Great place to drop off the kids for a few hours while you do your shopping, have a coffee, or even…read morego watch a movie, stress-free and in peace. Kids from 3 years old can be dropped off up to 4 hours max. There's plenty to play with inside to keep your little ones busy. There's even a mini cinema where half hour long kiddie movies are shown. They also offer siblings discount. Hubby and I drop off our two kids, go watch a movie in the cinema, do our grocery shopping after, pick them up 3 hrs later and pay Fr24.50. Best babysitting deal in town!

This place is awesome. If you have a child between the ages of 3 and 8, this is the place for them…read more It is brand new so it is super clean. You drop off your kids for up to four hours while you shop, go to the cinema, have dinner, or visit the spa at Sihlcity. The cost is around 4chf per hour. There is a tree house with slide, a ball pit, a huge soft play climbing structure with slide, a school bus filled with books, costume area, art room, bobby cars, and more. On the 4th floor. Trustworthy employees. My go to place when I need a break! Super clean.

Alemania also has branches in Luzern and Bern. Listen, Alemania in Zurich is not the greatest. The…read moreboss is a bit crazy; but, the teachers (Andreas, Thomas, Giorgio...in particular) are FIRST RATE. I have learned so much and very quickly. Only a 2-hour daily commitment, great learning materials. Not a huge fan of the facilities as they are on a very busy street and it is always loud and hot. Cost is not bad. Sometimes, I think the classes (can be up to 14 students) are too big. Viel Spass!

A friend recommended this language school to me as something more intensive than the courses I was…read moretaking last year at St. Annahof Sprachschule, but a more affordable option than something like Bellingua. We also get a discount from being an employee at Zurich Insurance Company, yay! I sat in a trial class, it was a good experience for me, so I signed up for German classes Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:30 - 9:00 pm. Unfortunately, after about 4 years in Switzerland, I'm STILL at German A1 level, but this time, it seemed good as a refresher on the basics. The teacher Anne Madeleine tries to explain everything in German instead of resorting to English. Sometimes it's still a bit difficult to figure out what she's trying to say, so I still have to resort to the Google Translate app on my phone. Class sizes range from 3 people up to 7, depending on who shows up. Homework is minimal or nonexistent, but what I like is the practice during the class. We take turns answering questions and speaking in German, so I get to say something in every class (unlike at my prior school). Unfortunately, due to my work schedule, I had to start missing some classes, and now I'm starting to get a bit lost in class again. I finally decided that German is not for me and gave up. But while it lasted, the course was pretty good. The only negative is that it's just really time-consuming and exhausting to sit there after a long day at work. Plus I get hungry because it's during dinner time. I tried to eat something at 5:30 at work, but then I was hungry again at 9:30 pm and had to eat a second dinner after class. This class is making me fat! :O

I returned 5 months later for a 3 month session because my last visit to Bellingua was full of hard…read morework, great people, and excellent teaching. This time, I was put in a class with a bad teacher. I wont go into detail about her because I feel mean bashing someone so openly. The worst part though, was that she was a good teacher when she wanted to be... which was when we had management sit in to analyze her teaching ability. Why didn't the students suffer? Because Bellingua's materials are golden. The books are easy to understand and pair well with the exams. The students want to learn because they're paying a buttload for the classes, and if they fail more than 3 exams they are kicked out of the school. So really, a teacher is there to help but ultimately the students can teach themselves with the course work. Teachers like Ladina (my teacher the first 4 months I was at Bellingua) make the 3 hours of class enjoyable, different, stimulating, and enable the students to learn a bit more efficiently. Why didn't I switch teachers? I tried, but I was told by the manager that my expectations were too high and I wouldn't be satisfied with anyone. For the record... they weren't! It was unbelievable some of the things my previous teacher did. The manager went as far to say that I couldn't take a break and return with another teacher. This is what she told me, in English and German. I would question whether I was expecting more than necessary, but the fact that every student in the classroom was complaining about the same things showed me that something was wrong. Months later, I wrote the owner of Bellingua, telling him that he has a really bad teacher, and that students should be able to at least switch to a GOOD teacher. I told him that the manager refused to let me change teachers. He did a lot of research, updated me with e-mails, and ultimately concluded that there had been a misunderstanding. He said that he was unable to conclude who said what, but that he updated the paperwork and website to ensure students that they are allowed to change teachers. That's really all I wanted. I didn't message him while I was taking classes, because my teacher already knew I had problems with her, management thought I was better than everyone else, and I knew that e-mailing the owner would just escalate emotions. He was an efficient and helpful man, and I am thankful that he handled the situation the way he did. Unfortunately, I have no desire to go to Bellingua again. The relationship between me and the management would be awkward, and if my previous teacher is still there things would be even more awkward. Too bad

The material is good. Some of the teacher lack experience…read moreand cannot explain everything all that well. It is very good to have weekly tests however the grading is unnecessarily harsh and is more stressful than helpful. It is not reflecting the students capacity and focuses on errors rather than progress. The idea behind is to teach people to do the simple minimum rather than try to use more difficult structures and words as they are being punished for it. Punishing effort seems misplaced for a learning institution.

This is a second location for the Flying Teachers school,…read moreit`s right on Central, and oh so easy to get to! Through the window on the 2nd floor you can see the Polybahn go by, the only problem is it`s on the top level, so many stairs can make a girl cry! It`s a nice and newish place with space for 10-12 in each room, and a coffee spot for pauses and breaks, so you avoid the 5 flights of doom! The people I met here were friendly and liked to chat, but now I`m at the other location, `bout 4 tram stops from that. At half the price of the others, what`s a girl to do? Come on down to Flying Teachers- learn a language (or two!)

I take intensive classes at this location each day. It`s…read morequite expensive, but the learning`s fast-paced. Your experience depends on your class and your teacher, so I hope yours is professional, sans slackers and creatures! My class has 11, so we all get speaking time. But it`s quite disruptive when one`s outta line. It`s built right beside the train and bus station, thus, it`s easy to find via public transportation. So yes, for 990 Franks, it`s an investment of sorts, but for better Deutsch, this one I`d report!

I'm keen on taking German courses, and have been recommended to check out the Migros language…read moreschool. The greatest thing about Migros is that it's bucket-loads cheaper than private schools, and, this, in large part, is due to the fact that the Migros parent company subsidizes costs at its school. If a course at Migros Language School were to cost around 700 CHF, then a course through a private school could cost somewhere around 1500 CHF, or so I've been told. I recently met with an adviser in order to gauge my language level. We chatted, I took a short written test, and from there we looked at the course catalog together. All of this effort was gratis, and that was fab. Mind you, she came up with the same course that I did, but also suggested that I enroll in a grammar course. One may enroll in the grammar course only after having passed a slightly more rigorous test that one must pay 30 CHF for the pleasure of taking. I made an appt. to take the test the next afternoon, and, upon completion, was told that a teacher would contact me via phone to check my level of spoken German. I hadn't been told that there would be a spoken component to the written test. Had I known that, then I would have sorted out getting a phone before popping into Migros, guns blaring. In any case, I left an email address which may yield a phone no. from the instructor. 'Fingers crossed' we'll get to chatting sooner rather than later. It's been almost one week since the test-taking fun, so I'll either wait a tad longer in the hopes of hearing from her, or decide to enroll in the course that I initially chose for myself. All around, the interface with the school has been nothing but polite and friendly. I can well imagine that folk having difficulty with the language would be put well at ease by the service they receive at Migros reception. This particular Migros Klubschule is in Oerlikon, just outside of Zuerich City proper and easily reached via tram. From central Zuerich, trams 10 and 11 will take you to Oerlikon Hauptbahnhof, directly in the vicinity of the school. If you're keen on taking the 'fancy train', then hop on at the Zuerich main train station and get off at Oerlikon main station. **as of 2/8, I received an email from the instructor who corrected my test stating that I am eligible to take Grammatikkurs 5. -never having heard nor read about this particular class, I was a bit confused. I wasn't sure if this course corresponded to the C2 course I was aiming to take, or not. I called the helpful gals at Migros reception for some clarification. Turns out that Grammatikkurs 5 is equal to the C1 class (as competency level in German here is marked by the letters A, B, and C, then divided into two sections per letter). Ex.: A1-A2, B1-B2...etc. I did the maths, and C1=5. Woot. Let's hope that the actual class I'm slated to take in Sept. is less confusing. :)