Hello zusammen!
The B1 level is a grammar level, and you have to understand and remember a lot of new grammatical constructions. Your language will become more various and alive. Und es freut mich sehr. Now I am at the B1.1 level and it is only a half of all B1 grammar. So now I know about:
N-Deklination
Relativsätze
sowohl..als auch
Präteritum
Perfekt
Adjektive als Nomen
Indirekte Fragen
Temporale Nebensätze mit wenn und als
Passiv
Futur I
Konjunktion falls
Konjunktionen obwohl, trozdem
and etc.
It is not the only difficulty at the B1.1 level, there are a lot of new words and they are not so easy as Tisch or Stuhl. At this level, you start to create your own professional vocabulary. You will be capable of talking about some work moments and it’s very useful because at B1 a lot of students start working. Some important words for work:
Vollzeit – Teilzeit
Tagesablauf
brutto – netto
Steuer
Grußformel und Unterschrift
Our teacher advises us to buy one grammar book and it is really helpful. There are a lot of pictures with explanations and grammar rules and at the same pages, you could find exercises. At this time, you should spend a lot of time at your homework. At intensive courses every day you have a new unit and a new grammar structure, so you don’t have a lot of time to repeat and practice because you have to go forward.
And that’s why I decided to do the B1.3 course before B2. I think it will be a necessary break for me and I could repeat everything and prepare myself to the next level.
If you feel that this tempo is too fast for you and you need a break, there are two variants: to make a real break or to do an additional course. You should every month analyse the situation and face it because it makes no sense to be at C1 or B2.2 level and make mistakes in articles or cases. The A2 and B1 levels are as a foundation of a house, if it is not strong enough, your house will be ruined.

Good luck!

First time I understood that I must start speaking at the A2.1 level, but my vocabulary was so poor that it was very very difficult to build even simple everyday sentences. We all know: my name is…, I live there…, I want smth… and so on, but unfortunately, we are not 3 years old babies! And in everyday life, we often use conditional clauses (if, when etc). At the A2.1 I was really far from the necessary grammar, and I was like a dog which can listen and understand all, but can say nothing. This period was very frustrating and I felt like it would last forever and I would never be able to communicate in german.

But miracles happen! and after two months I started to talk. Not all of us have german friends or someone from the family, who can be enough patient to sit and listen to us. My husband is german, but if you think that I talk german at home – you are wrong. I found one solution for this problem: Konversationsklub. Unfortunately, I decided to try it only when I was at the B1.1 and I feel sorry that I have not done it earlier.

Of course, if you come somewhere from US or Europe or Asia, it is easier to find friends with the same language as you. We are all adults with education and self-esteem, so we will not catch germans on the streets and try to talk with them. :)

„Speaking“ is our common problem at the middle level, so let’s solve it together. My first lesson at Konversationsklub was full of fun, we explained each other how will be “Guten Tag” in our mother languages. We played different games and at the end we tried to reorder parts of one story, read it and explained. The most important that you have to talk there and you don’t have a choice, there is no opportunity to stay silent and it is cool. I advise it for all who have problems with speaking – ask in the office about these lessons and as sooner you start as better it will be for you.

If you are visiting Berlin, I would suggest you to pick a day and visit Potsdam. It is in zone C of Berlin and you can easily take the S-Bahn to reach the place. It is a very beautiful, peaceful and historic area with a lot of stories and heritage. You can go on a free tour with a guide who tells you a lot of interesting historical facts. The area has a small center with a shopping street filled with shops and cafes. There is a huge park with a nice lake, which is a great place for pick nick, or running. On the picture you can see the summer palace, which is not that attractive during the winter, since the garden is empty. But as far as I heard during the summer everything is green and beautiful.

If you are looking for beautiful and old objects, you should visit the antique market next to Tiergarten. It is a pretty big market with a huge variety of old goodies: plates, furniture, toys, CDs, accessories etc. You can find pretty much everything. My favorite was a gorgeous telephone. It looked like the ones that you normally see in movies that play during the war times. Unfortunately, the battery of my phone died when I wanted to take a picture, so I could not capture it. But I attached an image from Google maps, so you can find it easily :) The address is Str. des 17. Juni 110 – 114, 10589 Berlin.

I am a lucky one to live very close to the beautiful Charlottenburg Schloss. This palace is the biggest palace in Berlin, and located in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. It was built in the 17t century for Sophie Charlotte, the wife of Friedrich III. During the Second World War it was badly damaged, but they managed to recover its old state. Currently there are some constructions happening on the outside. During the Christmas period there is an amazing Christmas market in front of the palace. It is pretty big and very traditional. This is a very nice palace to visit, if you are in Berlin.

Hello zusammen,

Tell me, how much time do you spend online? One, two or even three hours every day? We all live in our modern world. We get information from Internet from official news to social networks. There are different types of leaners, some of them better understand than they write, other than they read or listen. So the way you learn language can be different and you have to find your own way.

There are a lot of online resources for language learning: websites, apps for phones and tablets. I have been learning foreign languages from my childhood, and i am sure that since all this opportunities have appeared our life easier and better became. In german language you can find a lot of difficult and strange things in grammar. I use different apps every day, which help me. For example, german articles fro me is not so clean as i wish them to be and i use application for articles. There are o lot of week and strong verb in german and very often you will not meet any logic in their conjugation. Germans are very precise to their language, so if you want look good – be correct when you are talking german.

Deutsch Akademie offers everybody free online german course and free online audio course. And thank you for it. I can practise new grammar and vocabulary. And it really helps! For example you are on your way to the school and you are bored in the U-Bahn. What to do? You always have a choice to check your facebook or open your language application. Time will pasts fast and you will improve your language, maybe you think that it is just two or three tasks to find a right word or to build correct sentence. But remember that every minute that you learn language takes you closer and closer to your aim, whatever it is A2 or B1 or C2. You always can find something that suits to your level and interesting for you.

P.S. if you don’t know which application to use or with whom practise your german – write in comments.

P.P.S. 90% of my group use online apps every day!

Bis morgen!

Being in Berlin 7 months, i can say that i am absolutely in love with this city. First three months i tried to find a job and i found a traineeship. There was no job after that, but it is not the most important. The traineeship was about sightseeing and guiding. We were trained during two months as junior guides to provide classical tours of Berlin. At first time i was very upset after that training, because i thought that i had lost time and i really did. But now! I am so grateful that this time gave me an opportunity to get to know this city from inside out. And i want to share it with you. If you think that there is nothing to see in Berlin because it is not München or Dresden you are absolutely wrong. The best of all to start from Alexanderplatz and after that to go to the St. Nikolai district or Nikolaiviertel, it is the oldest part of the city. It was a small neighborhood  of river sailors. Close to Nikolaivirtel you can find the Museum Isle with Lustgarten. Because of this place, Berlin is being sometimes called Spree-Athen. Berlin also has its own Avenue des Champs-Élysées and it is Kurfürstendamm. The most famous trade street in Berlin and the central street of the west part of once divided Berlin. The biggest european Zoo, with a very interesting history. It was destroyed during WWII, but survived. If you are in west Berlin you have to visit Gedächtniskirche or Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the pleasant thing that the entry is free. There is also an excursion to the tower (only in german). I don’t have my favorite place in Berlin, because i love it all. Love Berlin as i love it.

I offer you a short variant of my favourite route (less than 1 hour), and if you are new to the city, it is a good way to get to know Berlin Mitte.

Bis bald!

Last Saturday I felt like getting out of the crowd and have some relaxed walking in a calm place. Therefore, I visited Tiergarden for the first time since I have been in Berlin. It is just such a great park! You get off the S-Bahn and what you hear first is cars, motorbikes and business. Nearly unbelievable that you only need to walk a couple of minutes and that horrible city noise is simply gone! You will arrive to a place where the ducks give the loudest noise. You can bring a book and just sit on a bench and relax – alone of with some company. During the summer you can rent a boat and explore the lake that is located in the park. Restaurants and cafes welcome you to get a drink in case you become thirsty :). It is definitely a place for the weekend and for those who really want to escape from the busy environment. On Saturdays you can enjoy an antique market right next to the park with full of old-school stuff from the past. I loved it!