Check out these cheap summer courses in the GTA

York isn’t the only school around. There’s so much to learn out there, and sometimes, York doesn’t have what you want.
Especially during summer, when the options of classes are a touch smaller, and the opportunities seem, well, bigger. Besides, isn’t now the best time to pick up a hobby? Here are some suggestions for a scholarly Yorkie this summer.
Want to learn another language? Learning Korean may be a great place to start. Why, you may ask? Well, because it’s free. The Korean Consulate in Toronto offers 10 weeks of free classes so you can start your journey into another culture. While it covers all the fundamentals, it offers courses at the beginner and intermediate levels. It’s a highly recommended course that might not make you proficient, but it’ll do a lot to get you there.
Want to be the next artistic Etsy sensation? Start at the Harbourfront Centre. There are courses for glassblowing, screen printing, pottery, and even jewellery, more courses than you can shake an art class ashtray at. These are fairly priced. Many of them only take a weekend for you to pick up the basics, with more courses for further learning.
Wanna get your drink on and make money doing it? Bartender One offers bartending courses constantly throughout the summer, with $99 workshops and $249 bartender certifications. If you don’t want to be a bartender, you definitely want to be that guy at every party, right?
If you’re the outdoorsy type, Orienteering is a good way to go. The pseudo-sport of navigating places using only a compass and your wits can actually be a lot of fun, and the Toronto Orienteering Club has a number of clinics to get you acclimatized with what orienteering is. Even if you don’t like it, you’ve still gotten a day’s worth of the great outdoors from it.You could also take the NOVA course at the Ontario Science Centre, especially if you have a cottage or love camping. This will train you in the ways of stargazing and how to look at the sky properly, with or without a telescope. It’s a great hobby to have year round, and well, astronomy is cool. Didn’t you see Contact?
If you’re an artist who doesn’t like knick-knacks, York University has FASI, the Fine Arts Summer Intensive, where you can take a crash course in just about any kind of major art your little heart aspires to be a part of. Dance, film, music, and theatre are at your fingertips.
The Culinarium in Toronto offers many cheap, plentiful, and enjoyable cooking courses that you won’t even know where to start. Sign ups go quickly, but the food is seasonal and it lets you sink your teeth into, quite literally, every kind of ingredient Ontario has to offer.
Abdul Malik
Features Editor
 
Photo Source: FASI