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Classes at Alliance Française or Goethe? | ||
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| Gallo1801 Diglot Senior Member Spain Joined 4902 days ago 164 posts - 248 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), Croatian, German, French | Message 1 of 5 12 December 2014 at 5:43am | IP Logged |
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So I have an Alliance Française and a Goethe Institut in my current city. I have been
learning French for a while, and they said after an informal interview with a Senegalese professor I should apply for a B2 class (thanks Assimil!) Haven't started German, but would like to be proficient by the Polyglot conference in October. Anyone have experience/opinion on classes at these organizations and their classes? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4533 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 2 of 5 12 December 2014 at 9:12am | IP Logged |
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I did the Goethe Institute A1-A2-B1 courses in Berlin a few years ago. I found the A1 class great, A2 OK, and B1 really annoying. This came down in large part to the tutors we had - Goethe has a policy of changing them after each class. I think most (all?) of my class found the courses too grammar heavy in the later stages.
So I personally think they were a waste of money. I would think you'd be better off just accessing native materials if you are in the B2 stage now, plus perhaps hiring an online tutor. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| turorudi Triglot Newbie Philippines Joined 3569 days ago 24 posts - 30 votes Speaks: English, Tagalog*, Japanese Studies: Hungarian, French | Message 3 of 5 16 March 2015 at 9:34am | IP Logged |
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I studied at both in Manila. I loved Goethe more because the lessons were more engaging,
although that could be because of the instructor and not because of the school itself. In AF, I only finished 2 modules because I felt that I was not getting value for my money. Even after 2 modules, I couldn't string words together to form very basic sentences. In class, we focused more on learning (ie, memorizing) the rules rather than using them. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5009 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 4 of 5 16 March 2015 at 4:23pm | IP Logged |
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Years ago, I spent two semesters at Institut Francais (it is Alliance, just the name
"Institut" is a tradition since 1920 or so) and I was quite dissappointed. In those times, I knew far too little about self teaching efficiently and internet was very different from the sea of resources we can use now. My experience with AF: -their classes are among the best quality classes. That sounds great but sometimes, it just means the others are even worse. However, many language schools are of similar quality for 3/4 or 2/3 of the price. -you can get a great teacher or a horrible one as well. A native teacher isn't automatically a good one. And, despite being such a large institution with many classes being held, it is not that simple to switch classes because of not liking the teacher. -Just like in any other classes, you won't get much advice on further practice. If you are unlucky enough to have lazy classmates, there won't be any homework and the pace will be turtlelike. +there are classes of all the levels up to C1 usually, which is quite rare +AFs tend to have a good library and its use tends to be free for the students I have as well noticed that not only the prices keep rising (in ten years, they went up by 40% !), there were even some changes to the level structure so now you need to pay for more semesters to get to the same level. Truth be told, if you've got the money and need guidance, get a private tutor. If not, keep self studying. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| turorudi Triglot Newbie Philippines Joined 3569 days ago 24 posts - 30 votes Speaks: English, Tagalog*, Japanese Studies: Hungarian, French | Message 5 of 5 17 March 2015 at 1:58am | IP Logged |
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In my country, AF only offers until B2. I suppose no one really goes for the C levels
anymore. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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