I used Duolingo, then took face to face small group lessons before the pandemic. We were working on A2 material when covid struck, and the new online teacher was … well it wasn’t working for me.
Since then it’s been a rather undisciplined mixture. I do have the book Grammatik Aktiv A1 - B1 and it is helpful, when I open it and use it! I’ve watched various Youtube and Netflix programs with the help of Language Reactor which lets you see both German and English subtitles at the same time.
I’ve used Clozemaster, and tried the Deutsche Welle website. Their Nicos Weg is good, but I find it very demanding to listen to normally spoken German conversation, instead of a newsreader’s clear articulation!
I really liked the story books by Angelika Bohn - they are at all levels from A1 up to B2, and you can get audio of her reading them too. I wrote a fan letter to her and one thing led to another and now I am having more-or-less weekly Tandem chats via Skype with a friend of hers, an absolutely delightful German woman.
I’ve tried italki, and some teachers were more suited to me than others. Currently I’m reading fantasy books in German on my Kindle, because then I can quickly get a translation of all the many words and sentences that I don’t understand.
I think I made the most progress with the face to face group, but I’m very covid vulnerable so I’m not sure when or if I can pick that up again.
That’s really great! I think a native speaker who can say, “that doesn’t sound right, we say it like this” can be a huge help!