INDIVIDUAL, FLEXIBLE LESSONS, ADAPTED TO YOUR NEEDS
Hi!
My name is Sarah Blendstrup and I have been working as a Danish teacher since 2018. I am a native Dane with a Master’s degree in Danish language and literature from the University of Southern Denmark. I have also been trained in second-language learning and acquisition from Copenhagen University.
I offer 1-to-1 lessons that can be tailored to your current level, goals, and whatever aspects of Danish that may give you the most trouble. You can buy lessons individually or as a package, and you can book them whenever you need, at the pace you want — it's not a subscription.
I work regularly with the following cases.
I prepare students for official exams such as Prøve i Dansk 2/3 and Studieprøven, both beginners and students who have a foundation—sometimes with uneven skills that require focus on specific areas. The success rate among my students is 94%.
Some of my students residing in Denmark are also attending the free group lessons provided by the state, but they still benefit from getting personalized feedback and a focus on specific issues in my private lessons, be it pronunciation, grammar, expanding general or domain-specific vocabulary, and improving the student's writing skills and style, both in academic and business contexts.
Others prefer using exclusively private online lessons because of the flexibility, or because they live outside Denmark — some are planning to work in Denmark and they want to have a base level by the time they arrive. Our study plan will depend on these circumstances.
Some of my students already have a high level of Danish, they may have passed Studieprøven (C1 level), but they still need to cover certain gaps, they have specific questions, or they want to improve their communication.
Alongside the purely linguistic aspects, in my lessons, at all levels, I also introduce topics about Danish culture, history, and customs, which are also important for communication with native Danes.
I also have experience teaching children and teenagers, both living abroad and those who have moved to Denmark recently. I have built different approaches and materials for different age groups. With children, I often use an interactive whiteboard—it's browser-based, so you don't need to install anything.
In some cases, I also teach small groups.
We can discuss your current situation, goals and timeframe during our first lesson, and from there build a customized study plan.
As a person, I am very patient, and it is important for me that you feel comfortable showing me your difficulties and giving your opinion.
I combine existing books with a variety of teaching materials I have prepared myself, including slides, documents about frequent issues in grammar, vocabulary and culture, exercises and texts of varying difficulty, flashcards and quizzes. I can also send short lecture notes after each class if the student requests them.
The lessons can take place on Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Jitsi Meet, Skype, or Zoom. I use Google Docs annotations for correcting and giving feedback for exercises.
You can check out my profile and reviews in Preply and Verbling.
You can also download my full CV in English and Danish.
If you have any questions, you can write to me at sarah@blendstrup.com or on Facebook.
As a private client, you can book lessons through teaching platforms or directly. If you are a business client, you can check out my page for businesses.
Booking lessons directly
If you book lessons directly with me, the lessons can take place on Skype, Hangouts, Jitsi or Zoom.
My rate for individual lessons with private clients is 560 Danish kroner (DKK) per hour. This is around 82 USD, but the conversion rate for students living outside Denmark is calculated from DKK at the time of the invoice. Private clients are exempt from VAT (MOMS).
I offer a discount of 5% when you buy a bundle of 5 hours, or 10% when you buy 10 hours, which you can spend on one-hour and half-hour lessons at a pace that suits you.
You can book a free half-hour introductory lesson before you decide to buy a bundle.
If you are part of a small group of people who want to learn Danish, I can also offer group lessons to the whole group. The price per student will be lower in this case, you can contact me for the details.
Here you can read the whole terms and conditions.
If you have any questions, you can contact me at sarah@blendstrup.com. You can tell me about your current level and goals.
Booking lessons through a platform
We can also arrange individual lessons through some third-party platforms: currently Verbling, Italki and Preply (Sarah B.). These platforms include their own payment and videoconference systems and you will have to create an account with them. Please note that they charge a fee ranging from 15% to 18%, and while you can make payments with a credit card, I have to use PayPal on my end, which adds another 4% fee. Therefore, my rates are generally higher on these platforms than if you book directly with me.
The platforms currently don't allow group lessons. Verbling does not allow teaching children under the age of 13 even with parental supervision.
Even in case you decide to book lessons directly, you are welcome to read my reviews and stats on these platforms.
Other services
I also offer the following additional services.
Besides English, I can use German and Swedish as auxiliary languages in beginner’s lessons.
I can proofread texts such as applications, CVs, etc.
If you are an intermediate or advanced student who already works in Danish, I can provide feedback for your presentations.
I also have experience teaching Latin at a High School level.
Some useful resources for learning Danish
If you are learning Danish, independently of where and how, some of these resources can be useful for you. Most of them are free.
Beginner Visual dictionary with audio, especially useful for beginner levels.
Beginner danskherognu.dk has some free lessons and exercises.
I make my own materials, which I share during the lessons. I will be making some of them public here:
A0 Basic introductory mini-lesson This was made for a short talk at a business fair, it's not among the materials I use for teaching.
All Levels How fast can I learn Danish? This is not a lesson, but a frequent question among students, so I make this guide available here.
Intermediate Dansk I ørerne is a podcast where relatively easy Danish texts are read slowly and with very clear pronunciation. It's very good for students with an intermediate level who can already understand texts that are not very complicated but are having a hard time speaking and listening.
Young Learners Intermediate Danmarks historie for børn (Danish history for children) is another podcast that's easy to listen to and has transcripts. The content is oriented toward children, but adults can enjoy it too.
Intermediate Advanced wallnot.dk aggregates newspapers articles in Danish without a paywall, so you can use it as a free newspaper because all of them combined tend to cover a bit of everything.
Intermediate Advanced I recommend the Danish Wikipedia as a reading resource for students from an intermediate level, because the language is normative while the vocabulary is a bit more reduced than in fiction. And it has all kind of content so it's always possible to find stuff you find interesting. You can choose topics that interest you here.
Intermediate Advanced At dr.dk there are a lot of videos with subtitles in Danish. TV avisen (news) is especially easy for beginners because the pronunciation is a bit slower and more normative. You may not be able to see some things if you are outside Denmark though. There's also radio at dr.dk/lyd ; it also tends to be slow and normative but you won't have subtitles.
All Levels This is not free, but Praxis Publishing has some fiction books written in easy Danish, classified by different levels. Each level has a different colour in the cover. From easiest to hardest: red, green, yellow and blue. Some stories may not be as exciting as "real books" but they are good for the earliest levels A1 to B1 (DU3 modules 1 to 3). You can find them here alongside the textbooks.
Young Learners The National Museum has created free educational materials for primary and high school students.
I don’t recommend websites that rely on a single type of exercise based on machine-translated sentences. The quality of automatic translations is bad, and they don’t give informative feedback.
From the students' perspective
Sophia Weimin Han, owner of Apis Footwear
I have been learning Danish with Sarah for more than a year. To me, who speaks English with a Chinese mother tongue, Danish is a very difficult language to learn. But with Sarah, the experience is productive and full of fun.
Sarah’s teaching style makes the lessons engaging and enjoyable, and it keeps me motivated to learn. She keeps clear communication on explaining grammar rules and vocabulary in a way that’s easy to understand. She identifies my strengths and areas for improvement, ensuring efficient progress. She is also a very patient and supportive teacher. She takes the time to explain concepts thoroughly and encourages me to practice without feeling rushed. I’m impressed by her sense of humor, and that fills the learning time with a lot of fun. Her enthusiasm and encouragement have been helping me stay committed to learning. I highly recommend Sarah to be your Danish instructor.
Rámi El-Rashid, Data Scientist at CathVision
I have been learning Danish from Sarah for a bit over a year. She has been great at adapting the lessons to my needs and is always ready with something fun for the next lesson. I'm becoming more and more confident in Danish, I can really recommend Sarah as a teacher!
Una Neumann, People and Culture Manager at Eupry
Sarah provides feedback and guidance in a very constructive way. That has been of great help when I was preparing for my PD3 exam, which I managed to pass with solid grades thanks to her. She also manages to strike a balance between natural conversation and a good structure, and is in general nice to talk to - which is why I am also continuing with our lessons in preparation for Studieprøven :) I would highly recommend working with her if you are looking to take your Danish skills to the next level!
Erin Daina McClellan, Associate Professor at the Department of Culture and Learning, Aalborg University.
Sarah is the reason that we consider ourselves "part" of Danish society, not least because we can FINALLY get along in everyday Danish.
We moved to Denmark as a family during the covid-19 pandemic with no Danish family and no knowledge of Danish. We found ourselves in the untenable position of trying to meet the 3x week daytime class requirements at the sprog center (where we were entitled to free language education) while trying to work full time and support our children in their own transition to Danish school system. We found ourselves overstretched and without meaningful feedback about our language learning progress.
We were barely passing our module tests at the sprog center and worried about being able to pass our PD3 exam (necessary for non-EU residents to receive permanent residency) when the time came. Simultaneously, our children quickly tested "out" of the basis program (a "good" thing at its core) but realized this meant an end to their language learning support at school. We were devastated, because suddenly we had no one to help us. Enter Sarah.
We first hired Sarah as a "conversation partner" for my husband and I as we prepared for our PD2 exam. At the beginning, it was very difficult for us to understand what others said in Danish. She was both patient and able to use English in combination with Danish, so we could actually understand spoken Danish in addition to learning grammar. We always looked forward to our time with Sarah each week. She was often the only person who made us all feel like we could actually succeed (other factors in our everyday life sometimes felt impossible). The day my mom passed away, I was forced to pass a modul test at the sprog center in order to withdraw without losing my deposit. This proved to be the end of our time at the sprog center, but we still needed a lot of help to prepare for our language exam. Sarah added more lessons for us each week and we began the difficult process of preparing for our exams. She got us through the PD2 Exam (with high marks) AND gave us the confidence to prepare for (and pass) the PD3 Exam as well.
Most recently, Sarah adjusted our courses to account for the weekly in-person workplace Danish language learning class that we enrolled in. This combination proved to be the perfect match for us. She supplemented our in-class learning, answered our questions and provided the conversation practice we always need.
We also added dedicated weekly lessons for our children. Sarah worked with us to support them and their unique needs. I must write that I do not know what we all would do without Sarah! She is a person that my children trust. She is one of the only people they can count on to help them understand, succeed, and improve without feeling stupid or incapable. She reviews homework assignments, recommends good books and is currently supporting my eldest as he prepares for 9th grade leaving exams in Danish. She is the reason we feel capable of living "Danishly".
About me
I inherited my love for Danish and languages from my paternal grandmother, who was a teacher of Danish and History for many years. With her, I developed a keen interest in teaching, and when I was about to finish Upper Secondary School, I knew that I wanted to do a Master’s in Danish literature and Latin language.
Before being a teacher online I worked as a teaching assistant in an undergraduate introductory course in Danish language, culture, and history as part of an internship at Lund University.
Besides Danish and English, I speak German and Swedish, and my minor is Classical Latin. I am currently learning Spanish.
You can download my full CV in English here, and in Danish here.