|
 |
Language classes do NOT work | ||
Tags: Class Learning | School Education | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 3862 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes  Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 105 of 116 20 November 2013 at 1:59am | IP Logged | ||
|
I took an intensive German course at a Goethe Institute in Germany, 16 students in
class, for €1050, 3hr 45 mins per day, 17 days of instruction = $22/hr. SO not worth it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| I'm With Stupid Senior Member Vietnam Joined 3953 days ago 165 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Vietnamese | Message 106 of 116 20 November 2013 at 2:32am | IP Logged | ||
|
That's the biggest rip off I've ever heard. You might just about be able to justify that if the class was about 6 people, and it was one of the best-equipped schools in the world, but they're taking in $352 an hour. How can they possible need that much money to run a German class? Anyway, my friend went to the one in HCMC last year and he said it's decent, although obviously that might depend on the individual teacher.
The only issue I might have is that they'll spend a bit too much time on pronunciation problems of Vietnamese people, most of which won't be an issue for me, because we use most of the same sounds in English. But for just over $2 an hour, I'm not gonna complain. Edited by I'm With Stupid on 20 November 2013 at 2:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5210 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 107 of 116 20 November 2013 at 9:31am | IP Logged | ||
|
When we look at the issue of the cost of classes, what you have to look at is the outcome. Many people every year
spend around $10,000 USD for about 7 weeks of intensive classes at Middlebury College in Vermont, USA. That's very expensive but plenty of people willingly pay good money for this. There seems to be a consensus that these classes are very effective. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5210 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 108 of 116 20 November 2013 at 9:46am | IP Logged | ||
|
Here is an excellent article by Tim Ferris, author of the 4-hour workweek book,
Why language classes dont work I should point out that the author has actually spent a lot of time in language classes. Neither does he really believe that you can make a living working only four hours a week, Edit: Thanks to @jeff_lindqvist for fixing the link Edited by s_allard on 22 November 2013 at 1:10pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6689 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 109 of 116 20 November 2013 at 10:22am | IP Logged | ||
|
Fixed link
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 6936 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 110 of 116 21 November 2013 at 4:34am | IP Logged | ||
|
See this thread for a more sober discussion on classes.
3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 3862 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 111 of 116 22 November 2013 at 12:59am | IP Logged | ||
Its a rip off indeed. Goethe institute is supposed to be a non-profit organisation, and for-profit schools charge less than half their fee for German classes. How do they manage to keep the rip off going? Most of their students (90%+) seem to be scholarship students where some govt scholarship is funding them. Of the rest 10%, the majority are young students who are funded by their well off parents. The remaining self funded, usually are there because they have heard good things about the Institute, they take one class and say "so not worth it" and leave for other schools. EDIT: From the link posted by s_allard, "Teachers are viewed as saviors when materials are actually the determining factor" The class failed this miserably. Terrible "textbook" (studio D). Edited by Gemuse on 22 November 2013 at 1:08am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6985 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 112 of 116 26 November 2013 at 9:39am | IP Logged | ||
The teacher makes a huge difference in classes, as well as the other students and whether they are motivated or not. I found when I fell in love with my teacher I did great. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
