Student Feedback

The Good and the Bad at GLS

Lara, 22, from United States – June 25, 2013

Stay: two weeks, Course Start: 2013 , Accomodation:

Course

Teachers

Campus

After class activities

Support by GLS staff

The Good & the Bad - what did you like best? What least?

N. is one of the best language teachers I have ever come across, period, in addition to K. (tall, blue eyes, black hair). They managed to squeeze in everything into their classes--speaking, reading, grammar, and were excellent at encouraging students to speak in addition to having a very good knowledge of grammar. Not only was their knowledge of grammatical difficulties good, but they also know how to explain German grammar to foreigners and make it easy to understand. Having fun while learning is not a requirement, but they also made learning fun.

Now for the bad: the other teachers I have had so far (I have had four other teachers) either did not know German grammar and did not know how to explain it, or did not spend any time at all going over it (3 minutes is not enough). I know that grammar is not the goal of GLS, and that communication is more important. I agree that communication is important. However, it is absolutely necessary to have an understanding of some grammar in order to be able to communicate well. Like N. and K. often do in their classes, other teachers should integrate grammar into communication--for example, by correcting us WHILE we speak, and picking up on mistakes students make and then explaining these grammar rules/mistakes to the whole class, in addition to possibly bringing exercises on these mistakes to class.

Because I had N.  for Block 1 during my first week here and K. for Block 3, I thought GLS was maybe the best language school I had ever attended. Since I have changed teachers for Block 1 and 2, however, I have changed my mind and am considering Goethe Institut, because I do not think I have made much progress in German in my Standard course classes.

With the other teachers, I do not get any grammar at all (or the explanations are too brief), and do not feel I speak enough in class. Some of the teachers do more talking themselves in class than encouraging their students to talk. At LEAST one of these elements is necessary to learning a language (if we are not speaking, then we should be doing grammar--if we're not doing much grammar, then we should be speaking more), otherwise, what are we learning in class? We spend far too much time in some classes doing vocabulary, which can be done at home for anyone who has Google or a dictionary.

Your recommendations for other students

Unless you have N. or K. or do some research about the teacher before taking the classes, do not go to this school if you are serious about learning German. If you are an Erasmus student who wants to learn a little bit of German while having fun and drinking in Berlin, then the standard course here is a good choice for you. The teachers try to be entertaining and the learning approach is communicative (sometimes). For making serious progress, though, I unfortunately probably would not recommend this school.