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Year 6 - English

Writing the second half of a biography about Darwin and his theory of evolution

Charles Darwin: biographical writing

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils research Charles Darwin's life and evolution theory in order to write a biography. The biography is written chronologically, from his early life to university, his trip to the Galapagos and his theory of evolution. Finally, pupils present information about evolution to a group.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to write the second half of a biography, using a range of language features.

Key Notes

  • In a biography, we write using a formal tone in the third person; our writing is mostly, but not all, in the past tense.
  • We use a range of cohesive devices to connect ideas together.
  • We orally rehearse our sentences before we write, using our notes.
  • We can include parenthesis to add extra details to a sentence, including using brackets and relative clauses.
  • We give a title for the biography as a whole and subheadings for each paragraph. Each paragraph is indented.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • formal tone: the effect created by choosing serious, factual language
  • cohesive devices: language structures that develop text cohesion
  • subject-specific vocabulary: vocabulary we use when writing about a particular subject
  • parenthesis: extra information added into a sentence that can be removed

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Pupils may believe that a relative clause can only be placed in the middle of a sentence.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.

In a biography, we write using a formal tone in the third person; our writing is mostly, but not all, in the past tense. We use a range of cohesive devices to connect ideas together.

2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'formal tone'

the effect created by choosing serious, factual language.

3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.

Mistake: Pupils may believe that a relative clause can only be placed in the middle of a sentence. Correction: Relative clauses can be placed after any noun or noun phrase that they refer to, including at the end of a sentence.

More Lessons In This Unit

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