So, as part of my grant I have to show improvement in German. Since my German was limited to lines I knew from Hogan's Heros reruns, this was not hard to accomplish...
The school is in a great old 1950s streamline building that features a cranky old elevator that would have been junked in the US years ago. The school itself is surprisingly large and filled with seekers of languages. My 2 week course was 3 hours a day starting at 10. Intense, and effective.
I was in a beginners class with 1 Spanish, 2 Japanese, 2 Italian, one French, one UK and one Rumanian student. Most everyone spoke some English so that was helpful to me, and at the end of my two weeks, I was able to have limited conversations with the Japanese lady (who spoke zero English) in GERMAN!
That was pretty cool. My only regret is that this class happened at the end of my tenure here (unorganized grant program - grr). Had it come at the beginning of my 3 months here it would have been way more useful. After 2 weeks, my reading comprehension of the signs all around me increased exponentially. My two teachers, Julia and Hedda, were wonderful.
I do wish they kept to a single teacher, although the team teaching thing makes sense - maybe just not for beginners. I'd take off half a star for that one issue, but since we only get full stars, they can stay at 5.
OH: And they have a guy bring in baguettes and croissants during the break - what a nice feature. They have computers so you can check email and such during the break as well. Highly recommended for beginners. read more