just wondering if we should look at a different school - my hubby went to his first class last night and the teacher did not speak any english or provide any instructions in english - everything is only german. As he is brand new to German, it's a bit tough to follow so just wondering if that is the norm or maybe we look at other places? The school was recommended by our gemeinde but after one class he is already frustrated which isn't the best outcome

Totally normal, especially in classes organised by the Canton where many people attending may not speak English. If you want classes in English, you probably need to go to the more expensive language schools (e.g. Berlitz, Inglingua etc..).

I have tried Inlingua, but it has the same problem, they expect you to know basic German.

Google:

Rosetta stone

He should use it as motivation to go that extra mile and be the best!!

Go get 'em Tiger!

i would prefer this as you learn faster and have to concentrate more.

Totally normal. When I started learning German I could maybe say two words, and when my teacher started talking completely in German I felt lost for about ten minutes, but as the class progressed the hand motions and drawings helped communicate across all the languages represented in our class.

If your husband is feeling really lost, maybe he should try moving to a class with a different teacher--the nonverbal communication by the teacher is really important in the beginning, but in my opinion you learn faster if the teacher just speaks in German.

If I decide to take a language school in Canada to learn English or French do you think they would have the instructions in german?

That's too tough. My neighbour recently started German (Migroschule I believe) and there was some English spoken. Mainly in explaining what the homework was and exactly what the questions were that the class then had to answer.

You can't start a new language with NO translatons at all. Maybe there's some English in the text book you're using?

Otherwise how would "fill in the blanks with the correct verb" be understandable, in German, to someone who's only done an hour of German?

Oh, you can! It takes a lot of patience on the part of the teacher, and a lot of determination on the part of the student, but is absolutely normal in quite a lot of (most?) languages schools in the world.

It's how I've always taught English.

Dictionary and some work.

To be honest, if you just turn up to a language course without having done any work on the language before, you are in for a tough time.
Time to get out that Learn German book and give it a go before wasting money on a class.

All German classes will be in German only.

When I did Migroschule, everything was in German. But what was really really stupid is that the admin staff talk to you in dialect.

I already had some German, so I was ok. But I did end up translating for some of the other students, which really annoyed the teacher!

Hi there

Im doing my first Course in German aswell and I think its normal for the to speak only German. It a rule that they do as you have so many people from all over and not everyone understands English, otherwise the teacher would have to explain him or herself in all dialects!.... or not! Get a dictionary that help0s and just keep on aking if you dont understand after all you paying to learn.

Yep, that is certainly the case. I went to Sprachwelten which I can highly recommend and the teacher spoke in German about 99% of the time. Even when we had informal chats before and after classes, she would speak in German. I found it really good actually because it forced me to understand what was being said. A dictionary is a must but I also found, if I didn't know the meaning of a word, she would try to explain it in German but in a simpler way, accompanied sometimes by sign language....but not in English.

M

I am currently taking a beginning German course and it is also only in German. I really like it. The instructor will use other German words, draw cartoons/pictures, act out things to get her point across and forbids us from speaking English in class and won't let us use German-English dictionaries in class either- there are actually all English speakers in my course. It makes it hard at times and I go home and look up a lot of words but that is why the course is billed as "for motivated learners". Ultimately I think we will learn faster through this immersion in German.

You can. You did it with English...

Took me a few years to grasp the basics and I spent at least a year not saying a word. Don't think it's a valid comparison.

It's quite valid, as you were much younger then, you were slower...

English is easier to teach in ... English only, than German in German only. When I taught German in the UK, I did start totally in German- but then, from time to time, scheduled a lesson in English to introduce the grammatical concepts of nominative, accusative, dative, etc. as they are 'aliens' to most Brits (as 'irrelevant' in English = the 'case' makes no difference).

If you want to teach students to manipulate language, then at some point, they need to understand the mechanics. Parrots are not very good at adapting language for own use.

English tenses are extremely complicated - with 7 ways of expressing the past alone. And yet I'll wager you were never officially taught any of these...