What is distance learning?

• Learn German the flexible way: You are free to choose the course starting date for yourself, and you can also set your own learning rhythm to fit in with your other personal arrangements.
• Rapid learning success: Application of the latest learning methods and technologies, such as our digital language tuition method, ensure rapid progress in learning German.
• Personal support: Throughout your language course, you are supported by a qualified tutor. He or she will answer your questions, correct your exercises and provide you with regular feedback and individual learning tips.
• Assured quality: Our distance learning courses are regularly audited by the Staatliche Zentralstelle für Fernunterricht (ZFU) - the State Central Office for Distance Learning. All our language certificates are internationally recognized.
• Decades of experience: As the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Goethe-Institut has been setting the worldwide standard for the quality of German language teaching for 60 years.
• Modular design: Every distance learning course will mesh with other language courses and many additional, cost-free offerings of the Goethe-Institut throughout the world.

Step 1: Registration
You can register for one of our distance learning courses either online in our webshop or by post/telefax. You can also choose between different modes and methods of payment. All further information can be found under the link Registration.

Step 2: Receipt of the learning materials
As soon we have received the course fee, we will send you your course materials. Depending on the particular course, you will receive books and work exercises by post and/or you will work with a Goethe-Institut online learning programme. The access data for online courses will be sent you in advance by email.

Step 3: Personal support
Throughout the duration of your distance learning course, you will be supported by a qualified tutor. He or she will answer your questions, correct the exercises submitted by you and give you individual learning tips. The distance learning team is available to deal with organizational questions. In the case of language courses, you can choose between up to six different support languages (English, Spanish, French, Russian, Italian, German).

Step 4: Learning and exercises
The course materials allow you to learn German flexibly and independently. All distance learning courses include send-in exercises which are corrected by your tutor and returned to you with detailed comments.

Step 5: Participation confirmation
At the end of your distance learning course, you will receive a participation confirmation. All our language certificates are internationally recognized.

After registration for your chosen distance learning course and payment of the course fee, you will be sent the relevant course materials. The course price includes all written materials and programs needed for your German course. Depending on which distance learning course you have booked, you will receiver either

by post a package containing classical learning materials such as books, files with exercises and audio CDs
or
by email send-in exercises together with your access data for an online learning program on which you can work through lessons, exercises and online tests and communicate with other course participants.

For each distance learning course, you will also receive a course companion. This manual contains useful information on the structure and organization of your chosen course. All further details relating to the materials used can be found in the relevant course description.

You wish to inquire about distance learning courses? Or you have a question about the course materials or course registration? If so, the distance learning team will be pleased to assist. You can contact us

by telephone
For callers in Germany: 0800 1800800 (toll-free)

For calls from abroad: +49 89 15921-560

Our office hours are: Mon.–Thur.: 9 a.m.–5 p.m.Uhr, Fri.: 9 a.m.–3 p.m.

by email
fernlernen@goethe.de

by post
Goethe-Institut e. V.
Bereich Multimedia und Fernlehre
Dachauer Straße 122
80637 München
Germany

Additionally, you will be supported throughout the course by your personal tutor, whom you can contact at any time by email. You will receive your tutor’s email address at the start of the course.

As the officially commissioned cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Goethe-Institut has been responsible for performing key tasks of the country’s international cultural and education policy for more than 60 years. The quality requirements that have to be met by our German language courses and further training courses for teachers are therefore correspondingly high:

Staatliche Zentralstelle für Fernunterricht
Our distance learning courses are regularly audited and certified by the Staatliche Zentralstelle für Fernunterricht (ZFU) - the State Central Office for Distance Learning (www.zfu.de/). All the offered courses bear a corresponding seal of approval.

The course materials for the distance learning courses are developed by professional experts and are regularly reviewed and revised. All the materials are up to date in terms of content and also reflect the latest educational and technological developments. Our support staff are available to deal with technical questions relating to online materials.

Participants in Goethe Institut distance learning courses receive excellent support from qualified tutors. The tutors at the Goethe Institut are professionally qualified German teachers. All of them have many years’ teaching experience - in some cases also abroad -, are experienced in the field of e-learning and undergo regular further training by us.