Introduction
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. It presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality.
Task
We will learn about biographies and how to write it. Let's start!!
Process
LESSON N° 1:
Task 1:
Watch the following video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwIUwix2ylQ
Do you know him? Who is he?
Task 2:
READ THE TEXT.
Dr René Favaloro
Dr. Rene Favaloro was an eminent heart surgeon who was born on 12 July 1923 in La Plata, Argentina.
After finishing secondary school, he began his studies at the Medical Sciences Faculty of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
He was a hardworking student in his first year of university he attended classes of the senior year and also watched surgeries. He learned a lot from respected professors such as Jose Maria Mairetti and Federico Christmann.
In 1950 he went to Jacinto Arauz, a town in the province of La Pampa, Argentina, because the only doctor there was seriously ill. He stayed there for several years working as a rural doctor.
Together with his brother, Juan Jose, also a doctor, he created a medical center and helped people to improve their general health condition and education.
Years later he travelled to Cleveland, USA. He began working as a resident at the Cleveland Clinic and then joined the surgery team gaining a lot of experience. In his free time he studied and researched into coronary arteries and their relation with the cardiac muscle. In 1967 he put his ideas into practice performing the first bypass in medical history.
He returned to Argentina in 1971.
In 1975 he founded the Favaloro Foundation and in 1980 he created a research laboratory, which was the beginning of the Universidad Favaloro. He focused on educating people about preventing diseases and helping the sick.
Tragically, Dr. René Favaloro took his life on 29 July, 2000. He will always be remembered as one of the most generous and honest people to human kind.
Nowadays, the Favaloro Foundation is one of the biggest institutions in the Americas completely devoted to the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
Task 3:
Skim Dr. René Favaloro’s biography and determine what these names refer to.
La Plata – Medical Sciences Faculty – Jose Maria Mairetti – Federico Christmann – Jacinto Arauz – Juan Jose – Cleveland – Cleveland Clinic – Favaloro Foundation – Universidad Favaloro
Task 4:
Is it true or false? Justify your opinions.
- Dr. René Favaloro was born in 1923.
- He travelled to California in 1960.
- He returned to Argentina in 1971.
- He created the first bypass in 1967.
- Favaloro Foundation was founded in 1980.
Task 5:
Read the text again to know what happened in these dates.
1923 1942 1950 1960 1967 1971 1975 1980 2000
LESSON N° 2:
Task 1:
Watch the following video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6wP_LKA0DE
Task 2:
Read the following text.
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Benjamin Button was born in 1918 in New Orleans with the appearance of a very old man. The baby’s mother died shortly after giving birth and her father, Thomas Button, abandoned the baby on the porch of a nursing home. Queenie and Mr. “Tizzy” Weathers found the baby, and Queenie decided to care for him as her own. In 1930, 12-year-old Benjamin met her six-year-old friend, Daisy, whose grandmother lived in the nursing home. As Benjamin’s body grew younger, he accepted work on a tugboat. Benjamin also met Thomas Button, who did not reveal that he was Benjamin’s father. In 1936, Benjamin left New Orleans with the tugboat crew for a long-term work and started an affair with Elizabeth Abbott. In 1945, Benjamin returned to New Orleans and learned that 21-year-old- Daisy had become a successful ballet dancer. Benjamin again met Thomas Button, who was terminally ill and he revealed that he is Benjamin’s father. Thomas willed Benjamin his possessions before he died. Daisy’s successful dance career ended in Paris in 1957 when she was hit by a taxi cab and broke her leg. When Benjamin went to see her in the hospital, Daisy told him to stay out of her life. In 1962, Daisy returned to New Orleans and met Benjamin. Now of a comparable physical age, she fell in love with him. Daisy gave birth to a girl, Caroline in 1968. Benjamin believed he cannot be a father figure to his daughter so he decided to travel alone around the world during the 1970’s.Benjamin returned to Daisy in 1980 at the age of twenty. Now re-married, Daisy introduced Benjamin to her husband and daughter as a family friend. In 1991, Daisy received a phone call from social workers. They found Benjamin, apparently 12 years old, living in a building and they contacted her because they found her name in his diary. Daisy moved to the nursing home where Benjamin grew up and took care of him. He became increasingly younger until he became an infant once more. In 2005, he died in Daisy’s arms. Daisy died in her New Orleans hospital bed, as Hurricane Katrina approached.
Task 3:
Choose the best option:
1. The story is
a) a biography
b) a short story
c) a novel
2. Benjamin Button was born in
a) 1918
b) 1921
c) 1923
3. Queenie is the woman who
a) abandoned him
b) found him in the porch of a house
c) he fell in love
4. The main protagonist is
a) a man who never grows old
b) a man who grows older and older
c) a man who grows younger and younger
5. The story takes place in
a) Baltimore
b) Boston
c) New Orleans
6. The name of Benjamin Button’s father is
a)Thomas
b) Charles
c) Victor
7. Caroline is
a) Benjamin’s lover
b) Benjamin’s sister
c) Benjamin’s daughter
8. Benjamin Button finally dies of
a) a heart attack
b) a long-term disease
c) old age
Task 4:
Find in the text the Past Simple Form of the following verbs. Then classify them into regular or irregular. Then you can check it by following this link.
http://www.saberingles.com.ar/lists/irregular-verbs.html
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Base form |
Past form |
Regular/Irregular |
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Be |
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Die |
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Abandon |
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Find |
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Decide |
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Meet |
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Live |
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Grow |
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Accept |
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Leave |
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Start |
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Return |
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Learn |
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Reveal |
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Will |
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End |
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Break |
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Go |
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Tell |
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Fall |
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Give |
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Believe |
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Introduce |
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Receive |
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Contact |
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Move |
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Become |
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LESSON N° 3:
Task 1:
Watch the followin link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvIXvD3AXz0
Task 2:
Read about the author of “The curious case of Benjamin Button” and answer the questions.
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1913, he went to Princeton University where he started to show promise as a writer, publishing several stories in local magazines. In 1918, he met Zelda Sayre who became his wife in 1920.Their relationship was a tempestuous one owing to Sayre’s flirtatious nature and Fitzgerald’s jealousy, and the couple was well known for throwing wild drink fueled parties and getting thrown out of clubs. Fitzgerald referred to the 1920s as the Jazz Age and drew much inspiration for his novels on his dysfunctional relationship with his wife and her series of mental breakdowns. He finished fourfull-length novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender is the Night, and his most celebrated work The Great Gatsby, as well as many short stories. Fitzgerald died of a massive heart attack on December 21; 1940.The story of Benjamin Button was made into a movie in 2008, staring Brad Pitt
- When was Scott Fitzgerald born?
_____________________________________________________
- When did he meet his wife?
_____________________________________________________
- When did he marry Zelda?
_____________________________________________________
- When did Scott die?
_____________________________________________________
- When was the story of Benjamin Button made into a film?
_____________________________________________________
Evaluation
Evaluation:
You are going to write a biography about a famous character ( writer, actor, musician, etc).
Then you have to produce a PowerPoint Presentation or Movie Maker video with information and pictures about the character chosen.
Conclusion
Conclusion:
Now you now how to write about a famous character's life.
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