Maybe learning Urdu is on your bucket list.

Maybe you want to become a ping-pong champion. Or maybe you just want to learn how to bake a loaf of bread. You’ve come to the right place. Sure, Washington may be America’s best-educated metro area, but just because you’ve got that Ph.D—OK, fine, that J.D.—doesn’t mean your class days are over. In fact, the array of self-improvement opportunities here nicely reflect the diversity of the city’s culture and its economy.

With Washington City Paper’s first annual guide to self-improvement, we’re trying to sort out that diversity for you. Planning a trip to Jakarta? We’ve got your free Bahasa Indonesia classes here. Feeling lumpy? Skip Bally’s and let us explain where you can learn to train like the Israel Defense Forces. Take a look and make 2011 the year you learn how to dance like George Washington, become a stand-up comedian, or wise up in the ways of whiskey. Because, this year, it’s all about staying classy.