Writing:Biographies

Writing a biography 

Think of a famous person. Answer the questions below and use your answers to write a short biography of the person.
a Early life 
1 Who is the famous person?
2 Where were they born?
3 When were they born?
4 What did their parents do?
5 What else do you know about their parents?
b Childhood 
1 What kind of childhood did they have?
2 Where did they live as a child?
3 Where did they go to school?
c Adulthood 
1 Did they have any further education?
2 What was their first job?
3 What other jobs did they do?
4 Did they marry? If so, who did they marry?
5 Did they have any children? How many?
6 Where did they live?
d Hometown/Country 
1 What was life in their hometown or country like at this time?
2 How did they feel about life in their hometown or country?
e Becoming famous 
1 What area of life is the person famous for? e.g. politics, music, film etc.
2 How did they first become interested/involved in this area?
3 When did they first become well known?
4 What were the most important events during the time they were famous?
5 What were the most difficult times?
6 What were the most exciting times?
7 Did they travel to other countries?
8 Did they meet any very interesting people?
9 Did they receive any awards for their work/achievements?
f Life at the moment (if the person is still alive) 
1 Where is the person living now?
2 How old are they now?
3 What is their life like now?
4 Have they had any important events in their life recently?
5 Have they got any important events coming up in the near future?
g Later life (if the person is no longer living) 
1 Where was the person living at the end of their life?
2 What was their life like at this time?
3 What other things did they do in their life?
4 When did they die?
5 Where did they die?
6 Where are they buried?
7 How are they remembered today?
h Your feelings about the person 
1 What are your feelings about the person? e.g. do you admire them, feel sorry for them, find them interesting/funny etc.
2 Why do you feel this way about them?
3 What do you feel were the most important things they did?

How to Write a Biography?

In order to write a biography, biographers analyze and interpret the events in a person’s life by conducting interviews, and by reading letters, diaries, and books. A biographer researches not just his subject’s life, but also the time in which his subject lived. This might explain why the subject acted as he/she did, or why his/her achievements were so significant. Remember that biographies could be short or book-length. The short biographies focus on one period of time or on a major accomplishment of the subject. Long biographies delve into the life history of the person, focusing on every aspect of the person’s life.

Follow the steps given below to draft a biography:

• Determine the person you want to write about (for example, your parents, grandparents, friends, idols, or other notable figures).
• When you have a person in mind about whom to write, gather all the basic facts of the person’s life that include:

1. Date and place of birth and death
2. Family information
3. Lifetime accomplishments
4. Major events of life
5. Effects/impact on society, historical significance

• Describe his or her appearance, habits, features and way of talking. 
• To discover, organize, and support what you know and what you need to learn about your subject, these are some questions you may contemplate.

1. How can he or she be best described?
2. What makes this person interesting? 
3. Which events in the person’s life shaped him/her? 
4. What hurdles did the person overcome in order to accomplish what he/she did?
5. How did he or she influence the family or society?

• Keep your research questions in mind as you compile information from different sources. Look for letters, journals, newspaper clippings, pictures, and most importantly, set up interviews.
• Develop a thesis that effectively expresses the reason for the person being a popular personality and also what he has done for the society.
• After gathering required information, connect all of the ideas that you have collected about your subject. You should concentrate on developing the ideas, not on producing a final copy.
• Follow chronological order and give an account of the events from birth to present time or death of the person.

Example. 

Vivienne Westwood - Biography

• BIOGRAPHY

• NEWS
• GALLERY

"Fashion is about sex," said Vivienne Westwood. Well, she would say that, wouldn't she? After all, this is the woman who, upon receiving an OBE at Buckingham Palace, twirled for the cameras and revealed to the world she was not wearing any knickers. There's also the monicker of her first shop, Sex, and the fact that one of her sons owns saucy underwear label Agent Provocateur.

England

Horoscope : Capricorn

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jkOvl3hA8wyAfUA0094oGAEpzw6n_I82/view?usp=sharing

Born Vivienne Swire in the Peak District village of Tintwistle in 1941, as a teenager the British designer moved to Harrow, a suburb of northwest London, where her parents took over the running of a post office. At 21, she married Derek Westwood, a toolmaker, but the marriage did not last. After the break-up, Vivienne fled to her Aunt Ethel's caravan in North Wales, with her son Ben.

Her career in fashion did not take off until she met Malcolm McLaren, later known as the manager of punk band the Sex Pistols, who was studying alongside her brother at Harrow Technical College. Friendship came first, followed by love, and, in 1974, a second child, Joe, now the purveyor of saucy scanties, was born.

It was London which gave Vivienne the boost her creativity needed. After a stint selling her own jewellery in Portobello Market, she and Malcolm opened the infamous Sex boutique at the bottom end of the Kings Road where her provocative designs were sold. Then came punk. Vivienne's clothes were perfect for the youth trend: bondage trousers, slashed shirts and provocative God Save The Queen T-shirts. The monarch may not have loved it, but London was intoxicated.

From notoriety eventually came respectability, although her catwalk shows never failed to garner front page headlines. Remember Naomi Campbellcoming a cropper in her electric blue platform heels? That was Viv. The return of cleavage flaunting? Take a bow, Mrs W. In the Nineties she was elected one of the top five designers of the last century, alongside such luminaries as Yves Saint Laurent and Coco Chanel and was named British Designer of the Year two years running, in 1990 and 1991.

In 1992, she married Andreas Kronthaler, a fashion student a quarter of a century younger than her, whom she met when she was tutoring fashion at Vienna University of Applied Arts. The two now share a home in Battersea, southwest London.

Rephrasing practice

Conditionals 1  Conditionals 2  Conditionals 3 Conditionals 4 

Passive voice 1 Passive voice 2 Passive voice 3 Passive voice 4 

Reported speech 1 Reported speech 2 Reported speech 3 Reported speech 4 

Relative clauses 1  Relative clauses 2 Relative clauses 3 Relative clauses 4 

Modal verbs 1 Modal verbs 2 Modal verbs 3 Modal verbs 4

Connectors 1 Connectors 2 Connectors 3 Connectors 4 

Miscellanea 1  Miscellanea 2 Miscellanea 3 Miscellanea 4 Miscellanea 5 

http://www.ieslacreueta.es/download/apunts/apunts-angles/2_bachillerato/rephrasing_exercises/REPHRASING%20FOR%20PAU%20EXAMS%20with%20KEY.pdf

Flipped classroom- Videos & activites for the Easter break

Activity 1: The history of Easter

Read through the questions below and see if you know any of the answers. Then, visit www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-15/the-origins-of-easter-from-pagan-roots-to-chocolate-eggs/8440134 to find out if you were right. Compare your answers with your partner.

1. What festival did Easter begin as?
2. When does Easter fall, and what determines its date?
3. What does the name ‘Easter’ come from?
4. What still happens in many European countries on Easter Sunday?
5. What animals were symbolically linked to the goddess Eostre?
6. What were the first edible easter bunnies made from?
   

Activity 2: The Easter bunny and other Easter symbols

Go to www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/easter-ideas/g191/history-easter-traditions and scroll through the gallery. Read the texts and decide whether the following sentences are true (T) or false (F). If the sentences are false, correct them.

Easter bunny

1. The Easter bunny traditions came from the Bible.
2. The Easter bunny symbolizes fertility and new life.
3. It is derived from an old Danish tradition.

Easter eggs

1. Easter eggs are related to ancient traditions.
2. For early Christians, Easter eggs represented the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
3. The Easter colours of the Christian church are yellow, red and green.

Easter sweets

1. Exchanging chocolate and sweets (candy) first became popular around 1950.
2. Chocolate eggs have been eaten for two centuries.
3. Jelly beans might have become popular at Easter because they are shaped like eggs.

Hot cross buns

1. Hot cross buns are sweet, round breads filled with currants and spices with crosses on the top.
2. English people believed buns baked on Easter Sunday were lucky.
3. Hot cross buns are still seen as lucky today.

Activity 3: Things you didn’t know about Easter!

How much more do you know about Easter? Complete the sentences below if you know the answers. Visit the eblink: content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1889922_1890008_1889927,00.html, and read the ten sections of the article to complete the sentences. You will have to click on the arrow to move to the next section.

1. ____________________________ appears in several ancient traditions as a symbol for ____________________________.
2. The traditional pastries eaten on Good Friday in the UK are known as ____________________________.
3. In Ethiopia, Easter is known as ____________________________ , and people fast from meat and dairy for ____________________________ before celebrating.
4. In Sweden and areas of Finland, ____________________________ wear shawls and old skirts that are too big for them, and visit people’s houses to ask for ____________________________.
5. Beginning in the mid-1800s, ____________________________ New Yorkers would parade their riches after leaving church.
6. The first Sunrise Service in America was arranged by ____________________________. The purpose of the Mass is to remember ____________________________ that Mary found on Easter morning.

Grammar: Relatives

Defining relative clauses

We use defining relative clauses to give essential information about someone or something – information that we need in order to understand what or who is being referred to. A defining relative clause usually comes immediately after the noun it describes.

We usually use a relative pronoun (e.g. who, that, which, whose and whom) to introduce a defining relative clause (In the examples, the relative clause is in bold, and the person or thing being referred to is underlined.):

They’re the people who want to buy our house.

Here are some cells which have been affected.

They should give the money to somebody who they think needs the treatment most.

[talking about an actress]

She’s now playing a woman whose son was killed in the First World War.

Spoken English:

In defining relative clauses we often use that instead of who, whom or which. This is very common in informal speaking:

They’re the people that want to buy our house.

Here are some cells that have been affected.

Subject or object

The relative pronoun can define the subject or the object of the verb:

They’re the people who/that bought our house. (The people bought our house. The people is the subject.)

They’re the people who/that she met at Jon’s party. (She met the people. The peopleis the object.)

Here are some cells which/that show abnormality. (Some cells show abnormality. Some cells is the subject.)

Here are some cells which/that the researcher has identified. (The researcher has identified some cells. Some cells is the object.)

No relative pronoun

We often leave out the relative pronoun when it is the object of the verb:

They’re the people she met at Jon’s party.

Here are some cells the researcher has identified.

Punctuation

Warning:

In writing, we don’t use commas in defining relative clauses:

This is a man who takes his responsibilities seriously.

Not: This is a man, who takes his responsibilities seriously.

Nouns and pronouns in relative clauses

When the relative pronoun is the subject of the relative clause, we don’t use another personal pronoun or noun in the relative clause because the subject (underlined) is the same:

She’s the lady who lent me her phone. (who is the subject of the relative clause, so we don’t need the personal pronoun she)

Not: She’s the lady who she lent me her phone.

There are now only two schools in the area that actually teach Latin. (that is the subject of the relative clause, so we don’t need the personal pronoun they)

Not: There are now only two schools in the area that they actually teach Latin.

When the relative pronoun is the object of the relative clause, we don’t use another personal pronoun or noun in the relative clause because the object (underlined) is the same:

We had a lovely meal at the place which Phil recommended. (which is the object of the relative clause, so we don’t need the personal pronoun it)

Not: We had a lovely meal at the place which Phil recommended it.

Non-defining relative clauses

We use non-defining relative clauses to give extra information about the person or thing. It is not necessary information. We don’t need it to understand who or what is being referred to.

We always use a relative pronoun (who, which, whose or whom) to introduce a non-defining relative clause (In the examples, the relative clause is in bold, and the person or thing being referred to is underlined.)

Clare, who I work with, is doing the London marathon this year.

Not: Clare, I work with, is doing the London marathon this year.

Doctors use the testing kit for regular screening for lung and stomach cancers, which account for 70% of cancers treated in the western world.

Alice, who has worked in Brussels and London ever since leaving Edinburgh, will be starting a teaching course in the autumn.

Warning:

We don’t use that to introduce a non-defining relative clause:

Allen, who scored three goals in the first game, was the only player to perform well.

Not: Allen, that scored three goals in the first game, was the only player to perform well.

See also:

• Relative pronouns

Punctuation

In writing, we use commas around non-defining relative clauses:

Etheridge, who is English-born with Irish parents, replaces Neil Francis, whose injury forced him to withdraw last week.

Spoken English:

In speaking, we often pause at the beginning and end of the clause:

Unlike American firms – which typically supply all three big American car makers – Japanese ones traditionally work exclusively with one maker.(formal)

And this woman – who I’d never met before – came up and spoke to me.(informal)

Defining or non-defining relative clauses?

Sometimes defining and non-defining relative clauses can look very similar but have different meanings.

Compare

non-defining	defining
His brother, who works at the supermarket, is a friend of mine. He has only one brother, and that brother works at the supermarket.	His brother who works at the supermarket is a friend of mine. He has more than one brother. The one I’m talking about works at the supermarket.
It’s hoped that we will raise £10,000 for local charities, which help the homeless. The money is intended for local charities. All these local charities help the homeless.	It’s hoped that we will raise £10,000 for local charities which help the homeless. The money is intended for local charities. Some of these local charities help the homeless. There are other local charities as well as these.

Warning:

The information in a defining relative clause is essential, so we can’t leave out the relative clause. The information in a non-defining relative clause is extra information which isn’t essential, so we can leave out the relative clause.

Compare

The soldier who had gold stripes on his uniform seemed to be the most important one.	A defining relative clause which we can’t leave out; without this information we do not know which soldier the speaker is referring to.
The tour party was weakened when Gordon Hamilton, who played in the World Cup team, withdrew yesterday because of a back injury, which kept him out of the Five Nations Championship.	Non-defining relative clauses which we can leave out: The tour party was weakened when Gordon Hamilton withdrew yesterday because of a back injury.

Warning:

We can use that instead of who, whom or which in defining relative clauses, but not in non-defining relative clauses:

I think anyone who speaks in public is nervous beforehand.

I think anyone that speaks in public is nervous beforehand.

Her car, which was very old, broke down after just five miles.

Not: Her car, that was very old, broke down after just five miles.

EXERCISES:

• https://elt.oup.com/student/solutions/int/grammar/grammar_03_022e?cc=global&selLanguage=en
• https://www.test-english.com/grammar-points/b1/defining-and-non-defining-relative-clauses/
• https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/intermediate-grammar/relative-clauses-non-defining-relative-clauses
• https://www.examenglish.com/grammar/ND_relative_clauses.htm
• https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/relative-clauses/exercises?04

Relative clauses. defining and non defining 

Writing template: Discussion / Opinion

OPINION ESSAY: ADVANTAGES-DISADVANTAGES

1-INTRO:

1.1 For the great majority of people ______________________________________________________. 

A problem that is often debated nowadays ________________________________________________. 

Who cares about ____________________________________________________________________? 

1.2 It is a well-known fact that _______________________________________________________. 

Besides, recent studies show there are ______________________________________________. 

1.3There are reasons to believe that ______________________________________________. 

Therefore, ___________________________________________________________________.

2-DEVELOPMENT:

2.1 A lot of people claim that __________________________________________________   

2.2 What is more, ____________________________________________________________

For example, ________________________________________________________________. While/Although______________________________ it cannot be denied that_____________

Another point worth considering has to do with ____________________________________

3-REFUTING:

3.1 In contrast to this idea, ____________________________________________________________, so it is not easy to ___________________________________________. Whereas, in comparison, ___________________________________________. However, we should also consider___________________________________. On the other hand, __________________

3.2 Therefore, it is reasonable to think that _______________________________________.

4-CONCLUSION:

4.1 This bring us the question whether ___________________________________________________, it is highly probable __________________________________________________. 4.2 In my opinion, _________________________________________________________ From my point of view, ______________________________________. Maybe in the future _____________________

INTRO

It is generally believed that_________________________________________ and I completely agree.

I really feel it is better___________________________________________ although some think ________________________________________. I personally prefer to _________________________.

BODY

There are several reasons why I think________________________________ is better. First of all, you ____________________________________. Most of people think ______________________________.

Secondly, ____________________________ dives you the opportunity to ________________________.

I´m absolutely convinced that __________________________________. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, ____________________ makes you learn__________________________ which is another positive/negative aspect.

CONCLUSION

It seems to me that ________________________ is far better. There are lots of resources available to

__________________. To sum up, from my point of view, _______________________________. Maybe in the future,____________________________

How to write an opinion essay