Kom verder!

Kom verder! is suitable for both medium and higher educated non-speakers of Dutch. The course starts at A1 level and trains up to level A2: the required level for the civic integration exam in the Netherlands.

This book is very suitable for self-study: the answers to the questions can be found in the back of the book and the audio files of the texts can be downloaded from NT2SCHOOL. Wordlists are available in English, Turkish, Arabic and Chinese and can be downloaded from the same website. In the back of the book, an explanatory list to difficult terms has been included.

Kom verder! is bedoeld voor cursisten die zich voorbereiden op het KNM-onderdeel van het inburgeringsexamen in Nederland. De methode is geschikt voor zowel midden- als hoogopgeleide cursisten.

Ad Bakker

Ad Bakker (Gouda 1955) was part of the first wave of students to graduate under the Secondary Education Act when he earned his Atheneum diploma in 1974. He passed the final exam at the Secondary Horticultural School the following year, and began his career as a teacher in flower and vegetable cultivation in lower horticultural education. Meanwhile, he studied part-time to obtain second- and first-level teaching qualifications in Dutch.

In 1982, he moved to Curaçao to work as a teacher in agriculture. In 1987, he made the switch to Aruba to teach Dutch in senior general secondary education (HAVO) and university preparatory education (VWO). In 1988, he began studying for a newly created degree in Aruban law at the law faculty that was established when the island was granted semi-autonomous status. In 1994, he graduated from the programme and returned to The Netherlands. He became a speed-skating instructor and an NT2 teacher in Amsterdam.

Through a supplementary programme at Radboud University Nijmegen, he earned a degree in Dutch law in 1996. With this background, he developed a special interest in Societal Orientation. He created an accelerated integration programme for Surinamese immigrants for the Regional Training Centre (ROC) in Amsterdam. This programme led to the development of the methods Nederland in zicht and Kom verder!

Since 2005, he has devoted himself entirely to writing. In addition to developing material for Knowledge of Dutch Society (KNS), he also created the AAP  literacy method and a simplified version of De canon van Amsterdam. He wrote the section on improving literacy for Naar Nederland. Since 2007, he has managed the web blog for the KNS exam. His columns appear on the site each week. From 2005 to 2012, he served as a supervisor for Kantlijn, the Amsterdam writing club for the homeless.