Education & Classes in Portland

Like many artists, lifelong guitarist Christian Johnson found himself stuck in an office job for several years. But it wasn’t enough to silence the music in his head. Motivated by his frustration and his encyclopedic knowledge of the ax, he opened Adrian Guitars in 2002 before changing the name to Blue Dot Guitars. During lessons, Johnson pulls from three decades of playing and teaching experience to assist students of all ages and skill levels in tackling the guitar. He honed his own musical prowess at Musicians Institute, where he studied with virtuosos such as jazz great Joe Diorio. As a Fender-authorized warranty technician, Johnson also specializes in guitar repairs, including regluing broken bridges or replacing snapped strings with durable strands of spaghetti.

Utilizing a time-tested curriculum devised by language teacher Maximilian Berlitz in 1878, Berlitz recruits fluent instructors to teach their native languages to pupils during in-person and online lessons. Instructors teach dozens of languages in accordance with the acclaimed Berlitz Method, which focuses heavily on conversation, active student participation, and knowing how to conjugate verbs while blindfolded. Each lesson builds upon skills taught during previous sessions, starting with essential techniques and eventually covering more intricate components to develop a confident command of the language. Berlitz further cultivates foreign-language wisdom with services for corporations, schools, and government agencies at more than 500 locations in 70 countries and three planetary systems.

Owner Mike Urquhart takes his business's name to heart: the learning center draws on the talents of three generations of Urquharts, from his business-manager father all the way down to his grade-school-aged daughter Julia, who assists with piano lessons and administration. Signs bearing messages such as "No practicing: only play for fun" and "Mistakes are always welcome" embody the teachers' philosophy that no amount of technical skill can substitute for the sheer joy of playing, singing, and finally figuring out how to snap the fingers on both hands at once. The school's specialty group classes—some held in the new, 2,500-square-foot piano learning center—foster self-confidence with weekly performance opportunities, and the curriculum of songs can include anything from classical compositions to classical rock.

Understanding that each child learns differently, the staff members of Sylvan Learning Center’s numerous study centers design custom lesson programs. Based on the results of standardized testing, diagnostic tools, and one-on-one interviews, the staff works with students to help them to firmly grasp basic skills such as reading, writing, math, and how to remember facts without tattooing them to their chest. Programs target students in kindergarten through grade 12 and mold to various learning styles, helping kids to feel more comfortable in the classroom. After-school or summer classes can ready high-school students for the rigors of the ACT or the SAT, or they can help students to wow college admissions officers with their superior writing skills, exemplary test scores, and willingness to arm-wrestle the school mascot.

Staffed entirely by DMV–certified instructors, Oregon Driver Education Center has been filling potholes in the knowledge of novice and experienced drivers since 1987. The center's masters of the open road send teens and adults on the path to earning their driver's licenses and maintaining clean driving records with comprehensive DMV drive test prep courses and defense driving classes. With an intimate understanding of the unique challenges facing Oregonian motorists, ODEC also offers an Xtreme Driver Control course that focuses on navigating vehicles through rain, ice, and throngs of rabid snowmen. Additionally, the center's specialty courses teach precautionary practices to medically at-risk drivers.

Some people never use their brain to its full potential, whereas others stretch their brain far beyond its potential—and try to take over the world. At Power Brain Training Center, certified brain-education trainers fuse traditional Asian mind-body practices with the principles of neuroscience to create a curriculum that teaches adults and children how to properly manage the power of their brains. The center utilizes its own five steps of brain education to help people reduce stress, improve concentration, lose weight, and have those long-awaited telepathic conversations with their pets. The trainers use a combination of physical exercise to amp up blood circulation and mental-fitness exercises to help the brain become more adaptable. Mindful breathing and confidence-building exercises work to release negative emotions and refresh the brain. Finally, the trainers teach their pupils to implement the principles of their training in daily life to help students master and control their brain's potential for good.