My journey of German learning has been a long one with a lot of discontinuation and reversion back. During the first four years I stayed in Germany, I attended numerous German classes in a variety of German language schools in Frankfurt. I was shocked myself when I first listed all the schools that I had experience with.
did deutsch-institut
Hidden German learning genius…?
This is the first German language school in Frankfurt I have ever attended. Before I came to Germany, I booked 2-week intensive German classes with some booking website (not directly with the school). When I first came to the school, I along with some others, was asked to write a placement test. While all the others were busy burying their heads in the paper, I was busy looking around and wondering if I should just hand in the paper directly. Right, I was a complete beginner at German after all, just expecting to be put to a beginner class. And guess what? I was placed into A1.2 classes instead of a beginner class. Could I have been a language learning genius…?
On the contrary, when I had my first ever class, I lost my last piece of remaining confidence. I had not the slightest clue what was going on in the class at all. The teacher was completely teaching in German (which I later found out is normal in Germany). Obviously everyone was effortlessly following except me. So much for me being a language learning genius…
Thus as soon as the first class was over, I went to the admin office and requested to be changed into another level class. That’s when I found out I didn’t get into A1.2 because of my astonishing gift for German language. Instead, they told me that there was no lower level class available so I had to stay in the class.
Hybris comes before the fall….
OK, so let me just make the best out of it, so I thought, but things don’t usually go the way one expects. In my class, there were some students who could already speak at B1/B2 level. Not very surprisingly, in the class it was from time to time other students and I listening to them conversing with the teacher without understanding what was going on. Now you probably also wonder why were they even in our class like how I wondered before.
They later told me they joined A1 class instead of B2 as the government or company (not clear anymore which one exactly) pays for the whole set of classes. Because of bureaucratic reasons they had to start from the beginner class.
To be honest I barely learned anything during those 2 intensive weeks (also due to the short duration of time, just to be fair). But somehow it left such a deep impression on me that I am still being controlled by my fear for talking about time in German (what was taught during the 2 weeks).
I told myself at that time to go to another school and not to go back there again…
But, like in every story there is a twist to the plot. I went back to this school last year. Well, this time is however not because of the German classes, but the German exams.
I compared the prices of all TELC German tests offered in Frankfurt. This school has the cheapest offer. And the exam experience was also great. While waiting for the oral test in the afternoon, I kept pondering, if I was placed to the right level class, probably everything would be different.
VHS
So the first school I tried to register for a German class after the 2 weeks at did deutsch-institut is VHS. Why VHS? It was recommended by so many people and it definitely is the cheapest German language school in Frankfurt. I went there happily thinking I would finally get my German classes sorted out.
Well, I was too naive. They told me their beginner classes were all booked out long ago. I probably had to wait for 1 year for the next class to be available. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard it. Well, in 1 year, I should probably be already at B1/B2 level, so I thought. They told me nicely that they would email me if any slots were open. Well, of course I didn’t give my hope on that. Yeah I was right, I also didn’t receive any emails.
Zentrum für deutsche Sprache und Kultur (TANDEM)
This is the school where I booked most of my German classes. I was there from level A1.2 to B2.3. While I didn’t get any luck with VHS, I managed to get classes at TANDEM quite quickly. This school offers so many different classes.
My best German classes so far
So I started my first semester at my Uni with classes at Uni in the day time and German classes in the evening. It was hectic and it didn’t end up too well as I didn’t manage to spend much time outside German classes to learn or review what I learned. I still believe that my teacher is at least partially to blame though. In most of the classes he either had us sing songs or watching news such as speeches of Angela Merkel. Now I guess the singing was fine. But the news… Keep in mind I was in A1 class. If the news had instead been in ancient cyrillic, I would have understood just as much!!!
Anyway, as some of my classmates had better experiences there and it is among the cheapest schools in Frankfurt, I decided to give them another try later. This time I went for intensive classes during winter holidays. And lo and behold, that was actually the best German classes I had so far! When the new semester rolled around I attempted to continue the class while also going to Uni but quickly realised my lazy ass wasn’t gonna manage.
Is she teaching two classes at the same time?
About one year later I once again returned to Tandem, but this time the experience was not quite as good. The class had two teachers who switched every day. Now, if having a different teacher try to pick up where the other left off wasn’t already off-putting enough, one of them really took the cherry for laziest German teacher. Maybe she was actually a genius making bank teaching two classes at the same time. At least, that’s what it felt like. She’d come in at the start of class, give us some exercises, leave, and just return to discuss answers and end the class….
Going to Tandem is playing the teacher lottery
Overall, I feel like going to Tandem is playing the teacher lottery. You can win big, but often times you’ll lose. The school is still good in terms of value for money as it is the cheapest school available, but the quality of teachers varies greatly. The class size is quite big, so you generally have less chance to talk.
inlingua
During the gaps between the two terms at TANDEM, I took intensive classes at inlingua, which is located near Hauptbahnhof. My classes at inlingua were probably among the most uneventful classes I had, but in a good way. The classes were very well structured and their proprietary German learning book is still my favourite. It has very good grammer points and vocab compilations.
The focus of the inlingua classes was more on speaking than in the other schools I went to. It may be a result of the relatively smaller size of classes thanks to relatively higher tuition fees. As an added bonus, if you are still looking for more opportunities to practice your speaking, you’ll always find the odd drunk guy loitering around central station looking for a conversation…
Aviva
Aviva is a small, privately run language school whose owner organises a lot of extracurricular activities. As a result, the school feels more like a family or community than a language school. I particularly like the learning atmosphere there and the opportunities to talk more German outside classes like in a day trip to Strasbourg with your teacher and other students.
But on the other note, I had to admit the class itself (the one I had at least) does not shine as much as the the activities there. I personally think the teacher that I had is completely only following the textbook which I could probably manage to do at home alone.
Sprachgewandt
A special mention here- as I actually didn’t have class there. I went there for a consulting session to register for a class. But unfortunately there was no class at my level. But through the short 30 min session there it left me a quite good impression. It is a very German language school in Frankfurt. The staff there are really friendly and the classes seem to be small-sized and interactive.
Speakeasy
The school is a bit similar to Aviva as it also gives a vibe of a community. It has well organized weekly events and free homework sessions. The class setting is also more unconventional and tailored. The class I took is called C1- special topics class. So the class does not follow any textbook but instead follows specific themes suggested by us students. It really helped to strengthen specific parts of language points that we were weak at and I learned a lot from my class. The classes are a little bit expensive. However, there are promotions from time to time.
Arenalingua
This is the language school my first employer chose. The school, which is located in Eschborn Süd, does a lot of company language training and 1 on 1 VIP classes. The 1 on 1 VIP classes offer lots of flexibility- the tutor can come to my home for the class or wherever and I could make any suggestions about how I’d like the classes to progress. But overall I found the 1 on 1 VIP classes not so helpful especially because despite me being the only student, the teachers like to keep talking and leave very little time for me to speak.
Berlitz
This is the school that I am currently attending as it is the partner school of my current employer. The school is probably the biggest provider of company language training, with very good reputation, a big variety of classes and high tuition fees. The teacher I have right now is very devoted and gives all of us a fair share of chances to speak.
Which German language school would you like to recommend to the others? What kind of fun/bad/interesting or any experiences do you have with the German language schools in Frankfurt? Feel free to share with us:)
Thank you for sharing.