2017 German Langauge Schools in Berlin: Info, Review and Insiders' Experience
Monday, February 20, 2017
Hi, I'm Jessie.
"How to choose a good German language school?" is definitely the most frequently asked and discussed topic, and also the most crucial part to consider if you're coming to Germany for your studies, or if you wish to brush up your German.
To make things easier, I have collected and gathered reviews provided by students from the Taiwanesische Studentenverein in Berlin and some Malaysian students and compiled into this entry which is mainly focused on their reviews and experiences in that particular language school they visited in Berlin.
This article will not be talking about the type of courses each school provides as well as the course fees etc since their websites are all ready-made with fresh accurate information, I'm pretty sure you can check that out yourself.
The reviews are directly translated from this post which is also written by me originally in Chinese.
The reviews and experiences written below are guaranteed to be extremely honest and trustable - this article does not contain any advertisement nor bias. You will also find polarized opinions in one same school as, well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You go through different learning experience depends on who you met and how you are treated.
As usual, FOR REFERENCE ONLY.
Language school with a 99% positive review might not fit you and school with a 44% positive review does not guarantee a bad learning experience either. There's no absolute standard.
If you've completely no idea which school to choose yet, you might want to read the text below. If you're here to read just reviews and insiders' experience, feel free to scroll down.
There isn't a PERFECT language school
Some schools are customized for students who are soon taking up German exams and enrol at a uni. This type of schools normally design a rather tight-knit and compact course and provide more homework, generally it's just not as fun.
(Type A)
While some schools are focused on providing a rather "fun" learning experience, usually more relaxed and slack so people who learn German out of interest or just for survival purpose might find this type of schools more enjoyable.
(Type B)
Key of Choosing a School: Your Purpose of Learning
If your purpose here is merely to "be able" to speak the language, just to learn it for fun, under a working holiday visa, for marriage or any stress-free purpose, type B is definitely more in line with your needs. Going to type A schools for sure are going to stress you out and gradually you will find learning German such a burden and unrewarding task, probably won't stop whining about how difficult is the language as well as the homework. It's not going to the right direction.
If you're here for your studies or your career requires a cert for your German proficiency and your final goal will have to be taking up exams like TestDAF, DSH, Telc Hochschule, Goethe-Zertifikat etc... type B schools are absolutely not for you. The class might be fun but the course and the teaching style of the teachers are not designed for exam candidates. You need tips and tricks for passing the exam and they don't provide that. In this case, you should visit type A and have someone to push and help appropriately and accordingly.
The Quality Depends on the Teacher, not the School nor Price
Never think the bigger the better, nor the pricier the better. Goethe-Institut is renowned for their scale and price, the name "Goethe-Institut" itself is valuable but it does not guarantee all of their teachers are good at teaching.
Factors You Might Also Need to Consider
Whether the course fee is directly proportional to the teaching units; if the teaching units meet the requirement of your visa application; location of the school; safety and accessibility of public transport.
Note: the table below only covers names and intensive course fees of those bigger german language schools in Berlin.
Without further ado, here's the review and insiders' experience:
Sprachenatelier
http://www.sprachenatelier-berlin.de/en
http://www.sprachenatelier-berlin.de/en
"Personally i find it pretty good, small group, free and relaxed atmosphere and almost everyone got enough chance to speak during the lessons."
"I think it depends on the teacher. Not all are good but good ones taught pretty well. The size of the class depends. Overall i like the school."
Deutsch Akademie
http://www.deutschakademie.de/berlin/
http://www.deutschakademie.de/berlin/
*abbrev. DA
"Went to the one at Wittenbergplatz. Excellent teachers and friendly staffs."
"A Taiwanese friend who transferred to Hartnackschule from Deutsch Akademie said that DA's courses are easier."
"Teachers at DA are more willing to spend time to write on the whiteboard (especially important for people like me who is very bad at spelling) and provide additional learning material, also provided email address so we can send out homework [outside classes]; during the first lesson they would inquire the part we would like to improve individually (oral, listening, writing or vocabs...); helpful when answering questions and only in DA they are very strict when it comes to correcting pronunciation and tongue position, not just when you misread something in a sentence."
"Depends if you get along with your teacher. You can just decide at the reception after the first lesson, personally i find the staffs very friendly but the atmosphere among the classmates is also crucial."
"Pros: location-wise will be convenient if you successfully get a place at DA Alexanderplatz. Teachers i've met were all good at training oral and having group activity.
Cons: Only four lessons from Monday to Thursday each week."
"A few friends around me recommended DA."
"DA recommended! I've learnt all the way to level B2 and i like it. Unlike BSI where 20 students are stuffed in one classroom, there are only 10 students here. Superb environment and the whole atmosphere is filled with vitality! Both teachers and staffs at the office are young, energetic and friendly. The point is they really care about the feedbacks from the students and never stop improving."
"I will recommend DA if you are not going for any German exams. The staffs have good work attitude; just enough students in one class and I had an absolute pleasant learning experience there. The point is they really care about the students' feedbacks! The textbook we used for level B2 was pretty awful and just the next day we informed them, our teacher brought in a few other textbooks from other publishers and started discussing if we all think it is necessary and would like to change to another book. If you are lucky enough to meet a good teacher, they would have a one-to-one private talk with each student and provide suggestion like what you'll still need to improve and which part you're good at etc. They also asked privately what we think about the teaching style and the atmosphere... the last time there was this Turkish girl in my class who used the classroom as her own platform to talk about her political views in broken German, it was hard for everyone and some of us talked about it and since then the teacher tried not to let her talk as much as before, at least not her political views.
The major con is definitely too short. Just 4 days a week and less than 3 hour (minus recess time) a day. Also applied for the TestDAF preparation course at DA before and had a horribly rude teacher (Warluks...) who i later wrote an email and complained about. This Ms. Warluks wanted to enjoy a longer holidays so she wilfully shortened our 6-week course into a 4-week course, increasing two more hours for each lesson. She only informed everyone during the first lesson and such sudden modification has made everyone exhausted and hungry. As each course lasted longer, she increased two more short recess time so we were basically just wasting our time. Extremely low learning efficiency, all i could say. Her attitude is also another problem: she found questions that some of us asked are too easy and she said "What you just asked is simply a nonsense (Quatsch)." and called students who left during recess to buy bread "So stupid. (So dumm)". The preparation course is designed to be 6 weeks so we have enough time to learn every part but back then we had only 4, everything was in a rush that she didn't have time to correct our homework (although she should, actually), so I asked if we could send the essay to her email, and she answered: "What you guys paid are just the course fee, if i'm gonna use my spare time to correct your homework, I'm not paid." Well. horrible Ms. Warluks, but generally DA is humble and willing to get feedbacks. It really depends on the teacher."
"Been to four different language schools in Berlin and I truly recommend DA. They have more good teachers than other schools."
"Superb environment, affordable, friendly teachers and staffs! The overall atmosphere is youthful and energetic. And clean!"
"The pace of lesson is too fast, in compare with other language school, they are four days less for the same level. If you do not have enough spare time to study German yourself, i don't think it's solid enough here."
"Personally i really don't recommend DA. Amount of lesson is not enough and the course is loosely organized."
"The courses at DA are way too relaxed. It's not enough if you're taking up exam and also for person like me who won't improve without being pushed."
"The courses are absolutely relaxed and I didn't get along with my teacher back then. According to a friend of mine, DA is more suitable for beginners (level A1 or A2)."
IIK Berliner ID
http://www.berlinerid.de/en/sprachschule/
"Very good. Great work attitude and affordable price."
"Some teachers are good, some are bad but they all review your homework. No internet provided at their accommodation but they don't let you know beforehand... a lot of them stayed at the school for the wifi. The address of the school can be used to receive personal letters. Quite a few Chinese and Malaysian students over here...
Activities take place every week and there are gatherings at pub at the beginning and end of the course. They arrange monthly excursion to Reichstag building and Potsdam."
"IIK is rather expensive and their accommodation has very bad reputation. They also fool people upon taking up the placement test by telling you that your german proficiency is not eligible for your next level (if you've studied before) and usually "suggest" you to redo from the previous FEW levels. Apparently they're just money-grubber.
This school also collaborated with some public scholarships (for example from Malaysia government) so they never have to worry about their student sources. A big no."
"I was in Goethe-Institut Kuala Lumpur until B1 and when I went to IIK, I was asked to redo my B1 and have wasted lots of time on this. The person in charge seems totally money-hunger and have different attitudes towards students with different nationalities.
If you want accommodation with wifi, the only option is to stay at their homestay. It costs more and is usually 40min-1hr with public transport away from the school. The quality of their homestay is horrible, extremely noisy and often had party at night. If you stay at their student dormitory, there's no internet connection and is very dirty as they seldom clean the space.
The course is not bad, they do review our homework but really depends on the teacher."
Hartnackschule
http://hartnackschule-berlin.de
"If you have zero basic, the grammar you learn here is very helpful for exams."
"Hartnackschule is a better choice if you're taking up exam."
"Hartnackschule is highly considerable from the scale, teachers, location, transport and course fee."
"There were about 20 people in one class during A1 and 10+ people for A2, some only showed up once in a while...
Generally the teachers at Hartnackschule are pretty good and give everyone chances to talk and answer questions one by one but here comes the problem: those who were frequently absent got stuck at the same topic for too long as they missed it before. If the teachers are patient, they spent too much time explaining all over again and that affected the whole learning progress. This is always the con of having too many students in one class.
Hartnackschule emphasizes more on grammar."
"Depends on the teacher you meet at Hartnackschule, the experience could be extremely different. My first teacher was good but was always late for class for 10-15 minutes. There was once that he didn't ask for leave in advance and didn't come to the class, the staff came to inform only until the first class has ended. Some has then asked how would they make up the missed lesson and the staff just said we could visit other classes which were available at that time slot but no one went anyway.
The second one was great and punctual, though some classmates thought what the teacher taught was too difficult.
The third one was crazy. He photocopied tons of papers and exercises and we always need 40min even an hour to complete them. All this while he was using the computer, later did some minor correction and dismissed the class. During the second class, handed out another paper and we looked up the dictionary ourselves while he continued using the computer, and dismissed the class...
The school also collaborated with a cinema and we get to watch movie for just 5 EUR but the movie was aired at the same time as our lesson. Eventually we have no choice but forced to pay and watch the movie instead of having German lessons."
"I guess the teaching styles of male teachers and females teachers at Hartnackschule are quite different. I find the male teachers rather practical and seldom do group practice, while female teachers are more creative with teaching, answering questions while passing the ball etc. (Dr. Peli, Eva - taught too slow, nice but too patient to spend time explaining what she taught in the previous lesson to new students; never heard her speaking in English); Inene Wilken (substitute teacher for two days): took pictures she cut down from magazine and applied on new conversation and grammar we just learnt; out of 6 teachers i've been taught, Robert Varga is my least favourite, he speaks too soft and always threw out random questions but skipped my turn to answer for a few times, that makes me unhappy but then he was only in charge for one lesson as a substitute teacher so might not be accurate.
Henrik Ehmann teaches good, always arrived punctual for the class but dismissed late. He emphasized a lot on grammars and often handed out additional materials. Since he is in charge for intermediate-hard level German, what he teaches is usually more difficult. He seldom used Arbeitsbuch, very little homework but also not easy to accomplish. He often speaks English in class. My current teacher is Herkenrath Thorsten, very solid, a funny guy. Amount of homework is fine. He is good at guiding students to think for the answers for themselves. Another old teacher Wolfgang always brought a beer with him to class, he teaches quite well but gave out a horribly amount of homework, was once 10 pages in a day."
"The teachers at Hartnackschule are willing to write on whiteboard but the course was like a last minute exam preparation course, we were always doing exercises and correcting the answers. I really don't like their way of teaching."
Tandem Berlin
http://tandem-berlin.de
"Teachers are pretty good, not too much students and have lots of chances to practice, the location isn't bad either. Though the prices are quite high, it's worth for the quality."
"Not bad. Small group. Met a teacher called Jan who helped a lot in correcting my mistake in pronunciation (I didn't know I had such problems). I went for summer class and the atmosphere was rather free and relaxed, hardly given any homework. The people at Tandem hold activity at least two to three times a week in the afternoon and are mainly about history and culture of Berlin, also once in a while to cinema so was able to get to know students from other countries studying in different levels. The summer class is really suitable for people who has interest in exploring culture and honestly, these exploration-activities have made me forgotten my German studies and exams but I had a lot of fun and made unforgettable summer memory. The location of the school is great and safe though the rent for nearby apartments/rooms is rather expensive.
What a pity that Jan is no longer teaching here, no idea where he goes... I didn't see his name in the list anymore. He is absolutely good at correcting pronunciation, he saved my oral skill!"
http://bsiberlin.com
"Vary in quality, depends on teachers but classes are all big groups with more than 10 students."
"The teachers have changed too many times from A2 to B1. If not that I have paid for the fees I might have already switched school. Quality of the teachers is rather poor and it's hard to get a good one. More than half of the students (below level B1) are all sponsored by the government so they skipped class too often that it didn't feel like a proper learning environment at all. The levels of classmates often vary. Totally a waste of time here."
"You're gonna have a hard time over here if taught by a Jewish teacher. He even speaks german better than any German people."
"Though located at Turkish area, some teachers are good and you can apply online, as well as visit some turkish market after class."
"Quality of teachers varies. The good one provided lots of additional learning material and helped boost memories for vocabs by always having small test but the rest...hardly write."
Die Neue Schule
http://neueschule.de
"Emphasize more on oral for level A1 to B1"
"If you are lack of basics, you find your life saver here. The teachers are very patient."
"I think it really depends on the teacher as the difference could be huge. I would like to recommend a teacher called Irmgard, serious in attitude and strict, the class atmosphere wasn't quite relaxed (fast learning pace and lots of homework) but very solid, very good at sorting out grammars. Highly recommended."
"Pros: Five lessons per week for intensive course. Can be considered if you're taking up exams. Very solid and great for building grammatical base.
Cons: Course fees are slightly pricier than other language schools, 4 weeks cost me 380 EUR."
Die Deutschule
http://die-deutschule.de
"Teachers are pretty good. Textbooks used are excellent and you have classmates from all around the world. Considerably affordable."
"Mid-range price, small group lesson, quick progress, many homework, many games, many tests, great teachers, great textbook used and classmates generally speak English. Hardly any Asians."
"The teachers I've met are pretty good. Worth the price and you can go for one probation class before deciding."
Goethe-Institut
https://www.goethe.de/de/index.html
People don't usually choose to learn German at Goethe-Institut in Germany as their course fees are approx. 4-5 times more than any other language schools. Goethe-Institut doesn't represent the best, it's mainly the brand.
We have much more better choices in Germany. You don't have to pay that much to visit a proper German language course here. It's already the land of German.
If you are the kind who think basics are everything, or you have already learnt B1 or B2 but still think you basics aren't solid enough, I would say Goethe-Institut is somewhere you can consider, if you have enough money and are ready to pay that much. Goethe-Institut is undeniably good at basics building.
Personally i've tried the A1 Distance Learning Course by Goethe-Institut before i started any proper language course and my conclusion is: horrible quality. The software is poorly designed and built, very little learning resources and in brief, it's just a rubbish form of course which is not even complete but still put on shelves and ask for a huge amount of money. You hardly learn anything except some basic vocabularies, what you do is just answering questions and someone from Goethe-Institut helps to follow up your progress via email each week. Apart from that, totally nothing.
You learn literally, nothing.
Volkshochschule
http://www.berlin.de/vhs/volkshochschulen/
"Affordable, large group, slow progress, very little homework, no test, teacher was fine, classmates mostly speak Spanish"
"Learnt my A2 and B1 there. The reason for choosing VHS is usually because of its affordable price, just 150 EUR, totally worth it! In fact VHS has some other pros as well.
Very large group, around 20 people so the chances for speaking in class are really little. Hardly any Asians over there (only met one Korean American in six months). Most classmates were French, Italian and east Europeans who hardly know how to speak English, as well as south American so we only communicate in German when we hang out after class, these are all better opportunities to practice than in class.
The teachers I've met are generally older, very nice people and sometimes brought us to the library, exhibition and music concerts, walk around and learn new vocabs. There was always a small party after the last class and we shared our favourite foods, nice German music and poems, very fun experience.
The pace was moderately fast, at least faster than Goethe Institut in Hong Kong. No test and hardly any homework. It's true that they don't really correct our pronunciation so I was always plagued by different accents and pronunciation from every classmate."
Reviews and Experiences Credit to: Taiwanesische Studentenverein in Berlin, my friends, myself
Images Credit to: Google, websites of each school
Here marks the end of this article.
I hope you find it helpful and that it helps to make your journey to Germany easier.
If you wanna submit and share your own opinion and review, feel free to drop a comment or send an email. The email address can be found at the sidebar.
Please give full and clear credits when sharing or just use the "Share On..." function below directly.
Have fun learning German!
I hope you find it helpful and that it helps to make your journey to Germany easier.
If you wanna submit and share your own opinion and review, feel free to drop a comment or send an email. The email address can be found at the sidebar.
Please give full and clear credits when sharing or just use the "Share On..." function below directly.
Have fun learning German!
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