I’ve finally allowed myself to accept the Swiss-style of ‘high’ German. It means no “ß” in the alphabet, and the inclusion of certain words like “Velo” for bicycle, “Grüezi” for greetings. My school of choice is the Migros Klubschule in my old area of Oerlikon. It’s just a short bus ride away from Affoltern. I won’t lie, I picked this school because we cannot afford the more expensive and prestigious one in the city centre, but it still had good reviews and the location is ideal.
As it turns out, the Klubschule isn’t that bad. I started off with an interview and a short multiple choice placement test, and I qualified for the second part out of three for the A1 level. I still wanted to start at the very beginning, just to get my bearings and ease into the new bi-weekly schedule that I would have to endure for the next 6 months. It’s a good thing too, because I have forgotten a lot of the articles for even the most basic vocabulary.
These are the books I will be using. I already have the German German version. This is the Swiss version. The main difference is the exclusion of the “ß” from words, replaced by “ss”, and the images are now of Swiss locations and brands. Other than these changes, the class is very much standard German, including pronunciations.
First exercise in class: Make a poster with things that you like. We were given some material to cut up. I was lucky to find the two most amazing pictures (to me) to cut out and paste. I love gardens, plants, and collecting toys. I do like cheese too, but I only used that picture because I thought two wouldn’t be enough. Everyone asked me about the toys, whether I made toys. My grammar and vocabulary being so elementary, I could not write down that collected toys.
The class is rather big, about 14 people, but things still move along nicely. My teacher is very good at explaining things and is very friendly. Almost everyone in the class can already speak English. Communicating with others is easier with a fall-back language, though this isn’t really ideal for practising German, is it? 😀
Say hello to Oerlikon for me. Miss it so much! Good luck with the German lessons. Mine have fell a bit to the wayside now.
I see you already went beauty shopping. 😀 A person on Instagram posted that they are opening a Kiko Cosmetics in Zurich at Glatt! March 7, you will have to visit once it opens. 🙂
My very first A1 classes (A1.1 and .2) were in Migros Oerlikon 🙂
This is the most fun stage to learning German. Enjoy!
I know “sammeln” is to collect.
Spielzeugsammeln = collect toys, or Puppensammeln = collect dolls. IF I’m not wrong 😀
Allison: Glattzentrum is still on my list of shopping places to visit! 🙂 Can’t wait to check it out.
Juanita: Ah great! I also found the word Sammeln in the vocab book that came with the set… I’m too late though, haha.