The vhs-Lernportal is a free government-sponsored online German course that has lessons from A1 to B2. The lessons are designed to immerse you in German and create an effective learning environment. You can choose to do your lessons entirely in German and learn new words and grammar through context, or you can use English translations to support you on your German learning journey. When you register for one of the courses on vhs-Lernportal you are also assigned to a human tutor who will answer any questions you have and can correct your German. Because of the quality and variety of lessons, vhs-Lernportal is the best place to learn German.
When you first open the vhs website, you can change the language to English in the upper right corner. Then click on “I want to learn” and create a free account using your email address.
Once you have signed in, you will see all of the different courses you can enroll in. The first course is a phonetics course, which is the best place to start because it will teach you how to properly pronounce German along with some basic vocabulary and sentences. The second course will teach you A1 level German. A1 focuses on basic sentences and simple, everyday conversation. You can enroll in two courses at once if you would like to do these courses simultaneously or find that the first one is too easy. If you have never studied German before, focus on the first course.
After you have enrolled in one or more courses, you can see the courses you are enrolled in in your vhs learning portal.
To access the main page and lessons for a course, click on the course’s name.
When you first open a course, it will take you to the course’s home page. This is where you can see your progress.
To view your lessons, click on the “Lessons” tab toward the top of your screen. You can then select a lesson to study or review.
Most lessons start with a video, where you are introduced to the topic that will be covered in that lesson.
You will then get several different exercises to practice the lesson’s contents. This program focuses on practice and repetition, so you will get many chances to use what you are learning. As you progress, I highly recommend doing the course entirely in German and only looking up words as needed. This will help you develop your German skills naturally, similar to how a native speaker would. You can use a dictionary to look up individual words or use a reading tool if you need more support.
Using the vhs-lernportal is pretty straightforward, but if you need any help, you can always reach out to the vhs-lernportal support team. Have fun and happy learning!
