Education & Classes in Lemon Grove

One should live to eat, not vice-versa. Cooking with Class's team of chef instructors includes Bill Sauer of The Marble Room, Christian Graves of Jsix, JohnAlonge', Chris Idso of Pacifica Del Mar, Danny Bannister of the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay, Brian Malarkey of The Oceanaire Seafood Room, and more San Diego culinary celebrities.

Barcelona-born Philolingua Language School founder Jordi Lluch knows what it's like to learn a foreign language. After extensive linguistics studies and more than 23 years teaching six languages through Berlitz language school's various locations, Lluch established Philolingua. Throughout his years as both student and teacher, he worked to synthesize a learning approach that would mimic the way children pick up their first language: hearing it spoken, responding back, and getting a feel for grammar through intensive practice. The school's resulting approach aims to quickly establish fluency and build practical vocabulary. Using an intuitive, conversational style, a foreign-born instructor shares native speaking skills for real-life situations, such as asking for directions or demanding an entree not listed on a menu.

Since 1994, the adventurous airpeople at Barnstorming Adventures have thrilled more than 100,000 restless prisoners of gravity with their air-lifts. During the scenic biplane ride, you and your best friend or building manager will occupy the front seats of a restored 1920s open-air plane as a skilled pilot flies from the back cockpit. The flight buzzes along the Southern California coast, over scenic beaches, through the blue sky, and under dangerous rainbows. With matching headsets, you’ll be in constant communication with the pilot, who will customize your journey to go at a leisurely drift or a grueling pace that would exhaust even the strongest yolk of oxen. Each safety-minded pilot will guide you along the bell-curve of thrills from takeoff to the peak of excitement to the gentle landing. No pilot’s license or experience is required for any of the flights, and the opportunity to match one’s hunger for adventure may be attained. Different height and weight requirements apply, so call ahead to check.

Mixology Bartending Academy prepares its pupils to work behind a bar top, teaching them drink recipes and serving etiquette, as well as informing them about alcohol safety and liabilities. Students learn from instructors with as much as 17 years of professional experience in a real bar setting that features glassware, working equipment, and buzzing neon signs.

Far from merely imparting basic bartender knowledge, Mixology aims to boost students' customer-service skills, netting more tips and tears of joy from satisfied customers, and an entire division of the company is focused on helping recent grads find jobs. Plus, after students hone their skills through the one- or two-week courses, they are encouraged to return to the school at any time to practice their craft under the watchful eye of an expert, free of charge.

The sky above the Coachella Valley is often sunny and clear. The cloudless conditions make it easy to pick out a small aircraft as it materializes out of a mountain range on the horizon, then corkscrews and performs a grand loop-the-loop before heading home to the Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport. The shiny blue Citabria plane is the resident aerobatic aircraft at JacksonAir Flight Training. The company's owner, Scott Mourhess, who dreamed of G-forces and airborne antics as a little boy, now oversees a fleet of no fewer than six aircraft used to train commercial and private pilots.

Scott and his fellow FAA-certified flying instructors occupy prime aviation real estate. The skies above their Thermal airport often draw pilots from other flight schools in the Palm Springs region, who flock to the area for the ideal practice conditions and absence of lines at sky tollbooths. The veteran instructors also take novice pilots on 20- to 30-minute flights that introduce them to the excitement being in a cockpit and the thrill of flying.

"Music is my diet and dance feeds my soul," says "Salsa Susie" Ngyen, who quit a six-figure career at Xerox to start Ooh La La Dance Academy—in the midst of an economic crisis. Her risk paid off, because since then, the company's dance troop, the Cosabellas, earned the title of Best 2010 Performing Artist of the Year by Raw Artist and sparkled onstage for celebrity judges during a live-taping of America's Got Talent in 2011.

The Cosabellas not only entertain; they share their enthusiasm of dance with others by teaching kids and adult dance classes at Ooh La La Dance Academy. Boasting over 15 years of experience each, the instructors teach the dance they pioneered, a blend of Latin and burlesque, as well as fitness-inspired classes and classical dance forms such as ballet and The Beethoven Shuffle.