Biography Text | Bahasa Inggris Kelas 11

DO YOU KNOW THESE PEOPLE?

Sejauh ini kamu sudah mempelajari berbagai jenis teks. Di kelas 10 sudah belajar descriptive
text, recount text, narrative text. Kemudian di kelas 11 belajar procedure text, report text, exposition
text, dan yang terakhir ini adalah biography text. Jika kita mengidolakan seseorang, seringkali ingin
mengetahui tentang kisah hidupnya. Dari kisah hidupnya, kita bisa belajar tentang kehidupan. Akan seru
di pelajaran kali ini karena kamu akan belajar membuat tulisan sendiri berbentuk biografi. Biografi
adalah menggambarkan cerita hidup orang penting, yang berjasa bagi banyak orang, yang sangat
bertalenta, dikagumi orang banyak, bahkan kamu juga bisa menceritakan kisah hidup seseorang yang
berbahaya, lho. Intinya adalah, biografi itu penting agar kita dapat belajar dari pengalaman atau kisah
orang lain.

A. Pengertian Biography Text

Biography atau disebut bio merupakan deskripsi mengenai kehidupan seseorang. bisa dari kehidupan
pendidikan, pekerjaan, hubungannya dengan orang lain, kejadian yang ia alami, kepribadiannya hingga
kematiannya.

Karya biografi merupakan karya non-fiksi, karena menceritakan kehidupan nyata seseorang. Namun
seiring perkembangan zaman dan luasnya media sosial, sudah banyak terdapat karya biografi berbentuk
literatur atau perfilman yang sifatnya fiktif untuk menghibur.

B. Struktur Umum Biography Text

Biography text menggunakan struktur umum (generic structure) recount text karena menceritakan
kejadian di masa lampau.

1. Orientation (Pengenalan)| berisi pengenalan dengan memberikan informasi tentang siapa, apa, di
mana, dan kapan peristiwa atau kegiatan itu yang telah terjadi di masa lampau.
2. Events (Peristiwa-peristiwa) | merupakan runtutan peristiwa yang terjadi, biasanya disampaikan
dalam urutan secara kronologis (chronogical order) seperti, “In the first day, I …, And in the next day …,
And In the last day …”.

3. Re-orientation (Kesimpulan teks) | yaitu pengulangan pengenalan yang ada

di orientation dan events yang diceritakan. Bisa dibilang pada bagian ini adalah kesimpulan secara
keseluruhan teks.

C. Contoh Biography Text

Judul : B.J. Habibie

Sumber : Britannica

B.J. Habibie, in full Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, (born June 25, 1936, Parepare, Indonesia—died
September 11, 2019, Jakarta), Indonesian aircraft engineer and politician who was president of
Indonesia (1998–99) and a leader in the country’s technological and economic development in the late
20th and early 21st centuries.

Brilliant in science and mathematics from childhood, Habibie received his postsecondary education at
the Bandung Institute of Technology in Bandung, Indonesia, and furthered his studies at the Institute of
Technology of North Rhine–Westphalia in Aachen, West Germany. After graduating in 1960, he
remained in West Germany as an aeronautics researcher and production supervisor.

Suharto took power as Indonesia’s second president in 1966, and in 1974 he asked Habibie—whom he
had known for 25 years—to return to the country to help build advanced industries. Suharto assured
him that he could do whatever was needed to accomplish that goal. Initially assigned to the state oil
company, Pertamina, Habibie became a government adviser and chief of a new aerospace company in
1976. Two years later he became research minister and head of the Agency for Technology Evaluation
and Application. In these roles he oversaw a number of ventures involving the production and
transportation of heavy machinery, steel, electronics and telecommunications equipment, and arms and
ammunition.
Habibie believed his enterprises ultimately would spawn high-tech ventures in the private sector and
allow the country to climb the technology ladder. In 1993 he unveiled the first Indonesian-developed
plane, which he helped design, and in the following year he launched a plan to refurbish more than
three dozen vessels bought from the former East German navy at his initiative. The Finance Ministry
balked at the cost of the latter endeavour, while the armed forces thought that its turf had been
violated. Nevertheless, Habibie got more than $400 million for refurbishing.

Meanwhile, in 1990 Habibie was appointed head of the Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association, and
during the 1993 central-board elections of the country’s ruling party, Golkar, Habibie helped the
children and allies of President Suharto rise to top positions, easing out long-standing military-backed
power brokers. By the late 1990s Habibie was viewed as one of several possible successors to the aging
Suharto.

In March 1998 Suharto appointed Habibie to the vice presidency, and two months later, in the wake of
large-scale violence in Jakarta, Suharto announced his resignation. Thrust unexpectedly into the
country’s top position, Habibie immediately began to implement major reforms. He appointed a new
cabinet; fired Suharto’s eldest daughter as social affairs minister as well as his longtime friend as trade
and industry minister; named a committee to draft less-restrictive political laws; allowed a free press;
arranged for free parliamentary and presidential elections the following year; and agreed to presidential
term limits (two five-year terms). He also granted amnesty to more than 100 political prisoners.

In 1999 Habibie announced that East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that had been invaded by
Indonesia in 1975, could choose between special autonomy and independence; the territory chose
independence. Indonesia held free general elections (the first since 1955) in June, as promised. Later
that year Habibie ran for president, but he withdrew his candidacy shortly before the October election,
which was won by Abdurrahman Wahid. After Wahid took office, Habibie essentially stepped out of
politics, although in 2000 he established the Habibie Center, a political research institute.

D. Pertanyaan untuk mempermudah dalam membuat Biography Text

Biography tidak hanya diperuntukkan bagi orang terkenal, namun kamu juga bisa
membuat biography siapapun yang menarik bagimu. Misalnya teman atau guru. Penting bagi kamu
untuk membuat pertanyaan bagus dalam menggarap kehidupan seseorang, kemudian kamu bisa
memasukkan informasi tersebut ke dalam biography text dengan struktur recount text untuk
menceritakan kehidupan orang tersebut. Berikut ini variasi pertanyaan dalam mewawancarai kisah
hidup seseorang.

Early Childhood (masa kecil)

1. When and where were you born?

2. Who was the most influential person to you as a child?

3. Did you have any pets as a child? What kind?

4. What was your favorite game?

5. Did you have any nicknames?

6. What were you most afraid of as a child?

High School (sekolah menengah)

1. Who was your best friend? Are you still in touch with them?

2. What was your favorite subject to study?

3. What was your favorite sport?

4. Is there a teacher that you remember having been particularly influential?

5. How would you describe yourself as a student, both socially and academically?

6. What did you like most about school? Least?

7. What sort of extracurricular activities did you participate in as a teen?

8. Did you have a teen idol? If so, who was it and how did they spark your interest?

9. What was your favorit music/band/dance in high school?

College (perkuliahan)

1. Did you attend college? If so, which on? If not, why?

2. What are your most memorable college moments?

3. Who was your most memorable roommate?

4. Why did you decide to attend college?

5. What subject(s) did you study and why?

6. Did you get a degree? In what?

Career (karir)

1. What was your first job?

2. What was your best job?

3. What was your worst job?

4. Who was the biggest influence in your career?

Family (keluarga)

1. Do you have children? If so, how many and what age and gender are they?

2. What is your goal as a parent?

3. What does the word “family” mean to you?

4. How would your children describe you as a parent?

5. How do you describe yourself as a parent?

6. In what ways have your parents influenced you the most?

7. What is your relationship with your parents like today?

8. Do you have siblings? How many, are they older or younger?

9. Who are your closest to in your family?

10. Who do you admire most in your family and why?

11. Have you lost any family members to death?

Love (percintaan)

1. Who was your first love?

2. Have you had your hearth broken?

3. Have you broken any hearths?

4. Have you ever been married? To whom and for how long?

5. How did you and your spouse first meet?

6. Do you believe in love at the first sight?

7. What was the most special way you’ve shown someone that you loved them?

8. What was the most special way you’ve been shown you’re loved?

Politics/History (politik/sejarah)

1. What do you consider to be the most significant political event that has occured during your life?

2. Which political figure do you most admire?

3. Other than the present, which historical era would you like to have lived in?

4. What do you consider to be the most important war fought during your lifetime? In all of history?

General (umum)

1. What is your definition of “happiness”?

2. What is the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you?

3. What is your happiest memory?

4. Who is your biggest fan?

5. What do you like to do in your spare time?

6. What is your most embarrasing moment?

7. If you could possess one super-human power, what would it be?

8. What is your greatest fear?

9. What is your greatest hope?

Sumber:
Mulya, Eka, Mulya A. dan K. Shyla, L. 2016. FORWARD for Vocational School Grade X: Do You Know
These People?. Jakarta: Penerbit Erlangga.