autobiography esl lesson plan

Writing an autobiography lesson plan

Autobiography lesson plan

Autobiography lesson plan:

This lesson plan is about writing an autobiography. Students will work individually in pairs, in a group, and as a whole class. They provide ideas, write the first draft, edit, and type the final draft in the computer lab.

The activity

• The teacher elicits a definition of autobiography. You may use a short autobiographical story.
• Brainstorm ideas about information they could include in autobiographies.
• Write all ideas mentioned by the students on the board.
• Students in groups organize the information into categories. You may use a graphic organizer.
• They write a rough draft using the information in their graphic organizers.
• Then students work in pairs to edit the autobiographies. Provide a checklist for students to use for editing.
• Optional. Tell students to provide photos to use as illustrations.
• Students use the computer lab to type their autobiographies.

Students exchange autobiographies. As homework, they read each other’s autobiographies and find similarities and differences between their own autobiographies and their classmates. A class discussion can be scheduled for the next session.

Having My Say: A Multigenre Autobiography Project

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

Students can be guided to make powerful connections between their life experiences and the world surrounding their individual narratives. In this lesson, Elizabeth and Sarah Delany's autobiography, Having Our Say , serves as a model for student texts. Students read and analyze passages from Having Our Say looking for specific examples of multigenre writing within the text. Students then choose to narrate a life event that has connections to or is informed by a larger event in their lives or in the world around them. They compose a multigenre paper that includes the autobiographical narrative essay as well as an informational nonfiction piece that provides context for and connections to the story from their life.

Featured Resources

Autobiographical Narrative Component Peer Review Guide : This handout includes a chart to guide students in a thoughtful peer review of a classmate's autobiographical essay, but it could be adapted for use with any peer review. Contextual Essay Planning Sheet : This handout provides a chart that guides students in thinking about the kinds of information an audience might need to know to understand their autobiographical essay.

From Theory to Practice

In Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre Papers , Tom Romano describes his ideal ELA classroom as one in which students "are both consumers and producers of all kinds of literature and media" (43).  As students are exposed to or are expected to have gained "mastery" of certain genres, teachers can challenge students by asking them to combine genres into cohesive multigenre pieces.  In her article discussing the use of multigenre writing assignments in her classroom, Nancy Mack states "I know that assignments must be innovative and interesting enough so that they appear unlike the old drudgery of hackneyed assignments. The format must be open and attractive to invite the possibility of doing something engaging rather than merely pursuing the trivial school game. Topics for writing should make use of the unique knowledge and skills that students already have, connecting school work in a respectful way to things that they value in their personal lives. The completed assignment should be personally significant and full of power and integrity for the author so that the writing itself demands to be heard by a real audience." (98) The writing assignments in this lesson do just that, as they challenge students to write in multiple genres with connections to stories from their lives. Further Reading

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• 2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.
• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
• 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

• Copies of Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years by Sarah L. Delany and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth (Dell)
• Overhead or large post-its for recording student responses
• Pens, paper for drafting in class or time in a computer lab for composition and revision
• “Teaching Racially Sensitive Literature: A Teacher’s Guide” (optional)
• Multigenre Autobiography Planning Sheet
• Contextual Essay Planning Sheet
• Autobiographical Narrative Component Peer Review Guide
• Contextual Component Peer Review Guide
• Multigenre Autobiography Project Rubric
• Understanding the Two Genres Handout (optional)

Preparation

• Determine how much of the book you will ask students to read. You may wish to use this text in its entirety as an example of the genre of autobiography. Alternately, a few of the sections can serve as supplementary resources to existing units. For example, the section “I Am Free! ” could supplement a unit on slavery, “Jim Crow Days” could enrich a unit on Civil Rights and segregation, and “Harlem-Town” would integrate into a study of the Harlem Renaissance. A third option is to treat one of the sections as a stand-alone autobiographical piece.
• Preview the section(s) you plan to teach and read Teaching Racially Sensitive Literature: A Teacher’s Guide .  Having Our Say does contain frank conversations about race, including representations of blatant racism through language and action. Determine the type and level of preparation your students might need.
• Make copies of all necessary handouts.
• Think about an event from your life you would be comfortable using in the modeling the drafting process. (See Instruction and Activities Session 3.)
• Plan for computer lab/internet access for any sessions during which you will use ReadWriteThink interactives or students will be word processing.
• If you are unfamiliar with the story of the  Delany sisters, the Having Our Say Website includes brief information about the sisters and how their story came to be written, as well as a study guide for the book.
• Test the Venn Diagram and Timeline interactives on your computers to familiarize yourself with the tools and ensure that you have the Flash plug-in installed. You can download the plug-in from the technical support page.

Student Objectives

Students will

• identify features that are unique to and common between informational and autobiographical nonfiction.
• choose an event from their life to narrate in essay form, adopting genre-appropriate voice, style, and methods of development.
• determine the specific historical, cultural, or familial background information that readers of the above essay would need.
• craft an informational nonfiction essay around that information, adopting genre-appropriate voice, style, and methods of development.
• successfully integrate informational and autobiographical nonfiction.

Session One

• Prepare students for the reading by discussing its unique structural features.  Have them leaf through the book and take note of its structure while you guide them through the different sections (major sections indicated by roman numerals and titles, unlabeled introductory chapters, alternating chapters labeled with the narrating sister’s name, etc. ).
• Point out that the third author, a writer for The New York Times , is the objective voice in the chapters at the beginning of the sections.
• Offer students the label of “multigenre text” and ask if they have read or are familiar with any multigenre texts (Avi’s Nothing But the Truth , Walter Dean Myers’ Monster ).  Ask them what genres seem to be represented in this work.  See the ReadWriteThink lesson Reading and Analyzing Multigenre Texts for more information on this specialized reading and writing, including a booklist with more examples.
• Have students produce a list of ways that informational nonfiction (perhaps students can conceive of it as “newspaper” writing) and autobiographical nonfiction are similar and different.  You may wish to use the Venn Diagram tool to facilitate this discussion.
• Extend this discussion into a conversation about what makes each of these genres especially effective.  Write students’ observations on an overhead or large sheet of Post-It paper for later use/reference.  You can then use these preparatory materials as a rubric for the final student product or use the Multigenre Autobiograpy Project Rubric included in this lesson.

Session Two

• Have students read the desired section(s) of the book. 
• direct presentation of ideas: “A generation after the end of slavery, freedom for black Americans was still elusive” (90)
• a focus on facts and events:  “1896…the Supreme Court ruling in the Plessy v. Ferguson case” (90)
• development with third-person examples and explanation:  “The case stemmed from an incident in which a Louisiana citizen named Homer Plessy lost his appeal to the Supreme Court, which sanctioned the establishment of ‘separate but equal’ facilities for blacks and whites” (90 – 91)
• formal, standard English throughout and objective perspective throughout.

The style here stands in marked contrast to the conversational style of the sisters’ chapters, where the narrative is driven by dialogue, descriptions, stories, and opinions.

• Use an overhead of the Multigenre Autobiography Planning Sheet to have students summarize the Delanys’ story in the center circle.  Then review the section opener to list context the third author provides and put the contextual information in the outer circle.  Point out that, diverse as the styles of the two sections may be, they work together to show how the sisters’ lives were part of a larger, more dynamic picture than their individual life experiences alone.
• Preview the multigenre autobiography assignment, noting to students that they will write about an event from their life as well as the larger context surrounding it.  Encourage students to make connections between their autobiography and the information they include in the contextual essay like the ones from Having Our Say .

Session Three

• Have students brainstorm a significant event or experience from their lives that they would like to share.  Some students will choose to start with a significant world, community, or family event first ( e.g. , the September 11 attack, the closing of a plant or factory in their town, the birth of a sibling) and then determine the personal narrative they will write in relation to that event.  Others will have an experience they want to narrate and will determine the focus of the contextual information later.  Either approach can work, but ensure that students choose a personal experience that will need to be contextualized.
• Refer to the list of qualities of narrative/autobiographical nonfiction the class produced in Session 1 (or use the Understanding the Two Genres handout ). 
• Remind students that they will need to work toward these objectives as they produce a rough draft of their personal essay.
• Distribute the Multigenre Autobiography Planning Sheet .
• Model for students the functionality of the Multigenre Autobiography Planning Sheet . Using an event from your own life, start jotting down the events, feelings, and reactions you would need to include in an autobiographical essay recounting the event.
• As the connections become apparent, or after you’ve modeled the inner circle, write down in the outer circle elements of context you would need to include.
• Answer any student questions about the process and give them time to start planning the autobiographical component in the inner circle.

Session Four

• At the beginning of this session, ask students to recall specific instances from the book to exemplify the qualities of autobiographical narrative writing (focus on events and reactions; indirect presentation of main ideas; opinions and reactions are central to the piece; etc .) from the Understanding the Two Genres handout or the list of qualities the class developed to help them focus their efforts.
• Give students time to work on composition of a draft of the personal essay.  Use the Timeline tool to help students plan the structure of their essay. 
• Ask students to complete a draft of the essay by the next session.  They should be ready for a peer review activity.

Session Five

• Put students in pairs to read each others’ drafts and provide feedback to their partners’ essays.  Use the Autobiographical Component Peer Review Guide or a similar resource reflecting the qualities on which you wish students to focus.
• After giving students time to share their comments with each other, tell students that their attention will now be shifting to concerns of audience as they prepare for the second essay in the project. They need to consider the questions  “Who will be reading this piece?” and “What kind(s) of information do those readers need to gain a full understanding of the experience?”
• Refer back to sections such as “Harlem Town” or “Jim Crow” to give students a model for this way of thinking.  Remind them that the essay at the beginning of each section provides historical, familial, or cultural context for the individual stories that the sisters narrate in the chapters that follow. 
• Ask for a few volunteers to tell what event they are narrating.  As a class, discuss the kind of context they will need ( e.g. , If a student is writing about moving from a large city to his/her new home in a smaller town, he/she could describe their city/neighborhood as a reporter would; If a student is narrating the divorce of his/her parents, he/she could provide a brief objective chronology of his/her family life up to that point).
• Direct peer response pairs to focus on the type and amount of contextualizing their essays will require.  Does the reader need background on the author’s family?  On a historical event?  About a cultural term or concept?  These mini-conferences will produce a plan for the second piece in this assignment.
• Have students record their needs on the outer circle of the Multigenre Autobiography Planning Sheet .
• For homework, have them further think about/refine their plan for the contextual essay using the Contextual Essay Planning Sheet . There they should make firm decisions about the amount and type of background information they will need to give their readers. 
• Ask students to begin the process of researching any information to which they do not have immediate access (family history, historical events).  This research need not be formal, but students should gather information they will need.

Session Six

• Check students’ plans for the contexual essay and review the guidelines for effective informational writing (see the Understanding the Two Genres handout). 
• Answer any questions students have about the contextual essay and allow time for the composition of the context opener. 
• Ask students to have the context opener drafted for the next session.  They should be ready for a second peer review activity.

Session Seven

• Students meet in the same response pairs and use the Contextual Component Peer Review Guide or a similar resource to provide each other feedback on their partners’ work. 
• Have pairs go back to the autobiographical essays as well as their plans from Session 5 to make sure the contextual essay sufficiently prepares the reader for the autobiographical essay.
• If time allows, give students time to begin preparations for revision.

Session Eight

• Allow students time to revise and polish their project based on feedback and self-evaluation.
• As a class, choose a unifying school, community, national, or world event.  Write a collaborative contextual essay and have students contribute individual autobiographical essays.
• Families can choose a unifying event and write a contextual essay together.  Individual family members can contribute individual autobiographical essays.
• Expand the multigenre requirement to include photographs, poetry, a play, or another genre of your choice.
• Deepen or expand your study of the literary piece or of autobiographical writing by exploring these related ReadWriteThink Lessons: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: Critical Discussion of Social Issues , Paying Attention to Technology: Writing Technology Autobiographies , and The Year I Was Born: An Autobiographical Research Project .

Student Assessment / Reflections

• Use the Multigenre Autobiography Project Rubric to evaluate the revised student work.
• Students should also be asked to reflect on what they learned by putting their story into a larger context.  Although they may not have the dynamic connections that are present in the Delany sisters’ story, encourage them to see how putting their stories in a new perspective can help them understand themselves more critically.  This reflection could come as a preface or introduction to the completed multigenre piece.
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Autobiography Project for ESL Students

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An autobiography is a great way for your ESL students to practice writing in various tenses. This resource is a fun way to wind down the year by reviewing all that your students have learned throughout the school year – verb tenses, vocabulary, writing mechanics. It is also an excellent way to get to you know your students a lot better! With this resource, you have everything you need! Just print the templates and have students answer the questions. Then they will write their answers in a paragraph form on the paper included. For more advanced students, you can ask them to add more information.

Students can then present then their autobiography to the class. Perhaps even ask students to bring in baby photographs to share with the class!

#esl, Autobiography for ESL students

This autobiography project is broken up into three parts: 1. The Past Tense: My Past…and…Coming to a New Country…. 2. The Present Tense: My Life Now 3. The Future Tense: My Future

Depending on the level of your students, you can complete this as one project or three mini projects. This can also be used as a speaking activity. Students can use the questions to interview one another and even create a presentation for the class.

If your interested in this resource, click here to check out my blog post and to download it for free!

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ESL Autobiographies

Students develop collaborative skills while creating a vocabulary word list. They work together to take each others photos using a digital camera. Students access a website to copy and paste their photos into a word document. They create autobiographies to share with younger students.

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Biography ESL Lesson Plan [Free PDF]

• Posted by by ESL Questions About
• 2 months ago

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Biography ESL Lesson Plan is designed to introduce students to the concept of biographies and help them develop their language skills through the exploration of real-life stories. This lesson plan aims to engage students in learning about different people’s lives, while also expanding their vocabulary, reading, and writing abilities. By delving into the lives of various individuals, students can gain cultural insights and improve their language proficiency. This topic provides a rich opportunity for language practice and cultural understanding, making it an essential part of an ESL curriculum.

Vocabulary Building

Contextual usage.

1. The students will read a biography of a famous historical figure to understand the concept of a biography . 2. They will write an autobiography paragraph, describing their own lives using the vocabulary learned. 3. Students will create a timeline of events in the life of a chosen subject for their project. 4. They will discuss the legacy of influential individuals and how it impacts society today.

ESL Warm-up Activity

To kick off the Biography ESL Lesson Plan, start with an engaging activity called “Guess the Biography.” Prepare a set of flashcards, each featuring a famous person or historical figure. Without revealing the names, describe each person using adjectives and key events from their lives. Encourage students to guess the identity of each individual based on the clues provided. This activity not only captures students’ attention but also introduces them to the concept of biographies and the vocabulary associated with notable figures.

Main ESL Lesson Activities

Vocabulary activity: who am i.

Divide the class into pairs. Each student will choose a famous person and write down three clues about that person without revealing their identity. Then, they will take turns reading their clues to their partner, who must guess the identity of the person. This activity reinforces vocabulary and encourages students to think critically about the key figures they have learned about.

Listening Exercise: Biography Podcast

Provide students with a short podcast episode featuring a biography of a well-known individual. After listening, facilitate a group discussion where students share what they learned and express their opinions about the person’s life. This exercise enhances listening skills and promotes collaborative learning.

Roleplay: Interview with a Historical Figure

Assign each student a historical figure and have them prepare for an interview in character. Encourage them to research the figure’s life and accomplishments. In pairs, students will take turns interviewing each other as if they were the historical figures they researched. This activity fosters creativity, speaking skills, and historical understanding.

ESL Homework Assignment

For homework, students will choose a historical figure or a person of interest and write a short biography about them. They should include key events, achievements, and the impact the individual had on society. Encourage students to use the vocabulary and concepts learned in class. Additionally, they can prepare a brief presentation to share their biographies with the class in the next session. This assignment reinforces writing skills, research abilities, and public speaking.

Throughout this lesson, students have explored the concept of biographies, expanded their vocabulary, and engaged in various activities related to notable figures. They have delved into the lives of historical and influential individuals, enhancing their language skills while gaining cultural insights.

Encourage students to reflect on how learning about biographies has improved their language proficiency. Prompt them to consider how the vocabulary and concepts learned can be applied in their future language development. Additionally, encourage them to think about the impact of understanding different people’s lives on their overall language comprehension and cultural awareness.

Why this topic is great for ESL learning

Enhanced language skills.

Studying biographies provides a rich opportunity for ESL learners to expand their vocabulary, improve reading and writing abilities, and enhance their overall language proficiency.

Cultural Understanding

Exploring the lives of different individuals from various backgrounds allows students to gain insights into different cultures, historical periods, and societal influences, fostering a deeper understanding of the world around them.

Real-Life Relevance

Biographies offer real-life stories that engage students and make language learning more meaningful. By studying the lives of notable figures, students can connect language skills to real-world contexts, making the learning process more relevant and enjoyable.

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• Teaching primary

Working with biographies

The biography section of portfolios is a documentation of the learners' personal language learning history and can include, for example, a short narrative about the summer camp they attended and for which they may include a certificate of attendance in the passport section.

This biography lends itself well to ‘show and tell’ sessions when learners can talk to the class about their own experiences. In this section too, learners may include any plans they have for taking an English exam, visiting an English-speaking country, or having English-speaking visitors at home.

Age:  Older primary

The type of things which learners can include in their biography are:

• Learner checklist
• A narrative about a trip to an English-speaking country
• The day an English-speaking friend came to stay
• Plans for the future
• I start the class by putting some pictures on the board and tell the class I’m going to tell them about my trip to an English-speaking country. The pictures include some famous landmarks, photos of my friends there and a picture of myself on the trip.
• I ask the class to guess which country I visited and then brainstorm any information they know about the city. I put vocabulary on the board which will help in the following task. This activates top-down knowledge, personalizes the task and gives the group time to think about their own experiences.
• We then read the story of my trip to Liverpool together. At this stage I point out that the story is in the past, that it is divided into three parts and that each part is a paragraph.
• There are lots of ways to check comprehension, sometimes I ask questions as we go along, or ask the class to answer questions at the end of the reading task.
• Finally, using my story as a model I ask the group to write about their own trip.

Of course there are many children in the class who won’t have visited an English-speaking country or were too young to remember the trip. I tell them they can write about someone they know who went abroad or about an English-speaking visitor to their home.

One of the objectives of working with portfolios is to raise learners' awareness of the many different ways English can be learnt and practised. It tries to move away from the idea that it is a school subject and that it is useful and necessary outside the classroom.

Finally, it's always a good idea to put work up around the class for the group to read at the end of the activity. It’s a valuable activity for children to share their experiences and find out about what others do. Also, reading about their own classmates’ stories in English is useful for reviewing grammar and vocabulary.

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Browse fascinating case studies, research papers, publications and books by researchers and ELT experts from around the world.

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A writing prompt worksheet for advanced-level learners. Ideal for Stage 3 portfolios for those who use portfolio-based learning assessment (PBLA).

 Famous People Lessons

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Provide a comprehensive course with our ESL worksheets. Each of our evolving course plans and worksheet series can be followed systematically or you can select lessons to use as supplementary material.

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Level: Intermediate (B1-B2)

This collection of lessons offers B1/B2 students an opportunity to practise listening and speaking skills, add to their vocabulary, briefly explore language points and increase their general knowledge. The lessons cover a range of famous (and infamous) figures including scientists, political leaders and artists and writers.

This audio-aided lesson tells the life story of the legendary physicist Albert Einstein. The lesson focuses on vocabulary, listening comprehension, and speaking and includes a short look at linking words that show contrast. The optional extension task is a mini marketing activity about how the name Einstein can be used to sell products.

by Stephanie Hirschman

This audio-aided lesson tells the life story of the first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace. The lesson focuses on vocabulary, listening comprehension, and speaking, and includes a short look at " so ... that " cause-and-effect structures. There is also an optional extension activity about the genre steampunk.

This audio-aided lesson tells the life story of the famous 19th-century writer Charles Dickens, who had a huge influence on how we think about Christmas. The lesson focuses on vocabulary, listening comprehension, a short review of the passive and speaking. There is also an optional extension activity about vocabulary related to Scrooges, misers, penny-pinchers, etc.

This audio-aided lesson tells the life story of the British statesman Winston Churchill. The lesson focuses on vocabulary, listening comprehension and speaking, and includes a short look at the infinitive of purpose. The optional extension task focuses on two of Churchill’s homes, now tourist destinations.

This audio-aided lesson tells the life story of the pioneering African American mathematician and space scientist Katherine Johnson (1918-2020). The lesson focuses on vocabulary, listening comprehension, and speaking, and includes a short look at past perfect forms. There is also an optional extension activity about a range of toys that honours women’s achievements.

This audio-aided lesson tells the life story of the legendary soccer player Diego Maradona (1960-2020). The lesson focuses on vocabulary, listening comprehension, and speaking and includes a short look at not only ... but also structures. There is also an optional discussion extension activity about idioms relating to this game.

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Tags: advanced , beginner , business , entertainment , intermediate , kids , music , past simple , politics , present perfect simple , present simple , science

In the Biography ESL project, students research the life of a famous person, then write about them and/or present to the class.

This project is normally completed individually, but could be done in pairs with younger students.

Students will need an Internet-connected device to research their famous person. If they can use smartphones or a computer room, this can be done in class. Otherwise, get them to do the research at home for homework.

• Students choose a famous person that interests/inspires them. If necessary, limit this choice to fit the topic, e.g. musicians or scientists. Also, if you wish to practise the present simple and/or present perfect simple, the person should still be alive. Try and make sure you don’t get too many students writing about the same person!
• Students research their famous person and make notes on their life. To avoid the risk of plagiarism, stress that these notes must not be full sentences. With younger or low-level students, you could get them to copy a list (see below), and write the information they find next to it.
• Using only their notes, students write up the research into full sentences as a biography. Optionally, they could also make a computer presentation with pictures, and present it to the class.
• As an extension, you could get students to form small groups and teach each other about their person. Rearrange the groups a few times, then ask students to write/speak about a new person they have heard about too.

Possible required information:

– Name – Age – Date of Birth – Place of Birth – Study (if any) – Job – Where they live – Work (e.g. movies acted in) – Achievements and Awards

Target Language

As mentioned above, you can use the Biography ESL project as part of a topic on a particular field, like music , entertainment , politics or science . For a business English students, you could even get them to profile a businessperson they admire (including related vocabulary).

Alternatively, you could focus on the grammar used for biographies – it’s a great way to practise using a mixture of tenses. At a basic beginner level, students could just write a few facts in the present simple . In most cases though they should also include sentences in the past simple (about life events, previous jobs, study etc.) and the present perfect simple (e.g. multiple accomplishments/award wins). Correct use of the passive for these tenses should also be used where appropriate.

Another option for this project is for students to write a biography of a family member. In this way you could link it in with the topic of family .

You can reuse student-prepared biographies in the activity Biography Scanning .

Got a picture or video of this activity in action? How about snapping one next time you use it? We'd love to showcase your submissions- find out more here .

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Warmer of the day.

Tags: beginner , intermediate , kids , narrative tenses , past simple , warmer

In the Fortunately Unfortunately ESL Activity, students create a story that alternates between positive and negative sentences.

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Brief Bio of Martin Luther King Jr.

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Discrimination, Racism, Martin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights

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