I am taking intensive German classes from Bellingua in Zurich, but I need to change to a school that is closer to my house (Winterthur area).
I saw that Vox Sprachschule has a school in Winterthur (and of course in Zurich). I spoke with them about their offerings in Winterthur, but I have some skepticism.
* They claim you can complete an entire CEFR reference level with 45 hours of classroom instruction. For example that's about one month of 2-hour classes, 4-5 days a week with "Super-Intensive"; or, two months of 2-hour classes 3 days a week. In my experience, other language schools typically require about 150 hours of classroom instruction for a CEFR level.
* They speak of using a specially-crafted method that is so much better than other language schools, like they have a secret sauce.
* They have hundreds of Google reviews that are all 5/5 stars with glowing recommendations. They seem maybe legit, but I am suspicious that they offer students 50% off in exchange for a good review or something like that.
Oh and did I mention, their pricing is at least twice as much as any other school? It's stupid expensive. It's CHF 2,355 per month, whereas a traditional 'pricey but good' school like Bellingua is CHF 1,240 a month.
So I don't know. If I can really make a CEFR level in a month, I don't mind spending the cash. But in the absence of any reviews outside Google Reviews, which are probably easy to game, I'm skeptical of Vox.
Does anyone have any experience with this language school?
I'd say it's possible to cover one CEFR level a month if you'd already have the vocabulary. Maybe the A1 is feasible but B1, B2 require learning a ton of vocabulary which takes months.
The offer Vox has is that any CERF level (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) -- will take about 48-50 hours of classroom time, and about the same (48-50 hours) of homework time. They claim their special method and small class size (5 people max) makes this possible.
So I dunno. It sounds in the realm of possibility. They say they've had their Winterthur school since 1994, and their Zurich school since 2019. For having two schools for that long, and something like 500 reviews on Google that average a 4.8 star rating, I find it odd that nobody here has piped up and said they have completed a class, or ever heard of the school. Searches on Reddit's langauge forums also yield zero information.
I remain skeptical. But at the same time, kind of intrigued. I might take them up on their offer for a free 'trial lesson' and see if they try to sell me on a multi-level marketing scheme or perhaps a time share.
I've taken French at Voxea, it was better than Migros, though I don't think it's the same company. Some students were quickly gaining knowledge, jumping up between level groups, but the majority had to stick with a steady pace. I was rather amongst the slowest learners
Like you I went to Bellingua which is where I did A1, A2 and part of B1.
I had to look for somewhere else to do B1 as the start dates did not suit my schedule. I went for a trial class at Vox. My concerns were the same as yours - the Google reviews, corny videos on their website and promise of completing one level in a month seemed too good to be true plus the prices are exorbitant, but I figured I would be happy to pay it if it really was so good.
So I went to a trial class- the teacher was nice but there were two others students, one of whom it was clear was not yet quite at the prescribed level. I guess unlike Bellingua VOX did not make me do a placement test nor are weekly tests mandatory to keep your progress in check. In the end I figured that, based on the 1 lesson I went to, i didn’t think I would be capable of completing one level in a month so I didn’t sign up in the end. I just didn’t think the approach would work for me. The class at Vox was very much focused on conversation and materials are just a coursebook and a small writing board for the teacher. It didn’t seem to be like there was any craft secret. I really enjoyed the structure, course material and grammatical focus that Bellingua offers along with the digital whiteboard and flexibility to do hybrid classes, so will continue with them when my schedule permits. Hope this helps you decide
Thank you very much for your candor; that is precisely the information I sought with my post.
I guess like you, I prefer the old-fashioned grind that Bellingua provides. My teacher is absolutely excellent, and they have a receptionist -- nay, two -- who are on duty with regular normal office hours to help with billing, scheduling, etc. That's a pretty high bar for a Sprachschule. Their curriculum has a very good system of chipping away, exhaustively, at the monolith that is German grammar. With the 9-week intensive A1 course at Bellingua, I found myself hanging on for dear life and hardly time for social life to keep my head above the water and to do well. I must admit, a problem unique to me is that Bellingua is about an hour and a half of trains and walking to get to class from where I live. So the 3-hour class plus 3 hours of travel plus 2-3 hours of homework and study every day was just too much.
I have one last week of A1 left and I can't wait for it to be over. Then I plan to self-study what I learned at my own pace, because there is a lot of stuff that I didn't have time to really wrap my head around and work with as much as I'd like. And then, as summer is slipping away and I don't have as many engagements, time for A2. Indeed, I've crossed VOX off of my list, and have instead focused on a school called Linguasud. They have smaller class sizes (max 6, vs Bellingua's 9), competitive pricing, a very flexible schedule, and a school in Winterthur which is 1 hour of travel time a day, vs 3 for Bellingua.
Another note about anyone considering Bellingua: The building that hosts Bellingua started a massive construction project June 2023, including tearing off the entire facade and demolishing the bottom 2+ floors, so it's very, very, extremely, unfathomably noisy in the classroom. Add to that, they keep the windows shut to keep the noise out, so it's a damned oven in the summer on the 4th floor with 9 people crowded in a small room. It is, frankly, awful and I was very close to requesting a refund simply due to the noise and heat. I would never take another course there, until the construction is over.