Good Morning,

I have tried a search but most info is sparse or well out of date.

I just wanted to get a feel for recent experience with the intensive courses at Alemania in Zurich. Has anyone been there recently and how was the teaching performed, class sizes and if the experience was positive, ie good value for money?

In terms of flying teachers, has anyone tried the intensive beginner course? Does it start right at the basic or do they also offer intermediate? This info is not really clear on their website. Also anyone who has experienced the course would be interested in hearing about how it went.

Thanks!

Just quit my Alemania course actually - the teacher was ok, but the class size was 15 after they promised a maximum of 7. The fact that many people in the class weren't exactly keen to learn didn't make for a good learning environment either. CHF330 per month for 2 x 2hr lessons a week wasn't too bad, but I think unless you're having one to one tuition the prices don't vary too much.

From a recent intensive course experience at Alemania:
Price: good. Class-size: bad.
Teacher: good. Course materials (my course had the in-house textbook): bad.
Okay, I've run out of positive qualities. Other negative aspects in my opinion: extremely smokey throughout the school, felt more like a singles' club than a serious language school, most of the office employees seemed cold, over-worked, and somewhat poorly organized, class-size fluctuated wildly (each day a different number of students showed up, anywhere between 8 and 12 people per day), other students took phone calls during class, chatted with each other in English constantly, despite us trying to learn German, and even had to be told to quiet down (or, in one memorable episode, sober up) during class. I think the average age of students in my class was about 28 or 29, all arbeitslos and bored and not really motivated to learn at a fast pace (despite being enrolled in an intensive language course).

If you go to their website, you will see a slick video of what your experience is allegedly going to be: you'll walk in, be greeted by friendly, smiling Swiss employees, and after you take the written placement exam, you'll be given a one-on-one interview to properly assess your German skills so you will be placed in the correct level. None of these things happened when I took my placement exam, and hence I believe I was improperly placed in a lower level than I should have been just to fill up the course with enough students to make it profitable for them.

I finished out the one-month course, but didn't go back after that and felt thoroughly disheartened with the whole experience.

Thanks for the replies, it does not sound too optimistic. I am looking for a cost effective way to get into German, am about A2 level. It sounds like Alemania is not great, but will wait for a few more experiences to make any commitments to more expensive schools.

Just thought I would respond as I have recently been studying with Alemania.
I found the following:

Price: Good
Class size: Good. About 6-8 people currently which is a nice size. 10 is OK too.
Teaching quality: Excellent. I may have been lucky but my teacher is A1.
Length of class: Good. Not too long that you get bored or lose attention span. Moves at a good pace with few distractions.
Room quality: Excellent
Quality of books: Excellent. The a1.1 to a1.3 are well designed with excellent repetition of key knowledge areas. A2 commences with Hueber (same as Goethe etc)
Excursions and after hours events: excellent. They have movie nights and each month the class enjoys an excursion to learn more of Swiss cultural places.
Administration: Very good. The general administration staff were very helpful to me and flexible with payments etc.

I will definitely continue with it for the forseeable future, and have met some friendly people though the classes.

I tried flying Teachers, didn't like it. The class size was ok but the teacher was a first timer. He could not explain things properly and so nervous that the most of the time the people who spoke no German what soever had no clue what was going on.

Only stayed for one class then left.

Agreed with Cybersuz. The teacher can't explain clearly and kept telling us there is no rule for German grammatik. I did finished the whole course because i need the cert.

I have actually just applied for an administrative job at flying teachers zurich. can anyone give me more information about his / her experience with them??
Thanks

I attended an intensive course at Alemania and my teacher Andreas was great. I think it really depends on the teacher. His way of teaching was involving and I don't have any complaints about the school itself. I believe it is a good option for a beginner. Cheap and useful for a basic learning!

For those learning German in groups or alone I recommend Deutsch aber Hallo by Hans Witzlinger. Contains good grammar explanations and loads of interesting and challenging exercises. Successfully used and regularly improved at Volkshochschule Passau.
If a teacher ever tells you there are no rules for German grammar just get up walk out and ask for your money back - aufstehen, hinausgehen und Geld zurueckverlangen.
There's no substitute for working systematically on the grammar.
Reports about Alemania are worrying. Quite a contrast with the glossy ads.

I have completed A2 with Flying teachers. I had really bitter experience with one of the teachers because of that I have stopped going to flying teachers.


Overall
Teachers: depends who do you get as a teacher, you can change in first week if you do not like provided there is an opening in other classes.
Study material : Okay
Extra activities : No extra activities after class events