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I studied English at the University of Amsterdam and graduated in English Linguistics in 1979, with minors in General Linguistics, Translation Studies and Anglo-American Studies. I worked as a lecturer of English Language Acquisition at the UvA for many years, and then moved into new directions: I worked as a researcher / interviewer / director for a Dutch television production company, making informative TV programmes for Dutch national television, and I worked as a communications specialist for McKinsey & Company, a large international consultancy agency. There I advised consultants and clients on how to conduct meetings, give convincing presentations, write clear and well-organised reports, etc., and I translated, edited and wrote reports, articles and presentations. In 2003 I returned to the UvA. My teaching focuses on sociolinguistics, writing skills, presentation techniques, translation, grammar and the cultural aspects of communication. I have been involved in a large number of internationalisation projects, in which Dutch students work together with students from universities abroad (e.g. Venice, Southampton, Melbourne, York, Minnesota). My research focuses on political discourse and cross-cultural and on-line communication.

Other tasks

Vice-chair exam committee for the English department

Books

Laaken, M. van der & Laaken, B. van der (2007). Presentation Techniques. Bussum: Coutinho.
Laaken, M. van der, Lankamp, R.E., & Sharwood Smith, M.(1991/2001). Writing Better English. Bussum: Coutinho.

Selected presentations

• 1 July 2008. With Rosalie Mesker (UvA) and Angela Goddard (York St John). Hello, England Calling. The DIVERSE2008 international conference on the use of multi-media in higher education (Haarlem).
• 31 July 2009. With Rose van der Zwaard (UvA) and Yoni Prior (Deakin). Artspeak: Articulating Artistic Process across Cultural Boundaries in the Digital Theatre. The 4th International Conference on the Arts in Society (Venice).
• 21 October 2011. Framing Europe: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Party-Political Broadcasts for the 2009 EU Elections. Conference of the ECREA Political Communications Section (Madrid).