AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Think about an important scene in your life that you remember very clearly. Tell the class.

Example: A scene I remember very well is when I won a competition at primary school…

Read the Strategies.

Reading Strategies:

· Before reading, look at the title and the first couple of lines of the text.

Look for clues to help you predict what kind of text it is and what it is about.

· Read the text to get the general idea. Ignore words you don’t know.

· Read the text again. Try to work out the meaning of important new words. Use a dictionary if you can’t.

· Read any comprehension questions and try to think of possible answers. Then find answers to the questions in the text.

 

Text A

The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Sullivan, came to me. It was three months before I was seven years old.

On the afternoon of that day, I knew that something was happening. I went outside and waited on the steps of the house. I could feel the sun on my face and I could touch the leaves of the plants. Then I felt someone walking towards me. I thought it was my mother and she picked ю me up and held me close. This was my teacher who had come to teach all things to me and, above all, to love me.

The next morning, the teacher took me into herroom and gave me a doll. When I was playing with it, Miss Sullivan slowly spelled the word‘d-o-l-l’into my hand. I was interested and I imitated the movements with my fingers. I learned a lot of words like this, but only after my teacher had been with me for several weeks did I understand that everything has a name.

One day, I didn't understand the difference between 'mug' and 'water'. I became angry and threw the doll on the floor. In my quiet, dark world I didn't feel sorry for doing it.

Then my teacher took me out into the warm sunshine. We walked down to the well where someone was drawing water. My teacher put my hand under the water and spelled the word 'w-a-t-e-r' at the same time in my other hand. Suddenly, I felt an understanding. The mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that 'w-a-t-e-r' was the wonderful cool something flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!

 

Use the Strategies to answer these questions about the text.

1. How was the girl different from other children?

2. Why was her teacher so important for her?

3. How did she learn new words?

4. Why did she feel happy when she understood the meaning of the word “water”?

5.What do you think happened later to the writer of the text?

 

Use the endings below to make adjectives from the group of words

(a-k). Some groups can have more than one ending.

-y, -ed, -ing, -ful, -(i)ous, -ish, -(i/a)ble, -less, -al, -(t)ic, -istic, -(e/a)nt, -ive

a mood, stuff, happiness, cloud g mystery, ambition, danger

b hope, care, help h romance, sympathy, science

c practice, nature, logic i like, rely, sense

d ideal, real, individual j interest, tire, bore

e decision,create, imagination k self, child

f importance, tolerate, difference

 

Make adverbs from the adjectives in a, b and c. Then try to add more

Adjectives and adverbs to each group.

6.Look at the words in Exercise 4. In which of them is there a change in word stress?

Example: ideal – idealistic, science –scientific

 

Put the underlined words in the correct form.

I have some very please (1) memories of my child (2).We lived in a romance (3) cottage in the country with love (4) views of Lake Windermere. We had a wonder (5) garden with lots of animals. However, I memory (6) one year extreme (7) well. I was eight and one of my favour (8) animals was a goose called Mabel. After coming back from school, I used to food (9) Mabel. With me, she was usual (10) very quiet and friend (11). With everybody else though, Mabel was very nasty and aggression (12). That winter was very cold and the snow was nearly a metre depth (13). On Christmas Day, we had a tradition (14) lunch – goose and Christmas pudding. I was cheer (15) until I realized that the goose was… Mabel! My happy (16) immediately disappeared and I spent the rest of the meal in tears.

 

8. Choose a memory from your life. Write notes about these things:

Your age, place and time, who you were with, what happened, how you felt, what happened in the end