Preparation DSH / TestDaF

The teachers are very good and patient. I became very close to some people I met through the school and still see them as friends till today.

Meine Bewertung der Alpha Active Language Academy ist sehr positiv
Ich mochte die Struktur des Unterrichts, die Lehrerin Miriam ist sehr positiv und professionell. Die Lage der Schule ist sehr günstig, nicht weit vom historischen Zentrum der Stadt entfernt.
Allerdings hat mir nicht alles an der Unterkunft gefallen. Vielleicht habe ich einfach zu hohe Erwartungen an den Komfort. Außerdem weigerten sie sich, mir auch nur die Hälfte des Geldes zurückzugeben, obwohl ich das Zimmer gar nicht betreten hatte. Obwohl selbst gute Hotels in Europa in ähnlichen Fällen Geld zurückerstatten. Ich hoffe, dass dieses Geld für die Verbesserung des Wohnheims verwendet wird.

The location is great, in the central of Heidelberg. The classroom had good lighting and ventilation. Our teacher was great, a very good pedagogue. The atmosphere in the classroom was very lighthearted thanks to Miriam being so easygoing and spreading joy. You didn't have to feel stupid if you answered wrong. My german improved. I studied only two weeks but we had one social activity on the last day and it was nice.

Sono state tre settimane fantastiche, Miriam l'insegnante del corso B2 è stata disponibile a farmi iniziare un corso già cominciato pur di farmi frequentare il livello adatto a me e che io volevo seguire. La didattica si è svolta in maniera molto divertente, abbiamo fatto dalla grammatica agli ascolti, al parlato e a giochi per imparare i vocaboli. Il ritmo con cui si fa lezione è giusto ed è tutto ben calibrato, c'è una pausa a metà lezione e si fanno tre ore piene.

The location was easily accessible with the Bismarkplatz just a 5minute walk away. The teachers were nice and incredibly good at explaining grammar points and engaging. The afternoon activities and the school overall did lack some structure, making the first few days pretty confusing.

I personally would not recommend this language school to anyone. I took a 2-week long intensive C1 German course, and the quality-to-price ratio was terrible.

To begin with, Alpha Active Academy proved to be incompetent in sending emails to the correct recipients. During the two weeks, my friend and I were both attending, but I didn't receive any emails while she not only received hers but also mine. There was even an incident where she received an email meant for our classmate regarding personal matters.

Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier, I attended the school for two weeks, during which there were substitute teachers the entire time (three different ones). Unfortunately, no one informed me beforehand that there would be substitutes, leading to poorly structured and unprepared lessons. To make matters worse, one of the substitutes made several grammatical mistakes, which is unacceptable for a C1 course.

Additionally, I expected the course to run for 3 hours each day, Monday to Friday, with homework. However, that wasn't the case. Both of my Friday lessons were canceled, and instead, the Monday to Thursday lessons were extended. This wouldn't have been a major issue if someone had provided this information. Sadly, due to the lack of emails, I had to rely on my classmates to explain the situation.

Lastly, our course was supposed to have around 12-15 people, according to the advertised information, but it ended up with about 20 people (40 on paper). This overcrowding affected the quality of the learning experience.

All in all, I strongly discourage recommending Alpha Aktiv to anyone. If you have other options available, I would advise considering them instead.

In this school, students enjoy a dynamic learning environment with interactive lessons and immersive language practice, led by friendly and compassionate teachers who readily assist them with any issues. The school also prioritizes comfort and keeps its facilities up-to-date with the latest technology, ensuring a pleasant and modern educational experience for all students.

I went through the course from A1 to B2 with a two-month break. I had an A1-A2 course with one teacher and a B1-B2 course with another teacher. Both teachers were professional.
One teacher was a doctor of German by education. She was the best German teacher I've ever had. The teacher was very professional, she was able to explain some rules even using logic, the message was clear and specific and the whole lecture was very clearly understandable. I was able to understand everything at once.
The teacher in the B2 course was also very professional. He was a very talented teacher and committed to his duties. The teacher taught using a modern method of exploration - the student himself came to understand a given principle. The teacher used special breaks for gymnastics to stimulate the students' minds to study and not to overload them with learning. The teachers always made sure that the homework was done.
I think it would be good to ask a list of nouns with articles to learn every day after a given lesson and test knowledge with quizzes. It would be a good idea to always correct mistakes after students to consolidate correct grammar and give some more written work.
The books offered by the school are the best books for learning German - they are clearly written, the graphics are pleasing to the eye and all the rules are very easy to understand. Homework is given to consolidate the material.
The course combined fun and learning. The course is aimed at making the participants learn the language in a stress-free way. The course does not evaluate students, but helps them develop - this is a huge plus! The best students are not distinguished - every student is important and the course is geared to ensure that every student understands the material. The course teaches, and not only requires students, like many schools in Poland. The school is made for students.
I think it would be good to create light grades - "excellent", "good", "you need to put in more work" to put a very light pressure on students that would motivate them to study people who can't motivate themselves.
The exam is valuable, tests the students' knowledge and is not easy to pass. The level of the exam is appropriate for the difficulty and pace of learning on the intensive language course. The course sets adequate requirements for students.
It is worth remembering that the course needs to be consolidated on your own for the next few months, because these are the natural laws governing the learning of foreign languages.
My classmates were very talented in learning foreign languages. I met wonderful people from all over the world.
The location of the school is perfect. The dormitory is also close. It would be valuable to refurbish some dormitories. The library is close and you can study in it. The school organizes a trip for Christmas and leisure meetings for students after the end of the exam.
Persons working in the administration - Dominika and Vivika - are characterized by a professional appearance appropriate to the position held, have well-developed interpersonal skills and are able to communicate in a mediative manner. The school responds quickly and efficiently to e-mails and conducts business correspondence at a very good level.
The teachers are also characterized by a professional appearance and a full of interest and sympathy towards the students.
Heidelberg is a very nice city and everything is close - school, dormitory, grocery stores, book shops, discos, forest, park, river and castle!
I am proud of myself that I completed this course and consider it a very valuable achievement in my life. Completing this course gave me more satisfaction than university graduation.

I spent one week at Alpha Aktiv school and I have to say that it paid off to come here. A very nice teacher who could explain everything super. I recommend to everyone.

The class was very good. The teacher was friendly and helpful and I learned a lot during the two weeks in the lessons. The grammar and content was described very well and the teacher used an excellent pace to teach the material. I was really happy that the book was easy to find and it was an excellent choice to use in the class. My only wish is that there was more conversational activities and less activities from the book/print outs. I mainly flew from Poland to Germany because I wanted to practice speaking.

They had good activities you could take, such as walking tours of the city and pool visits. I really enjoyed them, it was great to see the city with the tours and take a swim in the pool.

The housing was in a very good and convenient location. That is the only thing I can say positive about it. When I first entered the house, it was so filthy that I felt like vomiting. The refrigerator had rotten food, bugs were infesting the kitchen and bathroom (roaches were crawling on the toilet, flies in the kitchen), I had to clean rotten food from the previous student (so I was disposing rotten eggs and moldy sauce - why is this my responsibility?), I wore shoes in the bathroom over how filthy it was, students would vomit and not clean it, and the room smelt like rotten trash. I liked the class, but was eager to get out of that filthy room. I took pictures if you want to see them.

I would recommend the school, but not housing. If you can do an Airb&b, that would be better.

Alpha Aktiv's staff was very helpful in attending to my needs, especially since I had to remain virtual. I very much enjoyed my experience, even though I was in a class that a bit too easy for me (the more advanced ones were at slightly more inconvenient times for me, due to the time zone differences). It was a nice review as to how to teach the content, since I teach German to younger students, and my teacher was very kind and wonderful. The classmates were also very kind, too. Maybe one day I will get to experience Alpha Aktiv in person! Thank you all so much!

I really appreciate the effort by Mirek and Inna, who were my teachers during the one-week long stay. Especially the conversation classes with Inna made me capable to speak on my own, which always used to be the biggest weakness of my language skills in any language at all. Moreover, Inna regularly wanted us to delve into some deep philosophical topics, which was convenient to hear (despite I was definitely not able to sufficiently express my own insights).

Unfortunately, it was not possible to fully avoid occasional communication in English, and I was especially disappointed when people in Heidelberg sometimes responded to my simplified questions in German too fluently so that I was forced to turn back to English. However, when speaking with foreigners, the situation was much better.

Of course, there were countless technical and organizational problems both with the accommodation and the course itself, but the experience definitely worth it.

The activities were nice

My experience with the school was terrible.The nightmare started from the first day that I stepped into the housing.Even though I had paid for a room before I left for germany,no room was available for me upon my arrival.After such of long trip,i had to wait for five hours before being givena very filthy place to stay.The other rooms in that apartment were all filled with boys who drank ,smoked and made noise all night.As a result I wasn't able to sleep.To make situation even worse were to share the same toilet.I send a message to the person in charge of accommodation saying that I wasn't going to stay in that apartment due to the horrible circumstances.Nonetheless ,little effort was made to salvage the situation.All only thing that they seemed interested in was money.
The only good thing about it all was a tutor.She was amazing and I must confess that she was my only consolation during that unimaginable experience.Certainly,i can't recommend that school to anyone specially the program with housing inclusive.Many students accommodation issues for wich no solution was found just like in my own case.

Comfortable class, the teachers are highly qualified, I meet people from all over the world and have fun learning the language. I had a single apartment 7 minutes from school and it was totally fine for me!

The teachers are really good, Isabel more than Maria. I learned more in 2 weeks here than in the 6 months doing Duolingo.
Definitely would recommend.

I liked the teacher and the location of the school.

The school facilities are good but with more cleaning they would be great.

The housing was very well located, few minutes walk from school.

But the beds are old and of low quality.

The kitchen is unfurnished.

I really appreciated the lessons of the teacher Inna. She corrected every day my homework and she was passionate, helpful and thorough in teaching.

The school is very near to Haupstrasse, which is the main street of the Old Town.

A word about my host family. The landlady, Sevinc Kilic, was kind, clean, helpful and honest. She cooked every evening and she was talkative, so that I could improve my ability in conversation in German.

In my experience, there are no dislikes!

The teacher was good. The location is in the center and is a good location. I liked the most the activities in the afternoon.

At first, the teacher of our class changes frequently and they seem not to know what the previous has taught or what homework has given. Second week the teacher, Mirek, was really good. He knows what kind of problem we might have when it comes to learning grammar, and the lectures were much more interesting. In addition, the Lack of air conditioner is really a problem when there is a heatwave. It was too sweltering to learn.

The teacher for the C1 course was very skilled and motivated in her education, and made us students interact during class. The afternoon conversation-class was not very organized and at times a bot chaotic, and also because students from all different classes were mixed, there was some difficulty in communicating with each other. I did not take part in the activities. The people at the reception at the school were very nice and helpful. The accommodation could have been better, the bathroom sink was leaking and there was no possibility of WiFi/WLAN on our floor.

The teacher in my group was very good. His name is Mirek. His classes were interesting and we had a lot of fun. His way of explanation is clear and understandable. Perhaps, Mirek is the best language teacher I've ever seen. The general atmosphere in the group was friendly and comfortable. School is located in a nice place not far from the Old Town. The way from the dorm to the school took me 20 minutes by foot. The route is enjoyable.
However, there were some problems with Alpha Aktiv. The main problem was in number of students in my group. Most of the time of my language course there were 20+ students in the group, so it was not too effective. For some reason, Alpha Aktiv could not provides the necessary number of teachers. All in all, it was rather unpleasant.
Another problem is connected with the accomodation provided by Alpha Aktiv. There were some problems with water supply and sanitation. The water tap leaked from time to time. One time the sanitation was temporarily out of service.
An unfortunate incident happened in the last day of my staying at Alpha Aktiv's room. I was in my dorm room when suddenly someone opened the door by his key without knoking or something like that. The men who opened the door was janitor or groundskeeper, he asked me about my checking out rather rude. Apparently, he thought that I had to leave the room that day, but in fact I had one day more. After the claryfiyng teh situation he's gone, but such kind of unexpected visit was really impolite on his part.
So, the main problem of Alpha Aktiv is a quite low degree of organization, and it is saddening.

The teacher is experienced with good teaching method and we learned a lot. The location of the school is good and is near the town. Heidelberg is a great place to study and stay. My housing is very nice with a nice and quiet environment and I have a very nice room that is good for study. The host mother is very nice and make delicious meal. I miss the house and my host mother. I would love to come again and stay longer.

Schule:
Klassengrösse ideal. Ich habe nie das Gefühl gehabt dass etwas nicht funktioniert. Die Lage in der Stadt ist optimal.

Kurs:
Man erkannte sofort welcher Kurs für mein Niveau ideal ist. Die Unterrichteinheiten waren jeden Tag unterhaltsam und man konnte kontinuierlich eine Verbesserung des Niveaus erkennen. Dafür danke ich ins besonders von ganzem Herzen Mirek, welcher ausser einer grossen Erfahrung und Kompetenz als Lehrer es schaffte, dass wir schöne, interessante Stunden miteinander verbrachten.

Unterkunft:
Ich habe mich dafür entschieden bei einer Familie unterzukommen um kontinuierlich einen deutschsprachigen Input zu bekommen. Bei Dominika habe ich mich sofort zu Hause gefühlt und habe ausser eine super Gastgeberin auch eine spitzen Frau und Freundin gehabt, mit der ich immer reden konnte.
Danke vielmals!

The accommodation was horrible. It doesn’t look nothing like the photos. I had to clean everything by myself. The room was so dirty. Some lights and the heating wasn’t working properly and I asked for the Hausmeister to come. They took 3 days to respond my email and the Hausmeister never came. The only reason I would recommend this course is Mirek the teacher. I have been to different courses and i think this was the most productive one. Sometimes when you 4 lessons a day it may get a little bit boring but this was not the case. We did different things and learned so many new things.

My experience in Hidelberg and mostly at Alpha Aktiv was great. The course I attended helped me improve my German skills a lot in quite a short time. The people I've met were all really nice and helpful, both the teachers and the other students. The school and the apartment offered very good facilities and i liked that they were close to the city center. All in all, everything went well and I'm glad I had the opportunity to take part in this experience.

I enrolled for a super intensive course. That was my decision, but when I get there, the extra classes, that is, the conversation classes, were difficult for me. I asked if I could change the type of course that I was doing and do just the intensive course. They said that there was nothing they could do and that the only solution was not to attend those lessons. Nothing they could do???? Really????
The teacher for the grammar lessons was good, and the type of classes were ok too.
And then, there is the accommodation. I paid for a single room in a shared flat. The room was ok, it was clean and had a bed, a wardrobe and a table. But they don't provide you a pillow. If I am going to be there just for three weeks, I don't want to buy a pillow than I can't carry back home with me at the end. But I had to buy it. The flat was horrible. Everything was super old and it was really really dirty. The girls that lived there told me that once a week someone go to the flat to clean everything, which I highly doubt. I never seen anyone and there was the same dirt all the time. I asked for a change of flat, I wanted a single flat, something just for me. They allowed me to do that change, but of course, charging me with some money from the deposit. This institution is only interested in money and they don't care at all for their students well-being. I changed flats. The new one was very good. It was big and it was clean. But the neighbors were super loud all the time, specially at night. I couldn't sleep more than three or four hours every night and I was getting sick. I decided to leave earlier than I was supposed to. They didn't care about anything. I paid a deposit of 500 euro and they give me back just 320.
Also, the staff at the office isn't helpful at all. The girl that welcomed me the first day was really nice, and then, when I asked to talked with her about my problems they didn't let me do it.


I would never come back to this place and I don't recommend it to anyone. It's cheaper than other institutions in Germany, but it's definitely not worth it.

I spent two weeks reviewing the level of German I had studied years ago in college. The morning grammar class was followed by a conversation class. After classes there was total immersion as I made my way around the city speaking German everywhere. The location of the school is very convenient. The school is not on the outskirts of the city, but in the center. The teachers I had were friendly, helpful, and highly competent. The textbook for the grammar class was well organized, and the reader that we used in the conversation class was an interesting story that takes place in Heidelberg. It was a pleasure working with the other students in my classes. The library of Heidelberg University is open to the public, so there was always a quiet place to study nearby. The library was open every day until one AM.
I stayed in my own private apartment, which I arranged through Alpha Aktiv. It was spacious, with lots of light and a balcony, and was only a few minutes from the school. The only negative was that some of the other residents treated the building like a fraternity house, with loud parties in the hallways, constant slamming of doors, and shouting at all hours.

The location was great. The teacher, Tam, was good. She spoke English with a very strong accent. I wondered if she also spoke German with an accent.

It was very hot in the rooms, which made it hard to concentrate. Air conditioning would be a big improvement.

I would have preferred a class with more emphasis on speaking, perhaps with a lot of repetition. It seems as if your classes are geared towards helping immigrants pass the test to get a visa. That’s fine, but it wasn’t my goal.

My teacher was really good, so even though I was just for three weeks I believe I have learned a lot for the time spendid.

My accommodation was perfectly located, however for its price and the course price it was quite dirty and unequipped, especially the kitchen.

I really I like the learning methods and I would go to the same in future , the accomodation was very good but I did not relax for the bed.

It was really good, the teachers are good and can help you in every moment and the classroom is good too. In a good space you feel good.

My fiancé and I spent one week in Heidelberg to start learning German. This course was a great introduction and we had a lot of fun. The class size was not too large and the teachers were encouraging. We will definitely continue to learn German back in Canada, and will definitely return to Heidelberg in the future.

A very intense week. There was a health problem with a woman teacher and they were quick and flexible to solve that problem and relocate the classes. A very professional and efficient School. The one to one classes of the super intensive course were the best.

I had a great experience at the school. My classmates were always working in teams and the teacher had great communication with all the students. The location is just perfect in the centre of Heidelberg.