I am thinking of signing up for an evening course in Russian. Two people at my work are already studying Russian, one at university in the evening, and the other in a private study group. Both recommend studying in a more organised way however one is better than me and the other just starting.

I reckon I am at level B1, so I am looking for the first step of "intermediate."

The courses that I found are for 1-2 hours weekly in the evening. It's with a fairly small group about 5-10 people, usually native speakers as teachers. The courses available are all by different institutes of further learning for adults. The cost is a bit under EUR 300 or USD 350 for one term, now until end-May, and books are extra. For that I would like to see some decent return and have a good experience.

The university offers one that is free, in the evening, but that has lots of cultural stuff and history in addition to language and it requires that you pass regular exams or you lose your place.

I need to sign up asap.

Who here has taken a course in Russian and what was your experience? Would you recommend it? What type of course was it and what was good / bad.