Hey
I've been reading through the boards and realise this is already quite a written about topic, but am thinking of coming to Berlin in the summer 08 to spend about a month learning German. I've lived in Bielefeld for about three months, and did German in school, but its been about 4 years since. I want to do a summerschool type course, and saw one for the Sprachenatelier Berlin. I was wondering if anyone has done this and has feedback, or has heard about this? I wonder what the typical age range this is, as it would be nice to be learning with people my age/mid-20s. Although in the end age isn't really a big issue.
Have you got any other reccommendations for language schools that aren't ridiculously expensive (the Euro isn't so kind to nzdollar!)... I feel like much of my choice will be luck at this stage!
Thanks so much in advance for your replies
Rach

I have used this school twice and can really recommend it. I was there during one of their summer courses last year and it was alot of fun. People of all ages from 18 to late 30's. Good mix of guys and girls from so many different countries. Most of the teachers are really cool and based on what my German friends tell me my German got much better after each time I was there and I must say the price is a real winner!

Friends who went there to study didn't stay long.. they said the teachers ere horrendous.

I had an interview for an English teaching job there, and the Interviewer didn't speak a word of English.

So, from my experience, i'd say find somewhere else, but it seems someone had a good experience!

I had a great experience there too. Affordable, compared to other schools, with small class sizes. Made a lot of good friends there. Nothing's in English, but don't see why you'd go there to speak English anyways. I was there for two months learning German and really feel like I got a good foundation for the language.

I have also been looking for somewhere to improve my German as I think I have taken it as far as I can on my own.. I was pointed to this:

http://babylonia.blogstrasse.de/?page_id=5

worth taking a look I think

here is a better link: http://babylonia.blogstrasse.de/?page_id=11

I didn't love the Sprachenatelier. Classes were too big, and everyone in my class was around 20 years old. It felt too much like college spring break to me.

HI!

I want to take the summer course in sprachenatelier, I have already registered.
I would like to ask those, who were there : How did you find accommodation? did they help you in sprachenatelier, or you found it on your own?
could you recommend me something?

your answer is really helpful and wanted and needed!
thank you!

I just signed up for an abendkurs. So I´ll give you a review sometime in July.

I can always recommend Goethe Institut. The whole package there is really good, but it´s also expensive.

As for finding accommodation, be sure to check out the standard sites like www.wg-gesucht.de and www.studenten-wohnung.de
Then use the filter and prefer "zwischenmiete".

Hey!
I ended up going ahead with Sprachenatelier and have done two weeks so far. Its great! Im only doing it for another week so not sure what id feel in the long term, but the classes are about 8-13, heaps of different nationalities and ages (mainly around 23 to 30 id say but also older and some younger), and everyones really friendly and nice. the teachers are pretty good, obviously it depends on who u get, and theyre run entirely in german. ive learnt a lot, although it has been quite hard to concentrate when the weathers been so amazing
so yeah, i highly recommend, its in an awesome area and reasonably cheap. only thing, i would never pay for the summer prices, i think they almost double. (i am doing three weeks for 200 Euro, apparently its way more in summer but this includes extra activities such as group trips). umm, and also if u like the area i notices there is almost direclty opposite us a volkschule which is apparently very cheap. not sure of name.

hope this helps !
rach