Experiences with intensive courses

I was wondering if any LingQ users have had experiences of doing an intensive course (e.g. 3-4 hours class per day, 5 days a week) in their target language country.

I’m considering taking one (for 4 weeks) in the future, and guessing I’ll be at least mid-B level. So far most of my learning has been with LingQ/input and I’ve loved it, but just wondering if an intensive would really help speed up reaching good fluency by activating the passive knowledge and attacking any grammar holes head on. Or would the pace (group classes etc) despite being time-intensive potentially be less effective than just spending the hours on LingQ.

Has anyone used mostly used LingQ then done an intensive course (especially at an intermediate level)? Did they find it really helped with activating the passive knowledge more quickly?

1 Like

Nach meiner Erfahrung steht oder fällt der Erfolg eines Intensivkurses mit dem Lehrer.

Ein weiterer Punkt sind die anderen Kursteilnehmer. Es gibt leider oft unmotivierte Schüler, welche den Unterricht mehr bremsen als bereichern. Das kann für erfahrene,erfolgreiche in Eigenkompetenz Lernende eine Geduldsprobe werden .Debbie, Du kannst wirklich stolz sein auf Deine Fortschritte!

Es gibt natürlich auch total gute Klassen.

Ich persönlich würde Dir eher zu einigen Privatlektionen mit einem erfahrenen Lehrer raten.
Bei einem gemeinsamen Spaziergang durchs Quartier oder bei einem Museumsbesuch wird Theorie und Praxis ideal verbunden.
Aus meiner Sicht ergibt das mehr, fürs gleiche Geld.

Bin gespannt, was andere LingQer darüber denken!

j:-)

1 Like

I have never done any, though I thought and probably will do it. I will be visiting Poland next year and a like the idea of meeting others learning Polish at a language school -not more than 1 or 2 hours per day. This is using the school as a social club!

I have low expectation of group classes because of the drag to the lowest denominator. Too much time wasted with team drills, and taking care of other students. Currently I am having a polish private tutor twice a week. Having 1 on 1 class is very intense. I am luck that I know almost all the vocabulary, otherwise I would be drowning. I guess than 1 hour of 1-on-1 might be equivalent to 4 hours of group classes, given a proficient teacher.

What I mean? Language schools I think are great places to meet others struggling with the language. A more efficient way is to use a tutor as soon as the basic of the language are covered. I believe that sooner and both the tutor and the student would be very frustrated.

I’m currently doing a job training called “Business communications” so I’m studying English full time (40 hours of English lessons a week plus 30+ hours of using/studying English in my spare time). It’s quite helpful but the effectiveness of full-time classes can vary significantly depending on…

  • your level of motivation
  • the skill level, discipline and attitude of your classmates
  • your teachers
  • tons of other things

My classes are a bit…“sub-optimal” but they’re free (well, they’re being paid for with EU tax money) and in a few months I’ll get a piece of paper saying that I can speak English (two if I pass the LCCI 3* test)

You could take German classes in Australia too… but there’s so much stuff that you could do in Germany that you couldn’t do in Australia…

  • going to museums where the guide speaks German and where the descriptions are in German
  • taking yoga/dancing/guitar/pottery/judo/whatever classes in German
  • getting a personal trainer who teaches you how to squat in German
  • going to a pub/café and chatting with people in German
  • get your groceries in German
  • etc.

Just enjoy Berlin/Germany :slight_smile:

*LCCI (London Chamber of Commerce and Industry)
*LCCI 3 test (a test in business English, roughly B2-C1)

1 Like

I have no experience with intensive courses, but from what I’ve heard one seems to go quite far in a short period of time, especially living in the country. However some of them might be pricey.

Good luck.

Thanks Jolanda! :slight_smile: Yes, that’s my concern too about classes. And the difficult thing is you never know until you start what the teacher/students are like… It’s especially hard to choose a course over the internet. I like your idea of a private tutor. I guess one hour a day might be equivalent to 3 class hours? Thanks for the advice, and nice to hear (read) your voice again by the way! :slight_smile:

70+ hours of English a week!! That’s intensive on a whole other level… it’s sounds you’ll be able to do much more than being able to just ‘speak English’. But business English is probably almost a whole new language and culture :slight_smile:

I had definitely planned to do all those things (maybe not the squatting), plus going to things like book readings/talks. The thing is that we’ll be living/travelling in Europe for about 15 months and while we won’t be in Germany the whole time, we’ll be using it as a base so there’ll definitely be a good number of stretches where we’ll be there for up to a month or so at a time.

So I thought it could be a good chance to do an intensive course maybe at the beginning of the trip, to kickstart things. I couldn’t do that in Australia at the moment because of work, child etc.

I was thinking about maybe living in Freiburg for a month and doing a course there. Or maybe Berlin, but then as you say I imagine Berlin could just be an exercise in frustration (i.e. being stuck in a classroom all day) when I’d be surrounded by so much great stuff to see/do :slight_smile:

Thanks for the tips… I guess I’ll see where things are at closer to the time and maybe even wait till I’m in Germany to see how keen I feel then.

Sounds good!

j;-)

Sounds like good advice!