Compass Courses:

The Compass Courses aim to enhance your English fluency by using the Write Your Self trauma-adapted writing method as a foundation. Write Your Self offers an eight-step process designed for therapeutic writing, which is effective for all forms of expression and finding your voice. We supplement this process with ESL materials to support you through each step. With your English teacher, who is also a certified Write Your Self guide, you will explore your inner world in the English language. You will use and develop your English voice through creative expression and storytelling.

The eight steps in Write Your Self’s writing process are:

1. A Room of One’s Own
2. Begin Writing
3. Self-care
4. The Writing Body
5. Genres
6. Topics
7. Creating Wholeness
8. Expressing the Wordless

The four Compass Courses—North: Poetry, South: Prose, East: Characters, and West: Short Stories — are designed to be taken in sequence, but can also stand alone. Each course consists of two steps and lasts approximately 10 weeks. All sessions are private, self-paced, and designed for your comfort.

Please sign up for a free consultation so we can discuss your options in detail.

FREE CONSULTATION

NORTH – POETRY

We will go through steps 1 and 2 over the course of ten weeks.

Step 1: A Room of One’s Own

  • Video: The hidden beauty of pollination -Louie Schwartzberg
  • Vocabulary Packet:
    • Adjectives for Imagery
    • Nouns and Naming Objects
  • Grammar Packet:
    • Present Simple vs. Present Continuous
    • Use of Articles (a/an/the)
  • Writing Exercises:
    • A healing writing retreat
    • A safe place to write
    • Medicine bag

Step 2: Begin Writing

  • Video: If I should have a daughter… -Sarah Kay
  • Vocabulary Packet:
    • Action Verbs
    • Adverbs for Movement
  • Grammar Packet:
    • Past Simple vs. Past Continuous
    • Subjective Pronouns, Objective Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives
  • Writing Exercises:
    •  Finish my sentences
    •  Stream of consciousness- A picture
    • Ten things I know to be true

SOUTH – PROSE

We will go through steps 3 and 4 over the course of ten weeks.

Step 3: Self Care

  • Video: There’s no shame in taking care of your mental health -Sangu Delle
  • Vocabulary Packet:
    • 20 Affirmations
    • Metaphor vs. Simile
  • Grammar Packet:
    • Present Perfect vs. Future Simple
    • Past Perfect vs. Past Simple
  • Writing Exercises:
    • Writing Journal: Routine and Plan
    • Chart: Fear and Mantra

Step 4: The Writing Body

  • Video: Your body language may shape who you are -Amy Cuddy
  • Vocabulary Packet:
    • Anatomy: Internal
    • Anatomy: External
  • Grammar Packet:
    • Active Voice vs. Passive Voice
    • Indirect Speech
  • Writing Exercises:
    • Dialogue with a part of the body
    • The story of your hand
    • Take care of the body: A new habit

EAST – CHARACTERS

We will go through steps 5 and 6 over the course of ten weeks.

Step 5: Genres

  • Video: The elusive creative genius – Elizabeth Gilbert
  • Vocabulary Packet:
    • Autobiography Features
    • Autofiction Features
    • Fiction Features
  • Grammar Packet:
    • 1st person vs. 3rd person
    • Conditional Tenses
    • Subjunctive Moods
  • Writing Exercises:
    • Your name on a tree
    • Requests for a genius

Step 6: Topics

  • Video: How your “working memory” makes sense of the world -Peter Doolittle
  • Vocabulary Packet:
    • Symbols
    • Motifs
    • Themes
  • Grammar Packet:
    • Past Simple vs. Past Continuous
    • Past Simple vs. Present Perfect
    • Present Perfect vs. Past Perfect
  • Writing Exercises:
    • Memory Archive: The house I lived in

WEST – SHORT STORIES

We will go through steps 7 and 8 over the course of ten weeks.

Step 7: Creating Wholeness

  • Video: The psychology of your future self -Dan Gilbert
  • Vocabulary Packet:
    • Descriptions of People
    • Descriptions of Environments
  • Grammar Packet:
    • Future Simple
    • Present Simple
    • Past Simple
  • Writing Exercises:
    • Write a new ending
    • Zoom in to a scene
    • Zoom out of a scene

Step 8: Expressing the Wordless

  • Video: What reading slowly taught me about writing -Jaqueline Woodsen
  • Vocabulary Packet:
    • A Giant
    • A Garden
  • Grammar Packet:
    • Transitional Words and Phrases
    • Outlining with Flashbacks and Foreshadowing
  • Writing Exercises:
    • Negative space
    • The Red Thread

FREE CONSULTATION   SEE ALL COURSES