12
1 © OzCurriculum HQ 2013 Immigrant Biography Project Interview and Biography Writing
1© OzCurriculum HQ 2013
Immigrant Biography
ProjectInterview and
Biography Writing
2© OzCurriculum HQ 2013
Teacher NotesThis project requires students to plan and carry out an interview with an immigrant. The information gained from the interview is then used to
write a biography.
Content DescriptionsHistorical Knowledge and
Understanding: Australia as a Nation Stories of groups of people who
migrated to Australia (including from ONE Asian country) and the reasons they migrated, such as World War II and Australian migration programs
since the war. (ACHHK115)
Historical Skills: Historical questions and research
Identify and locate a range of relevant sources
(ACHHS120)Historical Skills: Explanation and
communicationDevelop texts, particularly narratives
and descriptions, which incorporate source materials
(ACHHS124)
3© OzCurriculum HQ 2013
Planning Your InterviewWho are you going to interview? Why?
Brainstorm some questions to ask in the interview.
Questions to Ask
What do you need to do to organise your interview?
4© OzCurriculum HQ 2013
Conducting Your InterviewWrite your questions and the answers you are
given into the table below.Question Interviewee Response
Name:
Date:
5© OzCurriculum HQ 2013
BiographyInforms readers about
the significant events of a person’s life
Structure of a BiographyOrientation
Events in Chronological OrderRe-orientation
Language Features of a Biography
Written in past tenseWritten in 3rd person
Action verbsTime order signal words
Cause and effect signal words
6© OzCurriculum HQ 2013
Planning Your Biography of a Migrant
Organise the notes from your interview into this table
Title:Orientation:Name of the person and some basic details about their life and migration.
Series of Events:Important events of the person’s life in chronological order.
Focus on details of their migration.
Think about their life before migration, details of the migration and their life after migration.
Re-orientation:Restate why the migrant’s experiences are significant for us to know about.Also include details of their life now and their feelings about migrating.
Name:
Date:
7© OzCurriculum HQ 2013
Writing Your Biograpghy
Title:
Orientation: Name the person and introduce basic details about their life and migration.Paragraph 1
Series of Events: Give details about the important events of the person’s life, in chronological order.
Paragraph 2 - Before Migration
(Name of Person and Years of Birth-Death)
Name:
Date:
8© OzCurriculum HQ 2013
Paragraph 3 - Migration
Paragraph 4 - After Migration
Paragraph 5 - Additional Information
Re-Orientation: Restate why the migrant’s experiences are significant and give details of their feelings about
migration.
Last Paragraph
9© OzCurriculum HQ 2013
Editing Your Biograpghy
Text StructureCheck if these parts are included
Title that tells person’s name and year of birth
Orientation that tells the reader who the
biography is about and the reasons they are significant.
Body of at least 3 paragraphs outlining the significant events of
the person’s life in
chronological order.
Re-orientation that tells why the person’s
experiences are significant
Spelling, Grammar and PuntuationCheck if you have proofread for these and edited where needed
Underline spelling errors and find the correct spelling
Insert missing words
Cross out repeated words
Each sentence makes sense
Commas in the correct places
All proper nouns have capital letters
All sentencs begin with a capital letter
All sentences end with a full stop
Language FeaturesCheck for these and give an example from your writing
Feature Check Example
Written in past tense
Written in 3rd person
Time order signal words
Cause and effect signal words
Action verbs
Name:
Date:
10© OzCurriculum HQ 2013
Learning From Your Interview and Biograpghy
Reflection on the project
Who did you choose to interview and why?
Do you think they were a good person to interview? Give reasons.
Do you think you asked good quality questions? Give reasons.
What was the most interesting thing you learned from the person
you interviewed?
If you were asked to do this activity again, what would you do
differently?
1.
2.
3.
What have you learned about Australian immigration from
completing this activity?
Name:
Date:
11© OzCurriculum HQ 2013
Ass
essi
ng
Your
Bio
grap
hy
Crit
eria
AB
CD
Audi
ence
Supp
ort a
nd e
ngag
e th
e re
ader
th
roug
h de
liber
ate
and
effec
tive
lang
uage
choi
ces.
Supp
orts
read
er u
nder
stan
ding
and
is
begi
nnin
g to
eng
age
the
read
er
thro
ugh
lang
uage
choi
ces.
Con
tain
s suffi
cien
t inf
orm
atio
n fo
r th
e re
ader
to fo
llow
the
text
fairl
y ea
sily.
Atte
mpt
s to
orie
nt th
e re
ader
and
pr
ovid
es so
me
info
rmat
ion
to
supp
ort r
eade
r und
erst
andi
ng.
Text
St
ruct
ure
Coh
eren
t, co
ntro
lled
and
com
plet
e bi
ogra
phic
al te
xt, w
ith a
ll co
mpo
nent
s wel
l dev
elop
ed.
Det
aile
d bi
ogra
phic
al te
xt w
ith
som
e w
ell d
evel
oped
com
pone
nts
and
som
e w
eake
r com
pone
nts.
All
com
pone
nts o
f the
bio
grap
hica
l te
xt a
re p
rese
nt b
ut w
eak
Min
imal
evi
denc
e of
bio
grap
hica
l te
xt st
ruct
ure
Idea
s Id
eas a
re g
ener
ated
, sel
ecte
d an
d cr
afted
to b
e hi
ghly
info
rmat
ive.
Idea
s are
elab
orat
ed a
nd co
ntrib
ute
effec
tivel
y to
the
unde
rsta
ndin
g of
th
e su
bjec
t.
Idea
s are
supp
orte
d w
ith so
me
elab
orat
ion.
Man
y sim
ple
idea
s tha
t are
rela
ted
but n
ot el
abor
ated
.
Voca
bula
ryA
rang
e of
subj
ect-
spec
ific,
effec
tive
wor
ds a
nd w
ord
grou
ps
is us
ed in
a fl
uent
and
art
icul
ate
man
ner.
Sust
aine
d an
d co
nsist
ent u
se o
f sub
-je
ct-s
peci
fic w
ords
and
wor
d gr
oups
th
at e
nhan
cem
eani
ng.
Som
e us
e of
subj
ect-
spec
ific w
ords
or
wor
d gr
oups
.H
as u
sed
mai
nly
simpl
e w
ords
, with
lim
ited
use
of p
reci
se w
ords
or w
ord
grou
ps.
Coh
esio
nA
hig
hly
cohe
sive
piec
e of
writ
ing
show
ing
cont
inui
ty o
f ide
as a
nd
tight
ly li
nked
sect
ions
of t
ext.
Mea
ning
is cl
ear o
n fir
st re
adin
g an
d te
xt fl
ows w
ell t
hrou
ghou
t the
pie
ce
of w
ritin
g.
Som
e co
rrec
t lin
ks b
etw
een
sent
ence
s and
cohe
sion
cont
rolle
d on
ly in
par
ts.
Link
s are
miss
ing
or in
corr
ect a
nd
text
is o
ften
conf
usin
g fo
r the
read
er.
Para
grap
hing
Para
grap
hs a
re o
rder
ed a
nd
cum
ulat
ivel
y bu
ild in
form
atio
n ac
ross
the
text
.
All
para
grap
hs a
re fo
cuse
d on
one
id
ea o
r set
of l
ike
idea
s.W
ritin
g is
orga
nise
d in
to p
arag
raph
s th
at a
re m
ainl
y fo
cuse
d on
one
idea
or
set o
f lik
e id
eas.
No
corr
ect u
se o
f par
agra
phin
g.
Sent
ence
St
ruct
ure
Writ
ing
cont
ains
cont
rolle
d an
d w
ell-d
evel
oped
sent
ence
s tha
t ex
pres
s pre
cise
mea
ning
and
are
co
nsist
ently
effe
ctiv
e.
All
simpl
e, co
mpo
und
and
com
plex
se
nten
ces a
re co
rrec
t and
mea
ning
is
clea
r.
Mos
t sim
ple
and
com
poun
d se
nten
ces a
re co
rrec
t and
som
e co
mpl
ex se
nten
ces a
re co
rrec
t.
Som
e co
rrec
t for
mat
ion
of si
mpl
e an
d co
mpl
ex se
nten
ces.
Punc
tuat
ion
Writ
ing
cont
ains
acc
urat
e us
e of
all
appl
icab
le p
unct
uatio
n.A
ll se
nten
ce p
unct
uatio
n is
corr
ect
and
mos
tly co
rrec
t use
of o
ther
pu
nctu
atio
n.
Sent
ence
leve
l pun
ctua
tion
mos
tly
corr
ect a
nd so
me
othe
r cor
rect
pu
nctu
atio
n.
Cor
rect
use
of c
apita
l let
ters
to st
art
sent
ence
s and
full
stop
s to
end
sent
ence
s. Pu
nctu
atio
n is
min
imal
an
d of
littl
e as
sista
nce
to th
e re
ader
.Sp
ellin
gC
orre
ct sp
ellin
g of
all
simpl
e an
d co
mm
on w
ords
and
at le
ast 1
0 di
fficu
lt w
ords
and
som
e ch
alle
ngin
g w
ords
.
Cor
rect
spel
ling
of si
mpl
e w
ords
, m
ost c
omm
on w
ords
at le
ast 1
0 di
fficu
lt w
ords
.
Cor
rect
spel
ling
of si
mpl
e w
ords
, m
ost c
omm
on w
ords
som
e di
fficu
lt w
ords
.
Cor
rect
spel
ling
of m
ost s
impl
e w
ords
and
som
e co
mm
on w
ords
.
12© OzCurriculum HQ 2013
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