Awful language lesson

[Booboostwo]

Not a huge issue but WWYD I suppose:

I have struggled to find a German tutor online (a lot of people offer lessons but many know nothing about the A1 exam). I am on my second tutor who finally seems to know the exam, we've had 6 lessons.

Today she came up with an apparently German joke which was racist against Jews. I told her I did not think it was very funny and was happy to move on, but she pressed me on why I did not find it funny and I said it was racist. Then she asked if I was a 'leftie' and I asked her why she would ask that. She said it was because lefties tend to not be racist and I said everyone should not be racist regardless of political choices.

We moved on with the lesson. Then she gave me another piece of cultural background, she said that Turks call Germans something which again IMO was racist. So again I said I did not need to learn about that as it was racist and she said it was funny. I said immigration is a complex issue and best not to call either immigrants or host people derogatory terms, and she said that she was OK with Turks because in her country, Hungary, the main problem are Gypsies who won't integrate! To which I said maybe Hungarians should learn about Gypsy culture instead and tried to move on with the lesson.

I do think cultural examples are important in learning a language but she's a raging racist isn't she? I have to cancel my next lesson and find another tutor, don't I?

Yeah dump her and find someone else. Surely online German tutors are ten a penny.

Yeah, massive racist. Horrible. Ditch her.

I've cancelled our next lesson. I don't seem to have any luck with this.
The first tutor I tried wanted to sell me her book "How to learn German like an FBI agent", the second one spent 3 months teaching me the dative when I can just about say "Hello, how are you?" before admitting that she didn't know the A1 exam at all and the third one is a raging racist.

Should I write to the online platform and tell them what happened, or just forget about it?

Maybe you could contact the British-German Association & ask if they have any tutors they recommend? www.britishgermanassociation.org/

I'm confused, are you a beginner or at A level standard? German teachers are quite hard to come by but I'm not sure about online.

Depending on your level, there might be some good teach yourself resources to make a start whilst researching tutors. The Goethe Institute May be able to help and they do some immersive courses, again, depending on your level and your situation (ie, ability to travel)

CHange platform if the one you're using has given you three unsuitable tutors in a row.

I am not in the UK. I live in rural France where there are no face to face tutors unfortunately.

I am a complete beginner. A1 is the first exam in the European standard foreign language exams. The second tutor was trying to teach me B1 - B2 standard stuff. The Goethe Institute nearest to me is more than an hour's drive away and they don't offer online courses.

This is my second platform unfortunately.

I had a private German tutor who kept slagging off her country and kept telling me she was glad she had left. It was a weird thing to make small talk about.

I’d find someone else.

OP I bet there's a lycée or fac somewhere near you with a German language assistant who'd be able to do one to one classes.

WelshMaGuele the local lycees struggle to teach English, I dont think any offer other languages at all!

Hungary is far right politically. What we see as offensive a majority there will see as the norm.

You are having bad luck, aren't you? Especially given that you are such a beginner. I'm amazed that anyone would struggle with "what's on an A1 exam". It's basically just saying your name and age and asking the way to the train station. So much so that I wouldn't even take anything below A2 or B1.

Can I ask OP, how much are you paying these tutors? And where are you finding them? PM me if you like. I'm in Germany.

I'm also curious - why are you learning German? Is it personal interest or professional reasons? And so, do you specifically need an A1 exam certificate?

I can't remember the name of the first platform, but the cost varied with tutor. The one I tried for 3 months was a native German speaker but I don't think she had experience in education. She charged 20 euros an hour.

The second platform is Preply. This tutor is a foreign language teacher, she charges 25 euros an hour.

Are these unrealistically low prices? I would be happy to pay a bit more for a decent tutor.

I have also been doing Babel for 18 months so in some respects I know more than the A1. When I try online sample tests I do well in Reading and Listening comprehension, but I have no one to practice speaking with. Writing a short text seems very challenging so I wonder if there are a couple of sentences one has to learn before the exam that are particularly relevant and a few tricks on how to address someone in an e-mail, etc.

Download the Duolingo app. It's not the complete answer, but it's free and is good in terms of getting you familiar with the basics.

We want to move to Germany, as my DCs are a quarter German. I could find English speaking work but it would look better on my applications (which are happening now before the move) if I have some German language qualifications. Practically I would like to speak basic German before we move as it will make it easier to go about and make friends.

Thanks I had a look at Duolingo, it's good like Babel but not focused on the exam, so I know a lot of some things and nothing of others!

Ah, now I see. I was confused with A2 being A level in the UK. There are books available for FE tutors teaching adult classes fro. Beginners, they could help ( I realise it's not the same but might give you a leg up) Duo lingual is a good app and even buying a text book like Zoom or Stimmt could easily teach you the basics.

You could also ask in the Home Ed groups if they have nay access to German tutors online?
Unfortunately, German is being phased out on many schools, not just in the UK. I am clinging on to it for now in my school but recruiting is almost impossible.

Good luck!

Oh sorry, didn't read the final few posts.

deutschlernerblog.de/deutschpruefungen-a1-modellpruefungen-musterpruefungen/

If you've done that much preparation you can probably do the rest yourself too for A1. A1 really is very basic.

Why do you need an A1 exam? It's pretty pointless to do anything below A2 - I've never heard of anything requiring an A1 exam.

Sorry also cross posted!

Don't bother doing the A1 exam, go straight to A2.

Where are you moving to?

anothernortherone I did try to explain above that the speaking part of the exam is a challenge without someone to practice with in advance and the written seems really demanding to me, so I am missing something. No one is requiring the A1 exam of me, I want to show that I am learning German and the first exam seemed a good place to start. If you know of a good A2 exam tutor, i’d be happy to do that instead!

OP send me a PM and I'm sure I can find you someone who can help.

We are not too sure. If I get a job, wherever the job is, most likely Munich. If not, then near Frankfurt probably as seems the most multicultural.

If you could afford it and your partner can juggle the childcare a 4 week residential Goethe institute course actually in Germany to get to A2 level might be your best bet.