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: Writing from the Heart, Exploring Personal Experiences

This course will focus on your personal experiences and how these experiences may form the basis not only for autobiography and memoir, but for autobiographical fiction and poetry. The course will be composed of two workshops, each designed to explore one or more areas of personal writing, through discussion, hands-on writing experiments and guidance on how to improve technical aspects of your prose or poetry. By the conclusion of the course you will have completed the first drafts of two pieces of writing. The course will be mutually supportive, stimulating and a good introduction to further creative writing courses with the popular tutor Stephen Smith.

Course Information

Dates:
Mon 15/07/2024 -
Mon 22/07/2024
Times:
10:00am - 12:00pm
Duration:
2 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Stephen Smith
Course code:
Q00016651
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
9 places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £20.00

Film & Media: How to Read Film

Part of the Free to All Summer Taster Courses: Do you like films and are keen to learn more and discuss them with like-minded enthusiasts? Have you wondered “How did they do that?” Or even more so “Why did that film make me feel like this? “Are you thinking about enrolling on one of the WEA’s film studies courses? Then this free taster session is for you. You’ll get equipped with some of the basics of “how to read a film” – the key elements of filmmaking and how they create (different) meanings, emotions and impacts on the viewer, enabling you analyse films with greater confidence.

Course Information

Dates:
Wed 17/07/2024 -
Wed 17/07/2024
Times:
4:00pm - 7:00pm
Duration:
1 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Ruth Mulandi
Course code:
Q00016976
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
0 places remaining
Status:
Waiting list
Fee:
Free

Creative Writing: Body Stories Workshop

This friendly four-hour creative writing workshop 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 yoga inspired movement (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, it’s about an unfolding individual/shared creative process and participants need to feel at ease to write freely.

Course Information

Dates:
Wed 24/07/2024 -
Wed 24/07/2024
Times:
10:00am - 2:00pm
Duration:
1 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Ione Harris
Course code:
Q00014762
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
1 place remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £16.80

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

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),
  • Receive our Highway magazine and access back issues,
  • Attend our members’ annual conference.

Just add us to your basket to sign up today!

Membership Information

Duration:
12 months
Fee:
WEA Membership

Film & Media: World Cinema

We will consider a range of films, from classics to contemporary cinema. We will discuss the style and meaning of diverse extracts drawing on key ideas from Film Studies. We will consider films from diverse countries, comparing and contrasting these with American and British cinema. The class will be organised around discussion of selected extracts, with guidance on points to look for, including different aspects of film such as the screenplay and cinematography. Students will be encouraged to develop their responses in small groups. Case studies will be included on Alfred Hitchcock and British cinema.

Course Information

Dates:
Mon 16/09/2024 -
Mon 25/11/2024
Times:
6:30pm - 8:30pm
Duration:
10 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Daniel Williams
Course code:
Q00017427
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £84.00

World Cinema

We will consider a range of films, from classics to contemporary cinema. We will discuss the style and meaning of diverse extracts drawing on key ideas from Film Studies. We will consider films from diverse countries, comparing and contrasting these with American and British cinema. The class will be organised around discussion of selected extracts, with guidance on points to look for, including different aspects of film such as the screenplay and cinematography. Students will be encouraged to develop their responses in small groups. Case studies will be included on Alfred Hitchcock and British cinema.

Course Information

Dates:
Mon 16/09/2024 -
Mon 25/11/2024
Times:
6:30pm - 8:30pm
Duration:
10 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Daniel Williams
Course code:
Q00017611
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £84.00

Literature: British Literature in the Belle Epoque.

This course will explore four novels: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James; Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame; Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence; The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford, and the work of one poet, Thomas Hardy, specifically Poems 1912-1913, a record of his reactions to the death of his first wife. We will discuss the end of Empire, the rise of Modernism and Feminism and psychological study, and the political situation leading up to 1914 and changing perceptions of individual and national identity. There will be ample opportunity for discussion and a chance to reassess what may in some instances be familiar texts.

Course Information

Dates:
Mon 16/09/2024 -
Mon 25/11/2024
Times:
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Duration:
11 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Stephen Smith
Course code:
Q00017457
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £74.00

Literature: Strange Worlds in Twentieth Century Fiction

This course will discover five texts ranging across twentieth century European and British literatures. The texts are: Stories from the City of God by Pier Paolo Passolini; Baron Bagge by Alexander Lernet-Holenia; Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Cespedes; The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps by Michel Faber and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. These texts include essays, novellas and novels are by turn extravagant fantasies and profound social commentaries on the last unlovely century. There will be ample scope for discussion of issues such as class identities, social and political identities and the desire to create stories to explore the nature of the mutable worlds of the twentieth century.

Course Information

Dates:
Mon 16/09/2024 -
Mon 25/11/2024
Times:
10:00am - 12:00pm
Duration:
11 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Stephen Smith
Course code:
Q00017462
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £74.00

Art Appreciation: Art in Churches

The Church has historically been a major patron of the arts, and all major artists have works in church buildings around Europe. From Saxon wall paintings and lavish medieval alter pieces, to contemporary installations in Cathedrals, this course looks at the variety of art commissioned by the Church, from the Sistine Chapel ceiling to Victorian church textiles. We discuss where good examples can be seen in this country, including stained glass and sculpture. The way in which art in Churches has reflected the major art history developments is at the core of this course.

Course Information

Dates:
Mon 16/09/2024 -
Mon 21/10/2024
Times:
11:00am - 12:30pm
Duration:
6 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
David Brindley
Course code:
Q00009352
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £55.50

Art Appreciation: Royal Portraits (1395 - 1658)

During this five week course we will explore a number of portraits of British Monarchs. We will discover the anonymous Wilton Diptych, Holbein’s portrayal of Henry VIII, the evolving portraits of Elizabeth I throughout her life; the paintings of Charles I by Anthony Van Dyck, and several portraits of the de-facto monarch Oliver Cromwell. The course will introduce the lives of the artists, the historical and socio-political contexts of the paintings, and discuss the changing perceptions of the monarchy as shown in this 250 year long history. Images of the portraits will be available for you online. Come along and tap into your inner art-critic.

Course Information

Dates:
Tue 17/09/2024 -
Tue 15/10/2024
Times:
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Duration:
5 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Stephen Smith
Course code:
Q00017463
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £74.00