I attended a 2 week intensive course and I really learned a lot. I highly recommend Goethe and…read morewill be taking another class from them in the future. Here's what you can expect - proficiency exam prior (grammar, written, oral) to place you into the appropriate class. Everyone in our class was really at the same level and this helped. In the class you will learn speaking 1-on-1, in a small group and in front of a group. You will also learn active listening, reading, writing and grammar. All of these aspects are well balanced to each other. The teacher was outstanding and she made good use of multi-media in the class. I stayed in the on-site dormitory. It's a new building, clean with private bathroom and a small kitchenette. Note - the dorm rooms do not have air conditioning so take this into account if planning for July-August. Mannheim is a medium sized city so it's very easy to get around. However it is not charming like a small village nor does it have the big-city attractions. The only reason I did not give 5 stars is because of the internet. That was a terrible experience. It was completely unusable. Rather that spending much time complaining and ruining my stay, I went to Deutsch Telekom and bought SIM cards for my iPad to create a personal hot-spot. This took hours and caused me lots of frustration. Then one other student put a petition together and about 50 people signed it. Goethe called their internet provider, turned up the speed and voila, instant high-speed internet. While they fixed the situation (very late in the stay), none of that should have been necessary to begin with.

Der Deutschkurs bei CanSpeak Sprachschule hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Ich bin mit dem Sprachkurs…read moresehr zufrieden, weil ich viel sprechen konnte. Der Unterricht war sehr kommunikativ. Die Dozentin konnte die Grammatik sehr gut erklären. Sie hat viele Übungen und Tests mitgebracht.

For customers: -Pay careful attention to cancellation…read morepolicies. -Get all agreements in writing. -Lower your CSM expectations, they don't care. -You are buying the McDonalds of language services. Do not expect anything more. -You do not get what you pay for. Screen the teachers they send you personally as the buyer. The students will not know the difference. You can get good teachers. You can also get really terrible ones. -When you feel wronged, raise hell to the top of the organization and you will get it corrected. -Do not send your people to in-house classes at the school. These are disorganized and run by the newest/least experienced teachers. I'm writing for potential teachers. You can deal with this school, but take some advice: -Do not only work for them (this is illegal). -Do not tell them you have other contracts (they will cut your hours/claim classes or childcare). -Pal around with the other teachers.

For customers: -Pay…read morecareful attention to cancellation policies. -Get all agreements in writing. -Lower your CSM expectations, they don't care. -You are buying the McDonalds of language services. Do not expect anything more. -You do not get what you pay for. Screen the teachers they send you personally as the buyer. The students will not know the difference. You can get good teachers. You can also get really terrible ones. -When you feel wronged, raise hell to the top of the organization and you will get it corrected. -Do not send your people to in-house classes at the school. These are disorganized and run by the newest/least experienced teachers. -They will start you at around EUR50 per unit. They can really come down to around EUR35 for groups. You can get them to this, but you have to work at it. -Don't let them charge you for travel costs. This is a normal expense. -Books are overpriced and can be negotiated. Don't take it at face value.

Terrible organization when it comes to registering for language classes. You can't register online,…read moreand their "advising" hours are incredibly limited. As someone else said, they don't do anything when their staff is out. They have something like 30 "advisors" but only 2 ever seem to work. This wouldn't be a problem if online registration were possible. Don't get me started on the refugees. Most of the people who are trying to talk to the "advisors" are refugees. Maybe this is why they don't allow online registration. Either way, since refugees don't pay for this, they take FOREVER to process. The refugees also don't understand the concept of a line (not that the Germans have implemented a line, it's just a hallway). I got here an hour early (because I didn't realize they had a 90 minute lunch break). The hallway filled with refugees and I didn't get helped for another hour. When I finally got helped, it took 5 minutes for them to tell me the course I wanted to take was full. I told them that the website says it is empty. They told me the website isn't updated. The courses I took at Abendakademie were good. I learned a lot and they were high quality courses. The nightmare that was registering for those courses is why I'm leaving a 1 star review. The courses are good, but I wouldn't suggest anyone to attempt to register for these classes because it takes so damn long and is really fucking frustrating. Go to a better school. The website is fucking useless. The staff are complete garbage and the school is an over-hyped, over-price refugee camp. Fuck Abendakademie.

This review is about the German courses routinely held at the Mannheim…read moreVolkshochschule/Abendakademie, where I recently attended a C1-level course. I hold a Ph.D. in the field of Neurolinguistics, a MA in Theoretical and Comparative Linguistics, and an additional MA in Scandinavian Languages. Moreover, I speak six foreign languages fluently (not counting German). 1) The level of most studentsranging anywhere between A2 and C2does not correspond to the theoretical level of the course (in my case, a C1 course). Many participants cannot understand even the simplest readings in the textbook and appear unable to communicate at a decent level despite attending an advanced course. Moreover, classes are very numerous (our group consisted of over 20 students, only five of whom spoke passable German). 2) Several teachers (in my case, two out of three) are not native speakers of German. Therefore, they often correct (and ridicule) students for non-existing mistakes. Moreover, they frequently make up arbitrary grammar rules or state with smug certainty (hubris!) that perfectly appropriate words or expressions do not exist or cannot be used in that contest. In their fundamental insecurity, they appear more royalist than the king! 3) Teachers are regularly addressed by students with a polite Sie, but, in turn, regularly and systematically address students (even mature ones like me) with a rude du (rude when not reciprocal, that is). When I asked her why, a teacher answered that they do so because, when dealing with foreigners, it comes automatic to them to use the du form. (!!!) 4) Nothing is done to uphold a modicum of discipline. Thus, a small group of loud and uncivilized students bullies kept disrupting the class, mocking teachers and other paying participants alike, and making the whole experience extremely distracting and uncomfortable for everyone elseall with total impunity. 5) These courses are obviously intended for (and mostly attended by) working-class or juvenile immigrants with a sketchy educational background; they are certainly unsuited for adult middle-class expats with a professional or academic background. 6) Most teaching methods and techniques date back to the 19th century and lack any scientific foundation (or any ambition to be at least in part scientifically based). Occasionally, some modern methods are applied very clumsily and mechanically, and are forced upon shy, reserved, or introverted students. If you are ok with all that, then, by all means, do invest your hard-earned money in an intensive German course at the Mannheim Volkshochschule/Abendakademie! I, for one, regret doing so.