LESSON ONE

NARRATIVE TEXT

A. Narrative Essay
A narration is simply the telling of a story. Whenever someone tells a story, he or she is using
narration. A narration essay tells a story to illustrate an idea. A narration essay may
be entertaining or informative. There are five basic steps to writing a narrative essay.
1) Purpose
Why are you telling the story? Every narration must have a point or purpose, usually to
entertain or to inform. If the purpose of your writing is not to inform, but rather to
analyze something or to persuade a reader about something, it is possible you
have wandered into the wrong essay. Please check our other handouts on writing
Critical and Persuasive Essays to determine which is the most appropriate for
your writing purpose.
2) Context
You should establish the context of your narrative early in the essay. You can follow
these basic guidelines: who, what, where, when.
3) Point of View
A narrative essay may be written in the first-person (I) or third-person (he, she, or it)
point of view; do not use second person (you). If you were part of the action, the
first-person provides the best perspective. If you are relating an event based upon
other sources, use the third-person point of view. In some circumstances, you
may be forced to choose the point of view (if, for example, you were a witness,
but not a participant). Once you have decided upon a point of view, stay
consistent with it.
4) Details
Include enough details for clarity; however, select only the facts that are relevant.
5) Organization
A narrative usually follows a chronological time line; however, you may find flashbacks
a creative option as long as the narrative can be clearly followed by the reader.
Most narratives are told in the past tense. You should keep tenses consistent.

Narrative is the representation of events, consisting of story and narrative discourse, story
is an event or sequence of events (the action), and narrative discourse is those events as
represented. The purpose of narrative text is to amuse the audience or the readers with the real
experience or imagination. In narrative, there is conflict and the resolution.

Language features
 ● Use the specific nouns as the pronoun, such as stepsisters, housework, and soon.
● Use adjectives which form noun phrase, for example long black hair, two red apples, and
soon.
● Use time connectives and conjunctions to order the events, such as then, before that, and
soon.
● Use adverbs and adverbs phrases to show the location of the event, for example here, in
the mountain, in the palace, happily ever after, and soon.
● Use simple past tense
● Use the saying verbs that showed the expression, such as said, told,and thingking verbs
that showed the mind, feeling or perseption, such as felt, thought.

The generic structure

● Orientation
It tells the audience about who is in the story, when the story is taking place and where
the action is happening.
● Complication
It sets off a chain of events that influence what will happen in the story.
● Resolution
The characters finally sort out the complication.
● Re-orientation or coda
It contains moral values.

● Evaluation

B. Example of Narrative Essay

Text 1

Uncle Lou's Secret

It was a cool, crisp, New England day in the autumn of 1965, and I was in the
middle of a strenuous football practice. For a sophomore, I was hard-hitting and 180
pounds, so the coaches were watching me closely. After fighting off blocks and
crunching our star running back, which forced him to fumble, I heard the head coach
yell, "You're starting at defensive end on Saturday!" My spirit was "pumped," and my
ego was too. Both would be seriously deflated before the day's end. Sometimes,
life's better lessons are learned the hard way.
My friend Paul, a senior, called to me, "Hey, Dave, c'mon over to my house
after supper. Five of us are going to box."
 "Okay," I said, "I'll be over there at 7:00."
We boxed in Paul's cellar a few times a week, and I prided myself on being
able to trade punches with the "older guys." Importantly, nearly everyone on the team
had heard the invitation, which enhanced my reputation with the upperclassmen.
By 8 P.M., I had won two fights (three two-minute rounds) and was about to
fight our defensive tackle, who had also won twice. At that time, two men in their
fifties descended the stairs. They reeked of scotch and cigars. I recognized Paul's
dad, but I did not know his paunchy companion.
Paul asked, "Who wants to fight my Uncle Lou? How about you, Dave?"
"Why would I want to fight a fat, old man?" was my nearly silent response.
However, nearly silent was not silent enough; Uncle Lou had heard me, and
he was putting on the gloves. Uncle Lou was three or four inches shorter than I but
perhaps just as heavy -- thanks to a beer gut.
I was unimpressed as he took off his glasses and said, "C'mon punk; let's see
your stuff."
I hated the word "punk," and now, regardless of his age and condition, I
wanted to fight him. Moving toward him, I cranked up a huge right hand. As I threw
it, I felt a succession of jabs pummeling my forehead, nose, and chin. Embarrassed
and angry, I charged the "old man" and ran into a right hook that sent me reeling into
the workbench.
I was bordering on unconsciousness, but I remember saying, "Who the hell is
that guy?"
"He's my Uncle Lou," replied Paul with a grin. "Here, look at this," Paul
ordered, and he handed me an almanac.
A few moments passed before my eyes could focus, but there it was, clearly
printed for anyone to read -- "Lou Brouillard – 1931 Welterweight Champion of the
World."
I had learned Uncle Lou's secret -- the hard way.

Learning Activities

1. Read the text above with good pronunciation

2. Find the meaning of new words and put them in a vocabulary building matrix.
3. Find 5 sentences that you think hard to understand and write the in your exercise
book. Then translate them.
4. Summarize the text in semantic mapping.
5. Tell the story by yourself
 Text 2

The Ugly Duckling

One upon time, a mother duck sat on her eggs. She felt tired of sitting on them. She just
wished the eggs would break out.
Several days later, she got her wish. The eggs cracked and some cute little ducklings
appeared. "Peep, peep" the little ducklings cried. "Quack, quack" their mother greeted in return.
However the largest egg had not cracked. The mother duck sat on it for several days.
Finally, it cracked and a huge ugly duckling waddled out. The mother duck looked at him in
surprise. He was so big and very gray. He didn't look like the others at all. He was like a turkey.
When the mother duck brought the children to the pond for their first swimming lesson.,
the huge grey duckling splashed and paddled about just as nicely as the other ducklings did.
"That is not a turkey chick. He is my very own son and quite handsome" the mother said
proudly.
However, the other animals didn't agree. They hissed and made fun of him day by day.
Even his own sisters and brothers were very unkind. "You are very ugly" they quacked.
The little poor duckling was very unhappy. "I wish I looked like them" he thought to
himself. One day, the ugly duckling run away and hid in the bushes. The sad duckling lived
alone through the cold and snow winter. Finally the spring flowers began to bloom. While he
was swimming in the pond, he saw three large white swans swimming toward him. "Oh, dear.
these beautiful birds will laugh and peck me too" he said to himself. But the swans did not attack
him. Instead, they swam around him and stroked him with their bills. As the ugly duckling bent
his neck to speak to them, he saw his reflection in the water. He could not believe his eyes. "I am
not an ugly duckling but a beautiful swam" he exclaimed.
He was very happy. From that day on, he swam and played with his new friends and was
happier than he had never been.

Learning Activities

6. Read the text above with good pronunciation

7. Find the meaning of new words and put them in a vocabulary building matrix.
8. Find 5 sentences that you think hard to understand and write the in your exercise
book. Then translate them.
9. Summarize the text in semantic mapping.
10. Tell the story by yourself