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Winter Olympic Biography Writing

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Winter Olympic Biography Writing

Use the fact file and activities to plan a short, accurate biography. Include a title, key life facts, achievements and a concluding comment. Use past tense for events that have already happened, and join related ideas with conjunctions such as and, but, or so.

Meet Zoi Sadowski-Synnott

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott is a snowboarder from Aotearoa New Zealand. She was born in 2001 in Sydney, Australia, and grew up in Wānaka. Her father is from New Zealand and her mother is from the United States. Zoi competed in slopestyle and big air at the Winter Olympics. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, she won bronze in slopestyle. Four years later, at Beijing 2022, she won gold in slopestyle and silver in big air. Her gold medal was New Zealand’s first Winter Olympic gold. Zoi has also won medals at the Winter X Games. Snowboarding takes skill, balance and repeated practice. Zoi’s achievements helped bring attention to winter sports in New Zealand.

Read like a biographer

A biography tells the true story of a real person’s life. It often includes important dates and places, background, career or achievements, and details selected to help readers understand the person. A biography is organised clearly and uses factual language.

1.Which statement is a fact from Zoi’s biography? Choose one.

She won gold in slopestyle at Beijing 2022.
She began snowboarding because she disliked summer.
She is the only snowboarder in the world.
She grew up in Queenstown.

2.Name two details in the fact file that help establish Zoi’s background.

3.Put these achievements in chronological order by writing 1, 2 and 3 beside them: Beijing 2022 silver in big air; PyeongChang 2018 bronze in slopestyle; Beijing 2022 gold in slopestyle.

4.The sentence “Snowboarding takes skill, balance and repeated practice” is factual. Give one reason this detail belongs in a biography about an athlete.

5.Join these ideas into one compound sentence using but: Zoi won bronze in 2018. She later won gold in 2022.

6.Join these ideas into one compound sentence using so: Zoi won New Zealand’s first Winter Olympic gold. Her achievement brought attention to winter sports in New Zealand.

7.Choose the best biography heading for a paragraph about Zoi’s Olympic medals.

A Day at the Beach
Olympic Achievements
How to Build a Snowboard
A Fictional Adventure

8.A writer wants to add the sentence “Zoi was the bravest person ever to snowboard.” Explain why this is weaker biography writing than a specific fact from the fact file.

9.Plan a biography paragraph using four notes: one background detail, one sport or event, one achievement, and one detail about what the achievement meant for New Zealand. Use only the fact file.

10.Write a biography paragraph of 5–7 sentences about Zoi Sadowski-Synnott. Include a clear opening, at least two accurate life or achievement facts, one compound sentence using and, but, or so, and a concluding sentence explaining why her story matters. Add a suitable heading.