My Life by Paul Ashe Age: Young learners Level: Elementary – Pre-Intermediate Objective: To provide a framework for students to compile an autobiography in English. To practise/revise the present simple, past simple, going to, will, present perfect Time: As required Key skills: Writing Materials: One copy of the My Life template per student. One copy of the prompt questions per student. Warmer: You might want to produce your own autobiography first in order to show students and create interest in the project. This will also act as a way for students to get to know you before you get to know them through their autobiography. Procedure: 1. Make enough copies of the prompt questions for one per student. Divide students into pairs and tell them to ask one another the questions for Chapter 1. 2. Once they have finished asking and answering the questions get students to write their answers to the questions but in continuous prose. They will need to connect sentences to create a complete text. The questions are simply prompts to help students with the content. Encourage students to add any extra information not covered by the questions. 3. As students are composing their texts, correct any serious problems and make a note of any problems common to the class. You can use this list of common problems to prepare future lessons on these areas or an error correction activity at the end of the lesson. 4. Once they have completed the rough version of Chapter 1 and it has been corrected, ask them to write it up neatly and add any photos they have to illustrate the chapter. For this you will need to make one copy per student of the My Life template. 5. Repeat steps 1-4 for the other seven chapters. 6. Once the autobiography is complete, bind all the chapters and ask students to review the autobiography of two other people in the class and write a comment at the end. They should also write their name and the date of the review. Encourage students to write what they liked most about the autobiography; what they learnt about this person; what they thought was funny, sad, etc.
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By ______________ Š Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009 Taken from the Lesson Share section in www.onestopenglish.com
CHAPTER 1 My family
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CHAPTER 2
What a lovely baby!
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CHAPTER 3
What a great day!
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CHAPTER 4
My worst moment ever!
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CHAPTER 5 My Friends
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CHAPTER 6
What I like doing
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CHAPTER 7 My best holiday
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CHAPTER 8 My future
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AUTOBIOGRAPHY REVIEWS
Reviewed by ________________ Date: ________
Reviewed by ________________ Date: ________
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009 Taken from the Lesson Share section in www.onestopenglish.com
CHAPTER 1 My family • • • • •
• • • • • • • •
What do you like about your family? What makes your family special? What is your mother like? (Describe her appearance and her personality.) Where was she born? What was she like when she was a kid? Where did she live? How many brothers and sisters does she have? What's her job? Where is it? How long has she worked there for? Does she like her job? Why/why not? What does she like doing in her free time? Now answer the same questions about your father. Have you got any brothers or sisters? What are they like? Have they ever done anything funny or dangerous? Do you get on with them? (Have you got a good relationship with them?) What do you enjoy doing together? What don’t you like about your brother(s) and/or sister(s)? Have you got any pets? What are they like? (Describe their appearance and personality.) Have they ever done anything funny or strange?
CHAPTER 2 What a lovely baby! • • • • • • •
When were you born? Where were you born? Was there anything funny/different about your birth? Were you the first child to be born in your family? How old were your parents when you were born? How did they feel when you were born? Were you a good baby or did you cry all the time? What was your first bedroom at home like? When did you learn to walk and talk? Did you do anything funny or dangerous or naughty as a baby?
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CHAPTER 3 What a great day! • • • • • • •
Can you remember the best thing that has ever happened to you? Or a fantastic day you will never forget? What was the date? Where were you on this great day? What was the weather like? Who were you with? Describe in detail what happened and how you felt. Why was this a great day for you?
CHAPTER 4 My worst moment ever! • • • • • • •
Can you remember the worst thing that has ever happened to you? Or a terrible day you want to forget? What was the date? Where were you on this terrible day? What was the weather like? Who were you with? Describe in detail what happened and how you felt. Why was this such a bad day for you?
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CHAPTER 5 My Friends • • • • • • • • • • •
Where did you meet your friends? When did you meet your friends? What did you think of your friends when you first met them? What are they like? (Describe their appearance and personality.) Where do they live? What do they like? What don’t they like? What do they usually do at the weekend? What do you enjoy doing together? What do you like most about your friends? Is there anything that makes you angry about your friends?
CHAPTER 6 What I like doing? • • • • • • • • • •
Do you collect anything? What do you enjoy doing in your free time? Do you have any hobbies? When did you start your hobbies or interests? When do you usually do them? Who do you like doing your hobbies with? Where do you usually do you hobbies? Do you need any special equipment? Is it expensive or cheap? Why do you like doing your hobbies?
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CHAPTER 7 My best holiday • • • • • • • • • • •
When was your best holiday? Where did you go? Who did you go with? How long did you go for? How did you travel? What was the weather like? (Describe the weather) What was the food like? (Describe the food) What was the place like? (Describe the place) What things do you remember most about the holiday? Why was it better than other holidays? Would you like to return?
CHAPTER 8 My future • • • • • • •
Where are you going to go on holiday next year? What job do you hope to do when you are older? Why do you want to do that job? Where would you like to live in the future? Why? Describe your ideal house. Would you like to have a family? How many children would you like to have? What hobbies will you have? Where will you buy your clothes? What will you look like?
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009 Taken from the Lesson Share section in www.onestopenglish.com