New Town Secondary School

English Language
Secondary 1ENA
Unit 5: Friendship / Worksheet 6: Narrative Writing (GC)

Name: ________________________ ( ) Class: _____ Date: ____________

1) What are Narratives?

Narratives are texts which tell a story to
__________________, ________________
or even ______________attitudes and
opinions.

2) What is the difference between

Narrative Essays and Personal Recounts?

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3a) Structure of a Narrative:

Let’s Try: Analysing a Narrative (‘Lava’)

1. What happens in the START of this Narrative? (Orientation)

a. Who is involved in this story? _____________________
b. Where is this story taking place? __________________

2. What is the COMPLICATION (Problem)?

____________________________________________________________

3. What is the CLIMAX?

____________________________________________________________

4. How is this RESOLVED?

____________________________________________________________

5. What are some messages / effects on the viewers?

____________________________________________________________

So, is Lava a Narrative?: Yes/No (circle one), because it _________________________________________.

What are some examples of Narratives you can think of?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

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3b) Let’s Think: Similarities between Personal Recounts and Narratives:

4) Now, let’s look at how a narrative essay might look like.

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Sample Narrative Essay:

1. Who is the main character(s) here? Why are they racing against time? (Answering the Question)

______________________________________________________________________________

Annotate
2. In the passage above, circle and label the
a) ORIENTATION
b) RISING ACTION
c) CLIMAX
d) FALLING ACTION
e) RESOLUTION.

3. Identify as many of the following as you can. Highlight using the colours specified.
a. Descriptive Phrases / Words (adjectives and adjectival phrases to describe)
b. Vivid Verbs (action words)
c. dialogues

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Q: Write about an occasion when someone had to race against time.

__________________ _______________________ ____________________

Notes

“The online portal for your assignment submission will close at twelve midnight
sharp!” Mrs Lim’s thundering voice echoed through Jane’s mind as she buried her
face deep within her sweaty palms. Mrs Lim had instructed the class to write an
essay about their favourite childhood memory. Jane’s mind raced as she
struggled to find a solution to her dilemma. There were no obvious possibilities,
and time was working against her. With only hours left to figure it out, she was
not any closer than when she had started. Suffice it to say, the outlook was not
promising and the repetitive ticking of the clock only stressed her further.

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She had spent a while looking through several photos to see if she could glean a
clue but to no avail. One album had seemed promising, but it turned out that
there was not nearly enough in it for her to do her assignment on. “Was there
anything unusual about the holiday celebrations?” she queried in her mind. As
far as she could recall, everything had gone smoothly. Christmas had been quiet
as always, with just a few guests. New Year’s Eve had been a little more
boisterous, of course, but that was normal. She could get nothing from her
holiday memories.

It was not just going through photos that had taken up so much of her time. She
had been rather busy today, which was foolish of her. She should have known
better than run out on errands that had nothing to do with the urgent task at
hand. Anxiously, the young woman checked the clock. In theory, she had seven
hours left. In practice, however, she only had about five. Once the night became
late, her brain would become sluggish, unable to provide the answer to her
problem. And beyond knowing the answer, she also needed time to organize it
into a coherent, believable format.

“I’m doomed,” she whispered with a shiver. Yet something within her told her
that she could not just give up. There was a still a glimmer of hope that she
wanted to hold onto desperately. She scanned her bedroom for any important
objects that she could use for her assignment.

Her mind was a blank. It was hopeless. The young woman collapsed onto her bed
and wrapped the fluffy comforter around herself, swamped by despair. Again and
again she racked her brain, desperately trying to come up with something that
could get her out of this predicament. Her laptop lay nearby on the bed. She sat
up and opened the computer, and soon had some of her favorite music playing
to soothe her frayed nerves. Just then, an idea struck her! She could write about
learning the guitar from her grandfather who lives in Hawaii. Oh how she missed
those days where he would patiently guide her little fingers to strum beautiful
melodies. Now, all that is left for her to do is to find a picture of that guitar and
complete her essay by midnight. She heaved a sigh of relief and began working
immediately.

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4. Do you like this narrative story? Why or why not?

Yes I enjoy this narrative story as i found the story very interesting as the way Jane was thinking of what to write for her essay was very
______________________________________________________________________________
entertaining.