A2.2 online course

In February 2018 I enrolled in the Goethe Institut's online class for A2.2. Language skills are classified with A1 being beginner, and C2 being fluent. Commonly, German and Austrian universities accept exchange students with a B1 certificate.

To enrol in the Goethe Institut, you must pass a placement test. The first part tests your grammar (and even though it said don't guess, there really were times where I had no idea what ANY of the 4 options meant!), and the second part is a free-form short answer sheet.

When, where and how long have you learnt German? I have learnt a bit of German in school, for two years and two months. I was 16, in 2013. In September 2013 I went to Germany and Austria with my school, for an exchange in Furstenfeldbruck. I have also been using Duolingo for a year.

What would you like to do with your German language skills? I would like to do another exchange with my University. I am a music student and German and Austria are very good for music students.

Which language is in your opinion easier to learn: German or English? Why? I speak English because I am Australian, but English is a hard language. My German friends think that also. They have said, English has no rules. German has lots of rules, like French, Italian and Latin. When one learns these languages, others become easier.

Based on my answers, I was told to take the A2.2 course in person. This wasn't going to work for me because of the time the lessons were scheduled, so I opted to do the 13 week online A2 course, which is meant to encompass all of A2.

The online course consisted of 4 online calls with our tutor, 3 written assignments, and assigned "homework" that wasn't really compulsory using the Goethe Insitut's online learning program for vocabulary and grammar.

Spoiler: I highly doubt I am now of A2 standard.

The online learning program, while useful for some grammar, just didn't help me learn a lot of vocabulary I wanted to use, and I found myself using Google as a crutch to prevent myself from completely stalling and randomly guessing answers when it came to combining multiple grammar aspects in one sentence. This made it a really discouraging experience to practice German at all and I found myself not wanting to practice. In the end I flopped the 13 week course - I don't even know if I handed in the last assignment. It felt like a meaningless and consequence-less course because Goethe doesn't count your participation in their course as attaining that level of language officially. Luckily we had access to the online learning program for a full year after our enrolment so I was able to make a bit more of that aspect of the course.