Shaanzae teaches
Expert instruction
Demonstrations, examples and a carefully designed Creative English curriculum.
Creative English • 4-week online course
Become a stronger, more confident writer.
Learn Creative English with published author and educator Shaanzae Shahid through a four-week course built around her teaching.
Develop your writing through expert lessons, structured practice and personalised feedback, with an AI Coach and Mentor modelled on Shaanzae’s methods to understand your writing, remember your progress and help you improve week after week.
Cambridge PGCert in Teaching Creative WritingUniversity of Glasgow MLittPublished Author16 Guided Lessons
Writing is more than producing words.
AI can generate text. A writer still has to decide what to say, what to keep, what to change and what the reader should feel.
HIRI develops the thinking behind good writing — from imagination and original ideas to structure, voice, refinement and revision.
Shaanzae's experience & credentials
Learn from someone who teaches writing — and writes.
Shaanzae Shahid is a published author and university lecturer whose career spans creative writing, English Literature, international qualifications and curriculum leadership. HIRI is built on her teaching, expertise and approach to creative writing, enhanced by technology to create a guided learning experience.
Education
PGCert: Teaching Creative Writing
University of Cambridge
MLitt Fantasy: English Literature
University of Glasgow
BA English
University of London - LGS IDP
Professional experience
O Level English Language Instructor
Taught creative writing to approximately 450 students
View Shaanzae’s LinkedIn profileProfessional qualifications
IB DP English A: Language and Literature Workshop
Cambridge IGCSE Literature in English Marking Workshop
Cambridge International AS & A Level Literature in English training
Additional experience
Guest judge for creative writing competitions; panellist at Kinnaird College and Khayaal Festival; literature-festival organising committee member; guest lecturer at Lahore School of Economics; workshop facilitator at Kinnaird College.
Published books
- Refraction of Beauty
- The Silver Cry
- Interference
- The Magic Building
Human + technology
Great teaching, amplified by intelligent technology.
HIRI does not replace the teacher with AI. Shaanzae teaches the concepts, demonstrates the techniques and defines the learning journey. HIRI then helps each student apply those lessons through structured practice, feedback, reflection and personalised guidance.
HIRI observes
Useful evidence
Each task is evaluated against the lesson objective and multiple dimensions of writing quality.
The student grows
Visible progress
Feedback, reflection and weekly Mentor guidance help students recognise strengths and correct weaknesses.
Course experience
Not another collection of recorded lessons.
Every HIRI lesson leads to action. Students watch, write, receive feedback, improve, reflect and progress through a structured four-week learning journey.
01Watch
02Write
03Get Feedback
04Improve
05Reflect
06Meet Your Mentor
Intelligent feedback
Feedback that tells students what to do next.
HIRI's Coach does more than produce a score. It evaluates the student's response against the lesson task, identifies what is working, highlights the most useful area for improvement and gives guidance connected to what Shaanzae has just taught.
Task completionClarityCreativityRichness of detailOriginality of imageryEmotional depthVoice maturitySophistication of thoughtCohesionLesson-objective effectiveness
A more useful question
What should I try next?
Feedback is connected to the task, the lesson objective and the student's developing writing — so practice has direction.
Weekly Mentor
A Mentor that follows the writer — not just the assignment.
Individual exercises only show part of a student's development. At the end of each week, HIRI's Mentor looks across learning evidence, feedback and reflection to identify developing strengths, recurring difficulties and patterns of progress.
WEEK 1
What is beginning to emerge?
An early, focused view of the student's writing.
WEEK 2
What patterns are becoming visible?
Strengths and weaknesses begin to become clearer.
WEEK 3
What has improved — and what still needs attention?
Guidance becomes increasingly informed by development.
WEEK 4
What kind of writer are you becoming?
A broader final review of progress across the course.
Why HIRI
This isn't a chatbot with a course wrapped around it.
General-purpose AI responds to individual prompts. HIRI operates inside a structured Creative English programme, where guidance is connected to the current lesson, learning objective and student journey.
General AI
- One-off conversations
- Generic writing advice
- No structured progression
- Student must know what to ask
HIRI
- Structured four-week curriculum
- Guidance connected to each lesson
- Purpose-built writing tasks
- Feedback, reflection and Mentor progression
- Shaanzae's teaching at the centre
Outcomes
Not just better pieces of writing. Better writers.
The course is designed to help students become more deliberate, expressive and confident writers.
✓ Write with greater specificity and detail
✓ Create stronger imagery
✓ Express emotion more effectively
✓ Develop convincing characters
✓ Use dialogue with purpose
✓ Build stronger scenes
✓ Choose stronger verbs
✓ Develop a more mature written voice
✓ Recognise weaknesses and revise deliberately
✓ Build confidence through practice
For parents
A structured learning journey parents can trust.
Students do not simply watch videos and click Next. Their journey includes teaching, writing tasks, submitted work, feedback, reflection and guided progression.
4 Weeks16 LessonsStructured Writing TasksPersonalised FeedbackWeekly ReflectionMentor ReviewsCompletion Journey
Your next chapter
Give your writing somewhere to go.
Join Shaanzae Shahid for a four-week Creative English journey designed to help students notice more, imagine more, express more and write with greater confidence.