Love to learn with the WEA

Our languages and culture courses span the length and breadth of England and Scotland, with the option to study online or in person at a time that suits you. Whether you’re looking to learn a new language and immerse yourself in another country, or you simply wish to indulge in your love and fascination of film, we have the course for you. 

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Our creative writing courses will nourish your inner writer, providing you with a platform to develop your love of poetry, non-fiction or script development. If literature courses are more your kind of thing, then you’re in luck too, as there are a wide range of topics to choose from.  

Literary greats and great periods in history

Our language courses offer you the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in a completely new culture, developing your skills so that you can speak confidently in countries right across the world. German, Italian and Greek are just a few examples of the language courses we have to offer, with many others taking place throughout the year.  

As you’d expect, literary greats such as Agatha Christie and Shakespeare feature regularly. There’s also the option to examine other time periods in English literature too, helping you develop your critical reading and analysis skills - perfect whether you’re a beginner or more experienced in the subject.  

If you prefer history then you’ve got a choice too, from courses on subjects you’d expect such as the first world war, or art history and studying the works of iconic painters such as Salvador Dali. 

Support and guidance

Whatever course you choose, you'll learn in a supportive environment where the class sizes are small, ensuring you get the attention you deserve, with an experienced and qualified tutor on-hand to guide you through your learning too.  

A lot of our cultural learning is delivered by our branch network: learn more here.

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Creative Writing: Body and Place Stories

This friendly creative writing course will invite you to enter into relationship with your bodies and surroundings. The session will be held in a supportive way and will integrate some simple meditation (adaptable to all bodies), prompts for creative and reflective expression through writing, and even some environmental science! You will be guided to a holistic understanding of person and place. This course is ideal for people who like to write and to contemplate how to live more skilfully as individuals, as a community and in relationship with their surroundings. There will be time for sharing small parts of your writing towards the end of the workshop but no pressure.

Course Information

Dates:
Wed 04/09/2024 -
Wed 23/10/2024
Times:
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Duration:
8 sessions
Location:
Shekinah Endeavour House (Torquay)
Endeavour House, 228 Union Str
Torquay
TQ2 5QS
Tutor:
Ione Harris
Course code:
Q00017151
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £67.20

Literature: British Colonial & Post Colonial Literature 10

This course will explore the following texts: Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad; Short Stories by Kipling; The Siege of Krishnapur - JG Farrell; The Jewel in the Crown - Paul Scott, and The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje. The course will track the decline of Empire and the concomitant social and political uncertainty, the relationship between the colonial and the colonised Other, and develop themes relating to identity and the subjective nature of historical revision. There will be ample scope for discussion of at times difficult and controversial debates, and we will focus on the continuing relationship that exists between contemporary writers and later writers vis-a-vis issues of guilt and responsibility.

Course Information

Dates:
Mon 09/09/2024 -
Mon 18/11/2024
Times:
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Duration:
11 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Stephen Smith
Course code:
Q00017456
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £74.00

Art Appreciation: Renaissance Beauty in the work of Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer

This course in art appreciation provides close attentions to particular works of art from two important artists, Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer, working in Europe in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The focus will be upon specific paintings, drawings and prints in relation to their concept of beauty. The course will present a range of work by both artists and each week will select one work for a Close View and detailed attention. Particular attentions will be given to Dürer’s painting in Venice and to his woodcuts and engravings; to Leonardo’s drawings and to his work in Milan.

Course Information

Dates:
Mon 09/09/2024 -
Mon 30/09/2024
Times:
10:30am - 12:30pm
Duration:
4 sessions
Location:
The Kindle Centre (Hereford)
ASDA
Belmont Road
Hereford
HR2 7JE
Tutor:
Allen Fisher
Course code:
Q00016513
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £33.60

Literature: Victorian Literature Through the Decades - The 1830s

During this friendly course you will have the opportunity to consider a number of novels that were published in the 1830s as the start of an exploration of literature published through the decades of Victoria’s long reign. In order to get some sense of how literature was beginning to cross borders in this decade, you will look at works by English authors and also a French and an American writer. The following works will be studied: Old Man Goriot (Honoré de Balzac, 1835); The Vicar of Wrexhill (Frances Trollope, 1837); The Pickwick Papers (Charles Dickens, 1837); The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (Edgar Allan Poe, 1838).

Course Information

Dates:
Tue 10/09/2024 -
Tue 10/12/2024
Times:
2:30pm - 4:30pm
Duration:
14 sessions
Location:
Exeter Community Centre (Exeter)
17 St. Davids Hill
Exeter
EX4 3RG
Tutor:
Greta Depledge
Course code:
Q00016877
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £109.20

WEA Membership

For just £15 a year, you can:

  • Join our popular, award-winning weekly lecture series,
  • Access an archive of over 100 past lectures,
  • Get priority online and phone booking for autumn courses (England only),
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  • Attend our members’ annual conference.

Just add us to your basket to sign up today!

Membership Information

Duration:
12 months
Fee:
£15

Creative Writing: Creative Writing Workshop

This course will help to develop and channel your writing ability, whether as a hobby or for publication. The emphasis is on individual development, with discussion of many aspects of writing. You will be invited to read your work and have feedback in a constructive and friendly setting. All forms are included; short stories, novels, plays, feature articles, poetry, autobiography and memoirs. We will have discussions on many aspects of writing and short exercises in class. All you need is an interest in developing and enjoying creative writing skills. For developers and beginners, who are welcome.

Course Information

Dates:
Wed 11/09/2024 -
Wed 13/11/2024
Times:
10:00am - 12:00pm
Duration:
10 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Stella Stocker
Course code:
Q00009413
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £74.00

Art Appreciation: The Art and Artists of World War One

In this course, we will explore the visual culture in Europe during World War One. From official war art, to soldiers’ sketchbooks, from world-famous artists to anonymous draughtsmen, we will study and discuss a broad range of attitudes to war. We will study many British artists, but also German, French, Italian, and American ones. We will study great works of art, learn a lot about the history of the war from a British and Western perspective, and discuss the role of art and artists during wartime, as well as in the aftermath of war.

Course Information

Dates:
Wed 11/09/2024 -
Wed 06/11/2024
Times:
1:00pm - 3:00pm
Duration:
9 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Caroline Levisse
Course code:
Q00017433
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £37.00

Music Making: Beginners

Come and join us on this friendly and supportive course which will support you on your journey from music listener to music maker! Try out a range of different music making activities that will allow you to develop and explore your music making skills, as well as building your knowledge of practical music theory. The course includes activities to explore your potential in music making on a physical or virtual keyboard, as well as wider music making skills including singing, digital music making and performing. You will be supported and encouraged to share recordings of your music making with the group.

Course Information

Dates:
Wed 11/09/2024 -
Wed 11/12/2024
Times:
10:00am - 12:00pm
Duration:
12 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Lorna Poole
Course code:
Q00018341
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £88.80

British Literature 1980 - 2011 (Part 1)

On this course we will examine the following novels: The Stranger’s Child - Alan Hollinghurst. Last Orders - Graham Swift. A Pale View of Hills - Kazuo Ishiguro Innocence - Penelope Fitzgerald The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps - Michel Faber. These texts will take us inside contemporary British fiction, and earmark those authors who have contributed to the evolution of a distinctive voice in British fiction in the last fifty years, from the years of Thatcher, New Labour to the present. We will explore each writers’ techniques and themes, and how they address the themes of British identity. Discussions will be lively with plenty of opportunities to voice your opinions.

Course Information

Dates:
Thu 12/09/2024 -
Fri 22/11/2024
Times:
2:15pm - 4:15pm
Duration:
10 sessions
Location:
Friends Meeting House (Sutton)
10 Cedar Road
Sutton
SM2 5DA
Tutor:
Stephen Smith
Course code:
Q00017587
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £100.00

Art Appreciation: Art and the Arts in 1920s

The course will explore the enriching links between stories, art and music, concentrating of works from 1920s. From the surrealistic art in France and expressionist art in Germany to the many operas, ballets and symphonies which characterise that tumultuous period. In America, it is frequently referred to as the "Roaring Twenties" or the "Jazz Age", while in Europe the period is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Twenties" because of the economic boom following World War I (1914–1918). French speakers refer to the period as the "Années folles" ("crazy years") emphasizing the era's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism.

Course Information

Dates:
Thu 12/09/2024 -
Thu 17/10/2024
Times:
10:30am - 12:30pm
Duration:
6 sessions
Location:
Enfield Baptist Church (Enfield) (Enfiel
Cecil Road
Enfield
EN2 6TG
Tutor:
Colin Lomas
Course code:
Q00017290
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
9 places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £72.00

Literature: 19th Century Russian Literary Classic - War and Peace

This course will explore Leo Tolstoy’s classic nineteenth-century novel War and Peace. The novel was originally published in the 1860s and provides readers with a panoramic study of early nineteenth-century Russian society. This novel is regarded as not only one of the finest examples of Russian literature but also one of the world’s greatest novels. We will consider the fragmented publication of the novel and its social and political context. The novel’s historical setting is the French invasion of Russia in 1812 which was seen as a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars and a period of patriotic significance to Russia.

Course Information

Dates:
Thu 12/09/2024 -
Thu 12/12/2024
Times:
3:00pm - 5:00pm
Duration:
13 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Greta Depledge
Course code:
Q00017327
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £96.20