Lessons/Courses

Individual Lessons

Individual lessons can be booked in 1-unit (45 min) or 2-unit (90-min) increments, although we strongly recommend the 90-minute format for adult learners. As described under Teaching Method, a typical individual course includes a phase of free communication and a phase of detailed, written review and correction.

Invariably this format will be adapted to meet your specific needs. After all, every student is different and it’s far more important that you learn in a way that engages you and meets your particular goals than to work one’s way through topics in any prearranged order. Furthermore you’ll learn much faster if we target those parts of the language that you actually use in the real world. Whether you are studying for an exam, preparing for a job interview or a trip, or just managing everyday life, we can make this particular material the focal point of your instruction while still ensuring that you learn all the basic elements of grammar and vocabulary that you need to become fluent.

Group Lessons

We are happy to offer group lessons to sets of 2 to 4 learners of a particular language who wish to develop and/or improve their communication and comprehension skills together rather than in the context of individual instruction. These groups offer participants the opportunity to test their linguistic limits and overcome potential inhibitions about speaking. The teaching method employed is similar to that used in individual lessons with the exception that the feedback sheets reflect the needs and issues of all the group members.

Structured Group Courses

Periodically SPRACHwerk offers fixed-term, curriculum-based group courses on subjects ranging from Business English to Basic Principles of Translation to Intercultural Communication. Some of these courses can be taken as Bildungsurlaub (Paid Educational Leave).  Click here for information on upcoming courses.

Intensive German Grammar Course

We are now accepting registrations for the next session of our group intensive grammar course “How German Works”. This course provides a comprehensive overview of all the major topics in German grammar, from “beginner” to “advanced”, explained in and in comparison to English. As such, it was designed with English native (or near-native) speakers in mind who would like to have German grammar explained to them in a language and in terms they immediately understand as well as in a concentrated manner, rather than dispensed in dribs and drabs over the course of the time-consuming A1-C2 CEFR system.

With a maximum enrollment of just 6 students, the standard version of this course meets five times per week, Monday to Friday, from 11:00 to 12:30 p.m. at our school in Kreuzberg. An accelerated 10-day version of this course (meeting daily from 9:00 to 15:30) is also offered as Bildungsurlaub. The class is taught by our founder, Deborah Cohen, who has been developing her methods and materials over more than 15 years of teaching German as a Foreign Language.

Next Session (approved as Bildungsurlaub: January 3 – February 4, 2022