Me as a Writer!
My year 11 English class will be starting their first writing piece next week for their Creating and Presenting Folio - based on the lyrics of Paul Kelly.they asked me if I could produce a sample piece of writing for them and I came up with a biography of a family member as an example of informative writing. It was fun to write and I include it here for your possible interest.
Paul Kelly Inspired Writing Folio Piece no 1
Statement of Explanation :
It was mainly Deeper Water that gave me the idea for this piece of informative writing:
On a crowded beach in a distant time
At the height of summer see a boy of five
At the water’s edge so nimble and free
Jumping over the ripples looking way out to see
My Intended audience: Members of my family who would be very interested to read about Stanley’s life. Also my yr11 English students to give them a sample of the sort of writing they could do for this first Writing piece on informative writing.
My Purpose in writing this biography is to provide a brief over view of Stanley's life – to highlight the huge changes he had to undergo as a child – both geographically and emotionally. I want to also focus on how much he has achieved in spite of the obstacles he faced. Stanley has always displayed a passionate attitude to life, his family and his environment. He has never taken anything lying down and has always been a fighter – so I see him as a sort of a protester. (Our theme for Yr11 is "Passion and Protest". )
One Man’s Journey
Stanley was born in Alexandria, Egypt, the year after World War 2 ended. He lived in the bustling and multicultural city of Alexandria, home to expatriate Greeks for centuries. His family were in fact relatively recent arrivals. His father had come as a child from Turkey – escaping the excesses and violence of the new Turkish nationalism. His mother’s family had arrived in a more gentle and circuitous manner from the nearby islands of Chios and Cyprus.
Stanley was an only child for his first six years of life and was much adored and cherished by his parents, only surviving grandmother and a lively extended family. A sweet and well behaved child he was happy to welcome a tousled haired mischievous little sister, Tina, who was born in 1952.
Frequent trips to the nearby ocean beach, grandly named Camp Caesar (in honour of Julius Caesar who set up camp there when he was courting Cleopatra) developed in young Stanley an enduring love of the sea and surf. He was also treated to excursions to the mainly American cinema by his twin cousins. Other highlights of his Egyptian childhood were being spoilt by kindly Arab servants and eating treats of salami and olives from his Uncle’s grocery store, situated on the ground floor of the family apartment building. He attended a Greek school where he also learnt French and Arabic but especially loved maths.
This happy childhood idyll was soon to end however. At the age of eight, the family was obliged to leave Egypt. Now this country was also experiencing nationalistic fervour and turmoil and Europeans, once the mainstay of Egyptian wealth and tolerance, were no longer welcome. Some of the family moved to Greece but Stanley and his parents decided to follow an uncle to Melbourne, Australia.
Now begins a challenging time for the little Greek boy from Egypt. He arrived at Carnegie Primary School knowing no English and in those days there was no special consideration given to non English speaking students. In fact, in 1955, Stanley was the first Greek student to arrive at his school and it was sink or swim. He looks back on this time as a confusing period as everything people said to him at school was unintelligible. He remembers being teased about his multisyllabic surname and being called Stanley“half- potato” as the nearest approximation they could manage for his name. He remembers a kind girl who walked home with him and taught him the names of objects in the street. The only word he already knew was “football” and he quickly fell in love with Australian Rules football although his father had been a soccer champion in Egypt. One subject at school he could make sense of was the universal language of numbers – maths. Maybe that’s why he grew up to be an accountant.
Stanley's high school days are fondly remembered. He loved the social aspects, was a keen participant in all sports and became a school leader in his senior years. A charismatic teacher introduced him to the Greek writer, Nikos Kazantzakis and he read an English translation of Zorba the Greek as well as Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. He remains today a keen reader of English although his written Greek (not his spoken Greek) has unfortunately been forgotten. At nineteen years of age, Stanley matriculated and joined a city firm of accountants where he combined work and study and finally qualified as a chartered accountant. At twenty-six years of age he married a blue eyed, blond Aussie girl who was also a high school teacher of English - now he had his own personal language mentor – not that he ever appreciated her suggestions!
Stanley has now been married for thirty-five years, has three grown up children and two cherished grandchildren. He is still working hard as an accountant and many people depend on him to help organize their finances and complete their tax returns. He has travelled to Greece and visited his relations three times and even travelled to Egypt, Turkey and Cyprus to pay homage to his family’s journey. However, he has no regrets that his family decided to come to Australia all those years ago. He just hopes we can look after this beautiful country and world so his grandchildren and their children can enjoy it too.
