Biography and autobiography

Preparation and Planning

This lesson utilises extracts from a selection of biographical and autobiographical texts and provides all the necessary assets to deliver a lesson in this subject. However you may wish to introduce additional stimulus materials to further demonstrate each style of writing. In doing so, there exists an opportunity for cross-curricular extension, for example an examination of autobiographical historical texts and new media examples such as web blogs. An example of a web blog can be accessed via the HMS Endurance website which features the captains blog: http://www.visitandlearn.co.uk/default.aspx

Students may find the case studies involved more interesting if they have carried out some research prior to the lesson.

Two of the lesson activities require students to work in pairs. It is recommended that a sufficient number of Worksheets are photocopied to allow either one copy per student or one copy per pairing.

It might be a useful preparatory exercise to ask students to look up the terms in the Word Bank box as homework before the lesson.

Although not necessary for completion of the activity, students may find the use of stimulus photography beneficial for Episode 3. If possible, ensure you have access to a classroom with whiteboard capabilities so that these images can be displayed.

About the MOD Topic

The RAF Mountain Rescue Service Headquarters is based at RAF Valley in Anglesey (Wales) and supports the RAF's four Mountain Rescue Teams based there and also at RAF Kinloss and RAF Leuchars (both in Scotland) and RAF Leeming (Yorkshire).

Each team consists of seven full time personnel and up to 30 unpaid volunteers from the RAF. Unpaid volunteers give up their spare time for training on at least two weekends in four, as well as one evening a week. Each team trains regularly with its civilian counterparts for the best possible cooperation and effectiveness. Their high standard of training and fitness enables them to search difficult terrain rapidly and effectively in adverse conditions.

Apart from their mountaineering prowess RAF MRT personnel are specialists in the management of aircraft crash sites. Once an accident site is located, they can provide first aid to any survivors, assist with evacuation and guard the area until crash investigators and assistance arrives.

The mountain rescue work in Snowdonia is coordinated with Plas y Brenin, the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation and the RAF Valley Mountain Rescue Teams.

Biography and autobiography support notes:

George Mallory: An expert mountaineer, George Mallory led three British expeditions to Mount Everest in the 1920s. On the third, in 1924, Mallory and climbing partner Andrew Irvine (see below) made an attempt at the summit but disappeared in heavy weather, never to return. It seemed certain they had perished on the mountain, but whether they reached the summit before they died was unknown. A 1999 expedition found Mallory's frozen body 27,000 feet up Everest's north face. The body was remarkably well preserved, but offered no evidence that Mallory had made it to the summit before his death. Sir Edmund Hillary became the first man to officially reach the summit in 1953.

Sandy Irvine: Andrew Sandy Irvine was an English mountaineer who took part in the third British Expedition to Mount Everest in 1924. Irvine disappeared somewhere high on the North-East ridge, along with climbing partner George Mallory, whilst attempting to make the first ascent of the world's highest mountain in June of that year. The pair's last known sighting was only a few hundred metres from the summit.

Bear Grylls: On May 26th 1998, Bear entered The Guinness Book of Records by becoming the youngest, and one of only around thirty, British climbers to have successfully climbed Everest and return alive. He was only 23 years-old. The actual ascent took Bear over ninety days of extreme weather, limited sleep and running out of oxygen deep inside the death zone; (above 26,000 feet). On the way down from his first reconnaissance climb, Bear was almost killed in a crevasse at 19,000 feet. Previously, in 1997, Bear had become the Youngest Briton to climb Mount Ama Dablam in the Himalayas (22,500 feet), a peak once described by Sir Edmund Hillary as 'unclimbable'. Prior to the Everest Expedition, Bear spent three years with the British Army. During this time he suffered a free-fall parachuting accident in Africa where he broke his back in three places. After months of rehabilitation he slowly became strong enough to attempt the ultimate ascent of the world's highest peak.

John Blashford-Snell: In 1968 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia invited the British Army to send a team to explore and make the first descent of the infamous Blue Nile. Captain John Blashford-Snell of the Royal Engineers was commissioned to select, train and lead the 60 strong party. The success of this immense expedition led to even tougher assignments such as the first vehicle crossing of the complete Darien Gap in 1971-2 and in 1974-5, navigating almost all the 2,700 miles of the great Zaire River. Both these ventures had strong environmental, medical and scientific objectives. Thus John has become one of the world's most renowned and highly respected explorers and his innovative method of negotiating white water in inflatable boats has been adopted as a world-wide sport.

In 1969, following the success of the Blue Nile Expedition, JBS and his colleagues formed the Scientific Exploration Society, their aim being to 'foster and encourage scientific exploration world-wide'. The SES became the parent body for several world-wide ventures with the support and involvement of HRH The Prince of Wales. John set up the Fairbridge Drake Society to help under-privileged young people gain exciting and valuable experiences. By 1992 over 10,000 young men and women from 50 nations had taken part in challenges and worthwhile expeditions all over the world, returning home as true young pioneers intent on putting something back into their own communities.

Further Opportunities for Learning

Encourage students to write another autobiographical account using the News Article - Private Johnson Beharry. This provides a stimulating report of the acts of bravery performed by Private Johnson Beharry which were rewarded by a Victoria Cross.

To further explore autobiographical writing students can be encouraged to discuss as a class the types of things that they could put in their own autobiography which are individual to them.

Working in small groups, students can list the sort of things that help signify to others what they are like as individuals, for example the music they listen to, food they eat, physical appearance etc.

As an individual activity, students can then write a description of themselves including as many different aspects as possible. The teacher should then read out these descriptions for the rest of the class to guess who it is.

Finally students could be encouraged to write an autobiographical account of an incident which they escaped.

Student worksheet answers

Download the teachers notes PDF to access the answers for this lesson.