Professional development

PFAU offers two professional development services:

VIP Writing Instruction & Small Writing Classes

According to Time Magazine, professionals who receive one to four promotions make 45% less grammatical errors than their colleagues. Even fields that are often not associated with excellent verbal and written communication, such as Computer Science and Engineering, judge employees based on their proper use of the English language. A Google CEO was quoted in the Harvard Business Review as saying: “if you don’t know the difference between its and it’s, HR may begin to wonder what else you don’t know”. In other words, as my mother often said: “it doesn’t matter how smart you are, if no one can understand you.” Therefore, it is essential to fine-tune one’s communication skills from adolescence throughout one’s academic and professional career.

Fortunately, PFAU can help you reach your full potential on the page!

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VIP WRITING INSTRUCTION

PFAU provides one-on-one personalized communication lessons designed to help each client to improve his/her individual confidence in both written and verbal communication. These lessons are specially designed for both ESL and native speakers in order to improve the client’s grammar, vocabulary, structure, clarity, flow and overall understanding and comfort with the English language. These lessons are designed not only to improve the technical aspects of communication, but also to understand the literary, historical, and cultural context of Western communication. Clients advance from awkwardness and insecurity to natural proficiency and confidence.

WRITING COURSES

 

Courses in creative writing, academic writing, and application writing are designed to provide students of all ages with opportunities to read, think, and create that may not exist within the contemporary education system or professional environment, as well as to improve overall analytical and composition skills.

Previous course listings include: 

  • Creative Writing – Beginner
  • Creative Writing – Intermediate
  • Non-fiction Writing  
  • Expository vs. Persuasive Essay Writing
  • Academic Essay Writing

*These courses usually run in the summers. Check blog for current course offerings and pricing.

Essay Writing Student

“I finally learned how to write an essay properly.”

Essay Writing Student

“I really like the fact that we are able to express our thoughts openly in class.”

Non-fiction Writing Student

“I liked the part where we wrote a book report about our favourite book.”

Creative Writing Student

 “The course was very interesting.  Lisa is a very good instructor.  I like the course because every time she teaches us we can present and learn a new vocabulary word.”

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Student Writing Sample: Bird Fact Poem
By Pfau2018
January 25, 2018
188
  Birds are loyal, creative and smart; They find straw ,grass and mud; When they are aggressive they dart to one of your body part; Then the eggs are safe in a nest like they are in a big flower bud; When the eggs hatch they hunt for a delicious lunch.
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Student Writing Sample: Moon’s Tour
By Pfau2018
January 25, 2018
172
It’s is a place full of craters and very dusty   hard and bumpy like iron Meteorites low gravity like you are on outer space then if you liked moon rock then go to moon it was made of rock like meteors and there is boot prints  and if you fell into a hole, these […]

 

LISA PFAU
Lisa Pfau
    CEO, Founder, and Senior Coach Lisa grew up in rural Alberta, Canada debating politics with her father, writing articles for the school newspaper, and running the students’ council. Determined to make a difference in the world, she headed off to the University of Alberta to study Political Science and History. Over the course of her degree, she became progressively interested in China and eventually traveled abroad in 2004 to teach English and study Chinese. This time abroad opened her eyes to her passion and talent for teaching others. She returned to Canada to pursue her Master of Arts at the University of Toronto, where she assisted Professors in teaching Political Science courses and continued to tutor students on the side, not only in the Social Sciences and Humanities, but her true passions – writing and critical thinking. After graduating in 2007, she worked in public policy and research, including: as a political intern at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing and a Research Coordinator at the University of Toronto. These experiences provided Lisa with the knowledge and networks to help her clients transition from academic to professional life. She published her first short story in 2010 and currently enjoys teaching Creative Writing and Research Essay Writing courses and workshops at PFAU: Academic Writing and upon invitation to other educational institutions, such as the University of Toronto. Over the past 15 years, she has mentored over 100 clients in reading/writing fundamentals, critical thinking, research proficiency, organizational skills, and academic/career goal setting, as well as, research papers, scholarship proposals, and grad/professional school applications. Finally, she has edited numerous graduate theses, dissertations, and publications in all fields - from engineering to literature. Lisa enjoys the continuous learning and refinement involved in the writing process. Mostly though, she enjoys connecting with her students, and helping them to reach their full potential on the page, and in life.  
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT