I am considering taking a Goethe Institut distance learning course, probably ‘Start Deutsch 2’ or ‘Zertifikat Deutsch’. Has anyone studied these courses, or indeed any distance learning course from the Institut?
If you have, can you recommend them? What level do you think they are pitched at? (Not what the Institut thinks). What course materials are there? What is the support like? Is it worth the effort and money?
An alternative is the Open University ‘Auftakt’ course – could anyone stretch to making a comparison between the two!?
I am in it now, and I am not very impressed to be honest. Basically I was sent a series of ten worksheet packets in the mail. Outside of the written essays I simply check my own work in the back of the book and then record the points correct on a cumulative sheet at the end of the packet. When it is complete I send it for teacher correction and I receive feedback and tips. For the price, I could have bought a workbook and a few lessons with a private teacher who would also hear me speak and correct me. The workbook is good, but if I'm doing all of the work myself anyway, and only getting say an hour worth of someone's time to help me out, I could just as well have paid the private tutor. The feedback is good, and professional, but the course design is not very impressive.
I took the beginners class at the Goethe Institute in Vancouver before I came here. Personally I didn't like the way the curriculum was designed.
For distance learning I just started the live mocha program online and I really quite like it. I've received good feedback from tutors in both written and audio format. It's a good price at only $40.00 for 6 months and its a fairly well designed learning program. You can try one free lesson and then I think you can buy it for $9.99 for a month.
Not done any Goethe Institute courses, but have done Level 1 and 2 of the OU courses. They are Ok, I didn't think they were great, I did it a couple of years ago and the course materials were really out of date (prices still in DMs in the texts).But they may have updated them now...
It is quite a difficult way to learn a language though - I found the lack of meeting other people difficult - you have to be very self motivated.
But the courses had a nice mix of written and spoken assignments, and overall it wasn't bad, though saying that I haven't gone on to do the final course. I've been a bit put off by the overseas fees.
Interesting, I would like to do that too. Did my GCE's by distance learning. All I can say is you need discipline, if you don't have any, don't even try.
On second thought I wouldn't recommend German by distance learning. You need to speak as well. Alone it's not easy. If you just need the theory it's ok.
I did the C1 Intensive course in ZHAW for almost 4 months. And I would say it was good because I was able to speak and interact and practice the language with others and especially with the teacher.
When I arrived here, I did enroll in Migros for the Basics A2 but after 2 months I realized that my I'm quite fast than others, so I thought I would get a private tutor, which I did. I started in November 2006 which is only 2/month, which means 3 hrs /month. And the rest I practiced with my husband and communicating daily with people.
So, when I did the intensive course it was quite easy
I wouldn't recommend the distance learning. With German, you need to practice speaking and also interact with other people. And that's how you're going to learn
I just have one question :How do you practice your speaking skills when it's long distance ?
I'm enrolled on a self study course ( mainly use of a labaratory) and it's not good at all. It was good to review my knowledge up tp B1 but now I want to continue to B2 I'm stuck. They do have some speaking sessions but it is of course in the evening when I'm not free. Now I want to check this goethe online. In 2005 i passed the Geothe Zertifikat but I had done an intensive course at a VHS in Germany.
Yes, I did. I did a B1.1 course through the Chicago (USA) online course.
Overall, it was good. We did our work online and the software corrects as you go; so e.g., if you want to see if you understand a question/type of grammar to use in the answer, you can do one and click the "grade" button, and you'll see immediately.
I didn't love having my grammar taught online--I ended up copying and pasting all the explanations into a document for my future reference. I also found some of the exercises--not vigorous; seemed a little flittery.
On the plus side, there are extra grammar exercises you can do on any topic covered.
Also, we met once a month online (Skype-type software) for a 1 1/2 hour group session with a teacher who was nice. Overall, I liked the group sessions--finally a chance to talk and listen to real people. But many people had technical difficulties or would log on right at the top of the hour, and thus with difficulties wouldn't get into the system for 10+ minutes; but once we discussed this issue, people started logging on earlier so they were ready. Other drawback--teacher explained grammar that, if you had done the homework for the month, was obvious; I would recommend a quick quiz at the beginning/day before, so the teacher can see the knowledge level of the students. Of course, many people didn't complete the homework and thus I guess would have done poorly on the "quizzes".
Still, if it's the best option for you logistically, then go for it--it wasn't a bad option.
I've signed up, but I seem to feel (based on the calendar invite) that that course is based on recorded sessions...
I've emailed Goethe to ask how many sessions with the tutors there are and how long these are... As if it's "just" a course with online modules and little/minimal human interaction (over skype or similar) then it's of limited value for me....
I don't think you can expect too much for nil money, to be honest. However, the structure and the lessons will help me learn more vocabulary and, hopefully, push me on a bit further with work-related German.
I did the A2 course online and disliked it immensely. Maybe it was because I have a MacBook but the recordings frequently didn’t work and the material was too easy for me to complete. By the latter comment, I mean the way to practice was just too easy and I got questions correct without really learning deeply. I think something online like this needs to be supplemented with more dialogue with an actual instructor.