Continuing education/evening programs in NOVA (in languages, arts, sports, etc.)? (Arlington: high school, university)

[chald]

Hello,


I am curious if there are any community-sponsored evening/weekend programs in Northern Virginia. I am originally from a city where various towns offered affordable adult education classes or seminars in various topics such as foreign languages, arts, cooking, golf, tennis, etc. Are there such programs in NOVA?


Thanks!

[PK12]

Originally Posted by chald

Hello,


I am curious if there are any community-sponsored evening/weekend programs in Northern Virginia. I am originally from a city where various towns offered affordable adult education classes or seminars in various topics such as foreign languages, arts, cooking, golf, tennis, etc. Are there such programs in NOVA?


Thanks!

The NVCC and FCPS ACE programs offer classes in languages, arts, cooking etc. Look em up

[choff5]

Not knowing where you live, here are some links.

Fairfax. ACE

Arlington. Adult Education / Adult Ed Homepage

Fairfax Parks and Rec. Parktakes Online*- Fairfax County, Virginia

City of Fairfax also has their own adult Ed as well as Alexandria. Google them.

[Ffxdata]

I've found the Fairfax Ace programs and ParkTakes programs to be high quality and a great value. I've done exercise, cooking, and nature programs.

[chald]

This is exactly the information I was looking for. Thank you!

[slim04]

Originally Posted by Ffxdata

I've found the Fairfax Ace programs and ParkTakes programs to be high quality and a great value. I've done exercise, cooking, and nature programs.

I took a introductory Spanish at Fairfax ACE program that was the worst program ever. The teacher was a high school Spanish teacher. The first night, she looked at the book and said she was unfamiliar with it and refused to use it or suggest alternatives. Instead, she used handouts that were extremely basic. After the first class (which was only once a week for 2 hours), I politely asked if we had any homework or any things we could do out of class.

I seriously couldn't believe the response. She got angry at me, she said that she couldn't talk to me because she'd be late in picking up her daughter. So I said, also very apologetically, if I could just email her or call her when she had time available. She said no, that she wasn't being paid for doing out of class communications, she refused to give me her email address, her office phone number, or (this is incredible) what her last name was.

I told her that I just didn't think that I could learn a language with just 2 hours of class time per week, and that my prior foreign language classes required lots of additional self study to get any kind of proficiency. She then said that I was only paying $230, and the class room time was the only thing I could get and she wasn't paid to deal with such demanding and needy students like me. Then she told me to call the administration to drop her class. Ouch! Keep in mind, I was super polite during this conversation.

I called the administration and they told me a very practical thing, that I should just scan the table of contents of the book and just read any chapters the week after covering similar material in the class. Honestly, if this teacher would have told me that, I would have been happy with it.

The next class, we went over commonly used phrases printed on worksheets, and she did this long speech how this isn't a real school and we shouldn't expect it to be like college or Berlitz, all while staring at me. After this, I called the ACE administrators and asked for my money back after explaining what went on, and they cut me a check like 3 weeks later.

Done with venting, but I am still shocked at what a terrible experience it was and how the instructor couldn't care less. She might have had good paper credentials, but she obviously thought of it as an extra pay check with little extra work.

Just that people know, in foreign language classes, you are supposed to use the language and reinforce the lessons a little bit every day. You can't learn a language solely through class exercises once a week. If you have a teacher like this, I would try to drop out and immediately latch on to another class somewhere else.

[boyd888]

ACE is great for the hobby type stuff: cooking, crafts, history lessons, etc. They do offer certificate stuff which I've never taken, but must be decent. However, I would agree with your assessment and say that the classes they offer that are the same as some college majors are likely to be very lacking...especially two hours a week.

Originally Posted by slim04

She might have had good paper credentials, but she obviously thought of it as an extra pay check with little extra work.

Well yeah two hours a week that's exactly what it is to her. I do agree with her, although it sounds like the situation could have been handled better. She was very up front with you in that the class she was offering was not what you were looking for. If you want a class that is more academic and less "hobby focused" I'd suggest going through NVCC and you can audit the course if you don't want a grade.

[Ffxdata]

Originally Posted by slim04

I took a introductory Spanish at Fairfax ACE program that was the worst program ever. The teacher was a high school Spanish teacher. The first night, she looked at the book and said she was unfamiliar with it and refused to use it or suggest alternatives. Instead, she used handouts that were extremely basic. After the first class (which was only once a week for 2 hours), I politely asked if we had any homework or any things we could do out of class.

I seriously couldn't believe the response. She got angry at me, she said that she couldn't talk to me because she'd be late in picking up her daughter. So I said, also very apologetically, if I could just email her or call her when she had time available. She said no, that she wasn't being paid for doing out of class communications, she refused to give me her email address, her office phone number, or (this is incredible) what her last name was.

I told her that I just didn't think that I could learn a language with just 2 hours of class time per week, and that my prior foreign language classes required lots of additional self study to get any kind of proficiency. She then said that I was only paying $230, and the class room time was the only thing I could get and she wasn't paid to deal with such demanding and needy students like me. Then she told me to call the administration to drop her class. Ouch! Keep in mind, I was super polite during this conversation.

I called the administration and they told me a very practical thing, that I should just scan the table of contents of the book and just read any chapters the week after covering similar material in the class. Honestly, if this teacher would have told me that, I would have been happy with it.

The next class, we went over commonly used phrases printed on worksheets, and she did this long speech how this isn't a real school and we shouldn't expect it to be like college or Berlitz, all while staring at me. After this, I called the ACE administrators and asked for my money back after explaining what went on, and they cut me a check like 3 weeks later.

Done with venting, but I am still shocked at what a terrible experience it was and how the instructor couldn't care less. She might have had good paper credentials, but she obviously thought of it as an extra pay check with little extra work.

Just that people know, in foreign language classes, you are supposed to use the language and reinforce the lessons a little bit every day. You can't learn a language solely through class exercises once a week. If you have a teacher like this, I would try to drop out and immediately latch on to another class somewhere else.

Sounds like you had a teacher and class that didn't work for you. It's unfortunate that you weren't able to get more out of the experience. I've taken a variety of courses and preferred some over others for reasons including subject matter or teaching style. I can say the same thing about university though.

[slim04]

Originally Posted by boyd888

ACE is great for the hobby type stuff: cooking, crafts, history lessons, etc. They do offer certificate stuff which I've never taken, but must be decent. However, I would agree with your assessment and say that the classes they offer that are the same as some college majors are likely to be very lacking...especially two hours a week.



Well yeah two hours a week that's exactly what it is to her. I do agree with her, although it sounds like the situation could have been handled better. She was very up front with you in that the class she was offering was not what you were looking for. If you want a class that is more academic and less "hobby focused" I'd suggest going through NVCC and you can audit the course if you don't want a grade.

I NEVER told her or anyone here that I expected a college-like language class or even a high school quality level class (which are usually 1 hour daily).

Just wanted people to know what could possibly happen. Getting 3 worksheets during the class and going over them and that's it, plus a lot of stories about her life and her trying to learn English and French. This was much worse than the free language applications you can find on the internet.

But what's worse was a totally insulting instructor that took unnecessary offense because I wanted more resources to learn on my own. I swear, EVERY teacher I have every had usually had links for further resources. Even a 1 hour seminar training session at work. Heck, I just took a class at work on how to out Microsoft Outlook features that was 45 minutes long. I was confused as to shared document functions, and she emailed me some links to tutorials on the Microsoft website.

It was just weird, her interrupting class, go on a semi-rant while staring at me, while I didn't even say anything in that second class. It wasn't like I was pestering her during class or challenging her. The only time I ever talked was when it was my turn to say a phrase in Spanish.

Just be aware the ACE language classes may be of very low quality and quit early if you have a terrible instructor.