Reviews of Alpha Aktiv, Heidelberg, Germany

A few teachers and Sara.

If you have the money, go to a better school.

Everything is not good other than some of the teachers and some of the admins who are helpful and nice. It's mainly based on your teacher. If you get a good teacher then you are lucky and your money is worth a lot. If not, then it's a complete waste of money as the school isn't really trying to help anyone other than taking money at every chance. They don't cover up for their failures like when they lack teachers or having many students (20+) where no one can really learn and the teacher can't teach anymore. Also, they don't have any other facilities other than a computer lab for Test DAF that you can use. No library/kitchen or anything else mentioned here. They always don't have toilet paper in the toilets actually. Some teachers have to bring their own laptops as the school doesn't offer many advanced ways of teaching.

A1.2 and A2.1: Very little conversation training, we basically only did all the exercises in the course books, one by one (except the conversation and phonetics exercises which we actually all needed). Even though the pupil capacity is large, all classes are very small, 3-8 students, mostly very young. Minimal social life among students, one activity a week with very little attendance. Social media groups on facebook and such are not active. Arabic speaking students were a larger group, so I reckon they had a better time socially. Accommodation: I stayed in both the centrally located residences in Rohrbachstrasse 61. One room had not been washed at all, the next had been superficially cleaned on the visible surfaces, but under and behind everything it was extremely dirty. Poorly maintained rooms, wobbly and dirty furniture, worn out and very uncomfortable beds and mattresses, see-through curtains on ground level right where all residents were passing by. Electric faults in both rooms; melted wires, broken sockets, noisy fridge. No fire extinguishers in either buildings. No sockets for the laptop by the desk, so bring an extension cord. No work light. Zero kitchen equipment, and none for rent. No coat hangers, no peg to hang your coat by the door, or a towel in the bathroom. No toilet paper provided, and nowhere to buy toilet paper if you arrive late or on a Sunday. No paper basket or garbage bucket. No weekly cleaning, no cleaning equipment that you can borrow. The end cleaning that you pay 50 euros for, takes them less than five minutes. No blankets or linen, and none for rent. Both residences have tenants that are not language students, so it can be noisy at night. A quiet backyard, no garden, no outside furniture. Residences not suitable for wheelchair users, elevators out of order all the time both there and at school. WiFi functioned most of the time in one of my rooms, not in the other. Most students were frustrated about not having WiFi for days in a row. Also, there was a serious ant plague in both buildings all of May and June, also a hefty number of spiders. If you complain about that, the maintenance guy will spray your room with poison without telling you, so that you'll breath in the poison. You'll notice afterwards by the hundreds of dead ants that appear in heaps along the walls. But no effort was made to extinguish the ant colonies on the patio, so the problem just continues anyway, which you can see from years of reviews mentioning the ant problem. Read the critical reviews - I wish I had done that, because they are true. This school is seemingly the cheapest option, but since you'll have to pay or buy everything, and since there is no cooking,cleaning, laundry etc. equipment, it turns out to be a more expensive option after all. For instance; despite having a kitchen nook I had to eat all meals in restaurants for two months, due to the lack of kitchen equipment. There are no second hand shops or cheap shops where you can buy kitchen equipment in Heidelberg. I recommend that you choose another school if you can afford to, because the unwelcoming, crappy living conditions and the uninspiring teaching makes it hard to stay motivated. If you must choose this school, then choose a host family rather than the central residences.

This school isn't serious. When you have a problem, the administration listen but don't help you. You can't trust them. All is disorganized. The school isn't XL, please update that.

The teachers try to do their best and really care about their students. But they are not teachers specialise in German, their knowledge of the langage is sometimes not enough for teaching german. Sometimes they can't answer our questions. That's not serious from the school. The speaking level of the student are REALLY BAD even in C1. We learn grammatik, but not how to speak and deal with it. Even the administration prefer to speak english with us.

Dirty, noisy, very bad wifi (WiFI is considered as an "extra" by the school, it operate really bad and nothing is done to correct it). I recommand Language Course to delete Wifi in facilities in accomodations, it can really just not work.

The best library in the world

Lack of cleanliness

Teaching

All the lessons were carried out in German.

A place meant mainly for studies.

The entire process was professionally carried out.

Positive learning atmosphere in the class, clean & central accommodation, friendly office staff, small classes, mixed nationalities, free time activities well organized.

Leisure activities definitely worth the time, don’t be afraid to ask the front desk employees with any issues or questions you might have - they will always help you

Thanks for the super nice time in Heidelberg!

Nothing in particular

Poor quality of teachers. One was not even a native speaker, the other was prone to monologues over 30 minutes, during which us students could only listen. The room was poor and dirty.

Low quality. Course and accommodation are cheap and worth even less.

Very peaceful atmosphere and pleasant language learning

You need to have luck with roommates and classmates. If you have a good roommate you will make great progress while having fun

The cheap price, but the accommodation is not beautiful. Good for those who expect to sleep only, but the city has everything

Location, I could also try different lessons before deciding which I will attend in long-term

The accommodation (single room with shared toilet and bathroom at a "dormitory") was a bit crappy - I received a moldy bed sheet and the table was poor quality. Other than that I had everything I needed. There was no WiFi connection in my room (only in the building).

Great, friendly and helpful staff.

friendliness, availability, responsiveness of staff

I am delighted with my stay in Heidelberg and the courses offered at Alpha Aktiv School.

oOe of my best learning experiences! The teacher was great! The girls in the office were always very friendly and helpful. The rooms were very clean and close to school.

If you need any help, choose a time where there are less students, especially after the class finishes. The best way is to send an email and you get reply very fast.

I wanted to change my room (from students' residence to apartment ) – it was done without a problem. Just needed to contact the office and then everything went smoothly.

friendly teachers

Accomodation was just OK (student housing, shared appartement). The room was fine but the house looked like no one cared about it. We had ants in the house and we told the school a few times but they didn't do anything, so we had to buy bug spray ourselves. It was really disgusting to have ants invasion in the house. The kitchen was also really dirty and the wifi didn't function well. I think they could really improve students' satisfaction if they put more effort in maintaining the accomodation. Also, they should arrange someone from the school to give the keys to arriving students, not another student who has to stay at home and wait for -sometimes- hours (transport delays).