. Come get a taste of Italian, Greek, Iranian, Arabic, Hebrew, French, Spanish, Turkish and Dutch language and culture during the (interactive) market! Also on the market: Greek bookstore Diavazo, Italian bookstore La Corrente, and world kitchen caterer Mama’s koelkast. See you there!
Attend lectures and workshops in the OBA classrooms
Here are the lectures and workshops you can attend at the Taalhuis Language Festival:
Play and read in Greek (for children of all ages): 11.30am - 12.30pm
The day starts in the library: Annita will read a Greek book with children and do various playful activities.
Literature in Tamazight (Berber): 1.30pm - 2.10pm
In this lecture, Dr. Abderrahman El Aissati will give an overview of Berber literature from its oral traditions to its written form, also discussing the various alphabets (Tifinagh, Latin, Arabic) used to note down the Berber language. (This presentation is in Dutch).
Language is survival: 1.30pm - 2.00pm
Greek teacher and Alarm Phone volunteer Maro Lazarou will talk about the role language plays for people on the move at the borders of Europe. (This presentation is in English).
Canzone Napolitana: 1.30pm - 2.10pm
Italian teacher Luca, being a musician from Naples himself, will give a brief introduction to the Napolitan song. He’ll talk you through the recent history of the Canzone Napolitana, and you’ll listen to examples from the 19th century until now.
2πR Performance: 2.00pm
Greek dances in the “passage”.
Arabic calligraphy: 2.15pm - 3.15pm
Calligraphy workshop by Nedim.
Basic rights: 2.15pm - 2.45pm
For many years, numerous students of Taalhuis Amsterdam have donated extra above their course fee to enable refugees without papers to join (Dutch) courses for free. ASKV / Steunpunt Vluchtelingen will join this day to talk about the basic rights of people without papers.
Workshop Greek dances: 2.30pm - 3.15pm
Learn how to dance in Greece (all ages), by 2 πR.
The woman who sparked a revolution: 3.00pm - 3.30pm
Farzaneh Malekpour relocated to Amsterdam from Iran 2,5 years ago and is learning Dutch with Taalhuis. Having experienced the hardships of being a woman in Iran, she is determined to take advantage of the freedom she now has to amplify the voices of those women who are still being silenced for simply wanting to live a “normal life”.
Etymology by Word Wanders: 3.00pm - 4.00pm
The word companion finds its origins in com ("with") and panis ("bread"). Word Wanders (a.k.a. the sisters Martirossian) will still your etymological hunger in this combination of animated storytelling and a workshop!
Sing in English with Jonathan: 4.00pm - 4.40pm
English singing workshop for children (ages 7 to 12). Learn to sing a song in English with Jonathan and perform in the “passage”!
Belly dancing: 4.15pm - 5.00pm
Workshop by Bellysima (for all ages).
Italian wine stories: 4.15pm - 5.15pm
Winetasting by Femmes de Vin accompanied by texts from antiquity in Latin, Greek and Arabic by Dr Ivo Wolsing. This wine tasting and lecture is in Dutch and costs 27,50 euros. You can register here.
Sing a Dutch song with Una: 5.30pm - 6.30pm
Practice your Dutch by learning a Dutch song with Taalhuis’ Dutch teacher (and Jazz singer!) Una Bergin!
How to register for the workshops?
Register for the workshops and lectures using this form. There is a limited number of spots available for each lecture and workshop, so don’t wait too long!
