Chalk Talk

Chloë Hamilton ventures into its glossy interior to meet the first intake

1. DK Speak French in Just 15 Minutes a Day

A revolution in the way people are learning is sweeping through further-education colleges. Ian Nash visits a school that is changing the face of the classroom.

Ed Cooke insists he can use his techniques as a memory expert to help novices learn even the hardest tongues. He challenges Enjoli Liston to learn 100 Mandarin words in two days.

We might like to think we live in a classless society, yet increasing numbers of adults are signing up for lessons in elocution. Jeremy Sutcliffe finds out why they're doing it.

Later learning enriches the lives of thousands of elderly people. But widespread library closures could spell an end to many of these study groups

Legal experts Laura Darnley and Audrey Elliott advise on how they can plug the financial gap

It's not every day that a former student stops you in the street and recites a poem about plant hormones which they learnt 15 years ago. But when your name is Richard Spencer and you have a following in Australia, the USA and Europe, it is perhaps hardly surprising.

David Willetts wants more people to take degrees by distance learning at further education colleges. Lucy Hodges looks at what it could involve

Can anything of enduring value be learnt on courses which provide a quick turnaround? Amy McLellan reports