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A biographical web page
I can order information in a biography using paragraphs and topic sentences.
THINK! What famous people from the past do you admire?
Achievements
Agatha Christie
(1) Agatha Christie was a British writer. She was born in England in 1890 and died there in 1976.
(2) She first started writing when she was sixteen. Later, when she was a nurse, she had the idea for a detective story and she published her first novel in 1920. She was a very shy person, so she was happier to stay in and write than to meet people.
(3) Agatha Christie eventually became one of the most popular writers in history. She wrote more than sixty novels, as well as plays and poetry, and sold more than two billion books. There are translations of her books in more than 100 languages. People love her works because the characters and the mysteries are so interesting.
1. Read the biography. How old was Agatha Christie when she published her first novel? Why are her books popular?
Language point: Paragraphs and topic sentences
2. Match the blue first line of each paragraph (1-3) with the subject of the paragraph (a–c).
a. Early career
c. Life
b. Achievements
3. Read the Study Strategy. Then read the list of questions. Read the biography again and add more questions to the list.
| STUDY STRATEGY |
| Selecting information There's a lot of information about people on the internet. You need to decide what information to use for a biography. Tip: Make a list of questions about the person you're writing about. |
Life
What did Agatha Christie do?
Where was she born?
Where did she die?
Early career
When did she first start writing?
____________________________________
Achievements
____________________________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
4. Think of a famous or successful person from the past. Make a list of questions about them. Use the questions in exercise 3 to help you.
5. In your notebook, complete the Key Phrases with words from the text.
| KEY PHRASES |
| Staging information She first started (1) _______. (2) _______ eventually (3) _______. People love her works because (4) _______. |
6. 
USE IT! Follow the steps in the Writing Guide.
| WRITING GUIDE |
| A TASK Think about your person from exercise 4. Find information about the person and write a short biography (60-80 words) for an 'Achievements' web page. B THINK AND PLAN Find answers to your list of questions from exercise 4. C WRITE Look at your notes and the sections in the model text and decide what information you want to include in each section: • Life • Early career • Achievements Then write the biography in your notebook. Include the key phrases. D CHECK Comparative and superlative adjectives |
