ESL Blogs

Before you read this, pick a number from 1-300, and write it down.

This month, we are going to work on writing a page from our biography.  A biography is a book or article about a person's life. What is the most interesting part in a biography? Some people think the childhood is the most interesting part. Others like reading about the struggles of early marriage, career, or parenthood. We all hope that retirement or old age will be the best part of our lives. 

Even though we are writing about ourselves, we are going to write from a third person perspective (not first person - autobiography). 

Your Task 

1. Choose a number from 1-300. (You did that already, right? Don't change it now!)

2. Imagine that you have lived your whole life already. It may be 50 or 100 years from now! Someone is writing a biography about you, and they are on page ____ (fill in the blanks with the number you chose in step 1).

4. What part of your life will fill that page? Is it something that already happened, or something that hasn't happened yet? 

5. Write the page using the third-person narrative form (he/she). Proofread and publish your post. Then share it in the comments below. 

My Example

Page 215 - From Tara Benwell's Biography 

The time had come to fulfill the promise of moving to New York City for a year. Tara had told her husband that they would live there one day when the kids were grown up and the mortgage was paid off. He was a city boy at heart, but had gone along with living in small beach towns and suburbs when the family was young. 

Renting the house out for a year was the easy part. Their daughter's family quickly moved in and agreed to homeschool their kids and live in the valley for a year. Tara half wished she could just stay at home and hang out with her grandkids. But a promise was a promise. It really was time to do the Big Apple thing.  

Arriving in New York City was different for them this time. Instead of small backpacks for a weekend away, they each carried a large suitcase full of everything they would need for a year away from home. The plane was seven hours delayed, and they couldn't get seats together. It was an awful, rainy day, and Tara couldn't help wondering if it was a bad sign. And yet, eventually, they arrived.

The apartment was postage-stamp sized, just as the landlord had warned, but it was in a great location, just a few blocks from Central Park. A small window was wide open in the kitchen area, and house flies had moved in. There was a note with a fly swatter on the counter along with a key to the garbage locker. The note said, Sorry about the flies. Make yourself at home. 

Just after they dropped their suitcases in the hallway, the rain stopped and the sun poked out. There was a knock at the door. A red-headed young man in an oversized suit introduced himself as Andy, their new favourite neighbour. He handed them a bouquet of droopy yellow roses and told them he was in a band. He hoped they didn't mind about the Friday night band practices. Could he borrow some sugar? Oh, and would they be interested in helping him write some lyrics for his songs?