All good questions. What is perfect for one person, is not right for another, because there are so many different ways people learn (some are more visual, others auditory etc.). The key IMO is to understand how you learn, and then ask the right questions to ascertain if the school suits your learning style. I wanted a small class. So I chose a school that splits classes when they get to 8 students. This happened on week 3 of my course, so we are now a group of 4, one of which joined us late but took 5 hours of private instruction, so he joined the group completely on pace with the rest of the class.

As gooner says, identify what your key points are and ask those questions of the prospective schools, and ask for the free session. Then you are more likely to end up in the school that suits you (as opposed to someone else whose criteria for happy learning may be completely different from yours).

__________________
Thus far you have been adrift in the sheltered harbour of my patience. ~ Cobra Bubbles

anyone taking night classes? I have to get back into school, but cannot do it days anymore...looking for somewhere that offers 2 nights a week.

or should I maybe just hire someone for one on one??

hrm.

Just out of curiosity Music Mole, what school are you going now?

[quote=andrew1306;28640]Hi - Now Im in Migro and in addition to it being the cheapest (and includes books), I have found it very good. A few years ago I was at EB and it was very good, though I got a bad teacher in one of the classes.

Alpha is also supposed to be good, but expensive. ....
EDIT - I have just heard today that a girl in my class called alpha and apparently it is about the same price as Migro...

I CAN VOUCH FOR ALPHA. THE PRICES ARE MORE THAN FAIR AND THEY OFFER A FRIENDLY AND STILL DISCIPLINED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT WITH SMALL CLASSES AND GOOD TEACHER: STUDENT RATIO.

I GOT VERY GOOD RESULTS WITH THEM.

I DROPPED OUT OF ALPHA FOR A WHILE AND WENT TO ONE OF THE MORE EXPENSIVE MULTI NATIONAL SCHOOLS. THE CONCEPT AND THE SALES PRESENTATION WERE GOOD, HOWEVER THE CLASS QUALITY LESS SO. I WENT BACK TO ALPHA, PAID LESS AND GOT MORE.

THE QUALITY OF TEACHER IS IMPORTANT. IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT THAT THE SCHOOL PUTS ONE IN WITH OTHERS OF SIMILAR ABILITY OR YOU END UP EITHER STRUGGLING YOURSELF OR LOSING TIME WAITING FOR OTHERS.

FWIW I booked with Migros for their two nights a week of 2 hours or so course starting in May 2007, I got a cancellation from them a week later (apparently not enough sign ups, 6 weeks before the course starts FFS). All they offered instead were daytime courses which don't suit me due to actually having a job etc

I am therefore going to speak to alpha for a test and course soonest.

http://www.alphasprachstudio.ch/e/ab...e=yes&subnr=01

Anyone learning DE from basic wanna join me? I imagine I am A1-A2 (basic).

Will keep ya'll informed.

I studied at Migros in Oerlikon for two months intensiv.

I felt the course was excellent, and well priced compared with other schools. I met some interesting people in my class.

I chose to return to my home country for various reasons but if I stayed at the time I would have continued there.

I looked around other schools and also had the dodgy used car sales experience at Benedict. The one thing Benedict has going for it is the speech rooms where you can practice your speech, although I never tried it as the dodgy salesman put me off attending this school.

Migros, if I am not mistaken, does not go above the B2 level in German. At least not the Migros at which I've looked.

I've been doing Migros for 1 night a week since the beginning of march, beginner level. I'm finding it pretty helpful. The price was extremely reasonable.

I have to admit it was difficult at first, as the teacher only spoke to us in German. In a multi cultural class this is only way to go, but a couple of people dropped out as they found it too hard. After the first couple of weeks you start to get the hang of it and it's a better way of working.

I now catching the drift of my high german speaking colleagues, but unfortunately, swiss German is still completely incomprehensible to me. I can only hope this will come in time.

They go up to C2

http://www.klubschule.ch/framedef_1....592A465B12D43C

Thanks for the link. It must be the school in Baden that limits itself to B2 and below. I was looking there a few weeks ago.

Hej,
I`m a stranger here but I need quick support
I`m gonna have interview tomorrow in switzerland in english but I`m not native in english...
So:
what is the meaning of
a, cranked up
b, billion bucks

please

This really isn't the place but as you have an interview tomorrow & you are probably nervous I'll be nice .

crank up
Verb
An informal phrase which means to increase or improve something.
Example:He cranked up the noise of the radio.

A buck is a slang term for the American dollar & an American billion of those is $1,000,000,00. If it were a British billion it would be £1,000,000,000,000.

Good luck!

p.s. I will delete these posts tomorrow

Hallo,
Thank you for support!

Hello! I have problems with this akkusativ, dativ etc... and besides that now I am a mother of two. This makes it a little bit more difficult for me to go to school. Therefore would you please tell me what books can I buy so I can do some study on my own? When I was going to school I used one that came with a C.D and even when it is difficult for me to speak it I already understand the whole C.D. Please let me know the name of the books and where can I buy them. Thanks a million!!!

Rosetta Stone or other online / learning audio might be what you are looking for...

Rather than a book+cd

Mr H

I learned german in Frankfurt (Goethe Institute) in a superintensive course. I should say from a A1 level after 2 months I'm in a comfortable B2 level capable of expressing and writing in German...enough to survive at work.

Hi there... I have gone / am going to Sprachwelten as well - and find it excellent. The ambiance is fabulous and they are really "teachers" who care about their learners. No pressure, no intimidation and close to Enge so a great location.

Fiona

Speaking personally but I think a bit of pressure when you learning is a good thing.

Not sure about initimidation though!! Where did you get that? I don't need anonymous SMS's at midnight threatening to 'cut' me if I don't do my homework...

I can only help you with B2 and above in terms of books I have actually used myself at home. Previous to that I took courses with books I did not like, or the instructor gave us self-made handouts.

The "Übungsgrammatik: Deutsch als Fremdsprache" series from Hueber is supposed to be good and was recommended to me by my excellent instructor at ZHW. I believe that he selectively chose exercises from these books for our class. I personally have used neither the Anfänger nor the Fortgeschrittene (Mittelstufe and beginning of the Oberstufe) as they seemed too easy after my Mittelstufe class. I have the feeling that they could very useful for you. They will have exercises on the cases / Kasus. You can easily buy these books, for instance, at Orell Füssli on Bahnhofstrasse -- the big one across from the Coop after Rennweg. I'd recommend going to their languages section (first floor?) and fingering through both to see which would fit you. They are extremely large and contain a lot of information and exercises.

For grammar, I really like the book "Essential Grammar" that gives explanations in english (and other languages). It's been recommended by 2 teachers and it can easily become a reference book for the basic stuff like n-declensions and akkusative/dative stuff.

Here's the link for it on amazon but you can buy it almost anywhere.
http://www.amazon.de/Grundstufen-Gra...6906012&sr=1-5

If you're going to buy it, make sure you buy the one for english as it does come with other language versions.

Good luck.

~ Nanda.