Biographies and Autobiographies

A biography is an account of a person's life written, composed, or produced by another.

An autobiography is the biography of a person written by that person.

The following elements may be included in a biography or autobiography (depending on the extension of the biography and the person).

n  Birthdate and place (when and where that person was born? Why in that place?)

n  Family Members (birth order; spouse, children; any other notable members)

n  Childhood and School Life (interesting stories; early achievements; stories that caused impact)

n  Hobbies, Interests, and Activities (Do the person’s hobbies or activities make them more interesting?)

n  Anecdotes (Interesting stories that were significant in his/her life)

n  Career (Is their career why they have a book written about them?)

n  Reason for Fame (What did they do that caused someone to want to write a book about them?)

n  Later Life/Old Age (Did they contribute to society, enjoy life, continue working?)

n  Death When and where did they die?

n  Photos and Likenesses Photographs or artists’ renderings of the person may be included

Activity 1:

1. What do you know about the following personalities?
2. Can you determine some of the previous points in order to create a biography?
3. Comment in pairs

Activity 2

Read the following texts and answer the questions

http://www.memoirsbyme.com/fm14.html

http://www.memoirsbyme.com/fm18.html

• Are they autobiographies or biographies? Why?
• Which of the previously mentioned elements are present in these texts? Quote from them to indicate which ones and where they appear.
• What adjectives are present in the texts? How do they contribute to the tone of the stories? Give examples from each text

Narrative Genre

Hello students!

Today we'll start with the second unit of this course called "Narrative Genre".

About a year ago you attended a class called “Narrative Writing”, what do you remember from it? What kind of assignments did you have to write? Is there anything in particular that you remember?

Personal Narrative vs. Fiction Narrative

The second unit of this course will be divided into two categories: Personal and Fiction Narrative. And we’ll start with the first one. What kind of texts do you think personal narrative includes? Can you mention some of them?

Bibliographical Writing

In simple words, a biography consists of collection of events in somebody’s life.

Last year you had to read and write several biographies about different characters. Do you remember any of them? What kind of information would you normally find in a biography?

In order to trigger your previous knowledge regarding biography writing, here is a picture and key information about a well-known actor who you’ll have to write a brief biography about.

You’ll need to do some research about the following prompts in order to write his biography. 

Take notes in your notebook. 

Improving your writing: avoiding repetition, adding detail and personal comment

Possessive adjectives, pronouns, adverbs and other words are all used to avoid repeating words and phrases. Replace the word or phrase in bold with another appropriate one.

1. Anthony Horowitz is the author of Stormbreaker. Anthony Horowitz is a very popular writer.
2. He wrote Stormbreaker when he was 50. He wans’t famous until he was 50.
3. The hero of the book is a teenaged boy. The hero’s name is Alex Rider.
4. Alex’s uncle dies mistiriously. After he dies mistiriously, Alex discovers that his uncle used to be a spy.
5. Horowitz has written more books about Alex Rider. There are eight of the books altogether.
6. I don’thave a copy of the book, but my brother has a copy.
7. I didn’t see the film of Stormbreaker, but my best friend saw the film.

Adverbs can add detail and personal comment to a piece of factual writing, match adverbs 1-5 to similar words or expressions a-e.

Choose the best words to complete the sentences.

1. Tiger Woods is probably/fortunately the world’s greatest golfer.
2. Unexpectedly/Unfortunately, I’ve never had the change to go to a rock concert.
3. Jacqueline Wilson writes books for young people. Amongst girls, she is luckily/very likely even more popular that JK Rowling.
4. Wayne Roony is my favourite footballer. Reluctantly/Sadly, he’s not playing as well as he used to.
5. Jamie Oliver’s TV cookery series unwillingly/suddenly made an overnight success. 

From the notes you have taken about Johny Depp, write your biographical text considering the suggestions for improving your writing. 

Writing about a classmate

Think of a classmate you really like. Find out about him/her and make notes about the following.

• Early life
• Personal information
• Career/studies achievements
• Why you like her/him 

• Use your notes to write the biography.
• Use words to avoid repetition.
• Use adverbs to add interest or personal comment.
• Read and check for mistakes.
• Give you biography to your teacher at the end of the class today.

Describing Setting

Hello students!

Today, in the lab session, we will learn the importance of setting, how we can describe it and finally, what setting implies while telling a story.

What is setting?

Setting is the time and place in which a story (fiction or non-fiction) takes place.  The setting is not only the background for the story, but it can influence the type of characters that appear in a story as well as what events occur in the plot.

Activity 1: Answer the following questions:

1. What is a place that makes you happy and why?

A place that makes me happy is _______ because _______ 

2. What is one time when you were happy? Why were you happy?

One time that I was happy was when   _______  because _______ 

3. What is a place that scares you and why?

One place that scares me is   _______  because _______ 

Activity 2: Look at these settings/locations and describe them in detail, completing the boxes below for each of them.

Activity 3: Watch the beginning of these films and deduce time, place, characters, conflict, story, atmosphere, etc. Give evidence to support your statements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkxW7dX1fpM&feature=BFa&list=PLF435D6FFBD0302B3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0btWLh90DSE&feature=BFa&list=PLF435D6FFBD0302B3

What do the music, rhythm, colors and camera movements “say” abou the story?