Creative Writing

Creative Writing Workshop (Part 1) – 1hr

  • Content of this workshop will take students through the core skills needed to create captivating stories that engage the reader from start to finish, and will empower students to improve their creative writing skills.
  • Teachers often give students feedback that they need to ‘show not tell’ in their stories, but this is rarely explained in detail and students are rarely shown ‘how’ to do this. This workshop will go into the details on how to transform your writing from telling to showing, with strategies on how to make this process easier.
  • We will also cover how to incorporate the technique ‘in medias res’ into their writing in order to craft a story that has audiences gripped from the first line.
  • Separate workshops for High School (yr 7-12), Primary (yr 5-6) and adult learners.

Creative Writing Workshop (Part 2) – 1hr:

  • The second Creative Writing Workshop will build upon the first, and help students to add further complexity into their writing, through learning how to craft engaging dialogue between characters into their stories. When incorporating dialogue effectively, students can progress the plot of their story through dialogue alone. Correct grammar and punctuation when writing conversations with dialogue will also be covered.
  • In addition, we will discuss how to incorporate setting into the story without things becoming boring – we’ve all experienced a story that has paragraphs of setting that are boring to read and grind the plot to a halt. Setting is necessary in a story, so how can we incorporate the setting, whilst still advancing the plot at the same time? This will be covered in part 2 of the Creative Writing Workshop.
  • Grammar of how to avoid run-on sentences or comma splices will also be discussed.
  • Separate workshops for High School (yr 7-12), Primary (yr 5-6) and adult learners.

High School Academic Writing Workshop (Part 1) – Essay and Short Response – 1hr:

  • This workshop will cover the conventions of academic writing, including transforming low modality vocabulary to high modality vocabulary in order to make your essay more assertive and formal.
  • In addition, we will discuss strategies to break down a text in a way that is easy to follow and replicate – steps will be presented in a formulaic way, so that students can apply this to any text presented in English class. A common issue students mention about English is that there is no right or wrong answer and that it often feels like guesswork trying to figure out how to structure an English assessment – it is for this reason that I present this topic as a formula – once you know the formula for high quality academic writing, it reduces the guess work in English assessments.
  • We will also discuss how to analyse the key words of the question, and what the terminology means.
  • This workshop is intended for High School students (yr 7-12) and adult learners.

High School Academic Writing Workshop (Part 2) – Essay and Short Response – 1hr:

  • This workshop will build upon the first Academic Writing Workshop, and will present students with a template of how to structure a complete essay. This template can be used for any essay in high school, and strategies of how to adapt the template to the specific type of essay/task will be discussed. The purpose of this is to take the guesswork out of English through having a template and structure that can be reused.
  • We will also discuss how to incorporate themes into your essay, as well as adapting your essay response to any unseen question. Students are frequently concerned about how their practice essays will be useful when they will be presented with an unseen question in an exam – this workshop will cover strategies on how to utilise your practice essays and adapt them seamlessly to an unseen question.
  • This workshop is intended for High School students (yr 7-12) and adult learners.

Primary School Academic Writing (Part 1) – Grammar and conventions of academic writing and reports – 1hr:

  • In this workshop, students will learn what language features are and how to craft their own, such as smiles, metaphors, personification, juxtaposition and assonance. Reasons why these will improve their writing will also be discussed. 
  • We will also cover grammar and punctuation related to nouns, vowels and consonants, and if there is time, prepositions and conjunctions will be discussed.
  • The core part of this workshop will be focused on how to structure an academic paragraph and incorporate quality examples that support the student’s point. Students will also learn how to extrapolate and explain the effect of their chosen examples on their academic argument.
  • This workshop will be similar to the High School version, with content presented at a level relevant to Primary School students, with additional topics like grammar and an introduction to academic conventions presented.
  • This workshop is intended for Primary School students (yr 5-6).

Primary School Academic Writing (Part 2) – Essay Structure and Persuasive – 1hr:

  • This workshop will build upon the first Academic Writing Workshop, and cover grammar and vocabulary conventions, such as cliches.
  • Students will learn how to structure an entire persuasive essay, which follows academic conventions. Students will be given a template that can be used for any essay and methods of adapting this to other forms of essays, such as the argumentative essay, will be discussed.
  • During the workshop, students will learn how to write a ‘for and against’ stance in order to craft a thought provoking persuasive discussion, and strategies for improving their writing in line with academic standards will also be discussed.
  • This workshop is intended for Primary School students (yr 5-6).

Cost

  • Individual (one-on-one) Tutoring: $100/hr
  • Creative Writing Group Tutoring: $80/hr
  • Academic Writing Group Tutoring: $80/hr

Location

  • Online Sessions – capped at 10 students per workshop:
    Online sessions run via Zoom in an interactive and engaging format. Maths topics will be visually demonstrated using Zoom’s whiteboard feature. Students are also able to write on the whiteboard, allowing collaboration and interactivity throughout the whole lesson.
  • Face-to-Face Sessions – capped at 7-10 students per workshop:
    Currently meeting at the University of the Sunshine Coast (Sippy Downs Campus). Meeting point will be provided upon booking.

Please note: Students should be ready with their devices five minutes prior to their session start time.

Workshop Availability

School Term:

  • Online: Weekdays
  • Face-to-face: Weekends

School Holidays:

  • Online: Weekdays
  • Face-to-face: may be offered on weekdays and weekends. Please enquire and express your interest.

Please enquire for times available. Times are subject to change. All times are in QLD time (AEST) year round. For students attending from NSW, TAS and VIC, please add one hour to the listed time during term 1 and term 4 (timezone difference does not apply during term 2 and term 3).

General Notes:

  • If a workshop is cancelled for the week, an email will be sent out to all registered participants notifying them of the change.
  • Parents are welcome to sit in on tutoring sessions / workshops. Attending tutoring does not replace parental supervision.
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