MODUL SESSION 5

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: PRESENTING THINGS/ PHENOMENA

Adopted from: Thinking Beyond the Text

By Unisba English Lecturers

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 UNIT ORGANIZATION
OBJECTIVES
Pre- Students are able to:
Unit 1. Identify the purpose of the
descriptive text.
2. Get the nuance of language and
expression used in a descriptive
text.
3. Identify the word categories to
determine the meaning.
4. Use words based on their functions
to create different meanings.
5. Get the religious value and the real
world connection from the topic
discussed
Core- Students are able to:
Unit 1. Read a text with a good
pronunciation.
2. Identify the idea of a text.
3. Get the detail information of the
text.
4. Respond to a description.
Post- Students are able to:
Unit 1. Describe things/phenomena in
accordance with their major/field of
study/interest, using a good
language expression and
pronunciation.
2. Present their description using an
interesting media.
•Descriptive text is a text to describe a particular place/ thing/ person
SECTIONS ACTIVITIES
Critical Thinking  Building Context from
Pictures/Headlines/Clips/
Aperception Questions.
 Discussing the religious values and the real
world connection from the topic.
Words in context:  Categorizing words by its function to
Identifying part of determine the meaning.
speech.  Using words in a sentence.
Reading Skills  Answering pre-reading questions.
 Reading aloud.
 Identifying topic and main idea.
 Getting meaning from its context.
 Answering questions based on the text.
 Questioning some information from the text.
 Completing sentences using words from a
text.
Presentation: describing  Describing things/phenomena in front of the
things/phenomena class.
 Giving comments to the presentation.
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 DESCRIPTIVE TEXT
DESCRIPTIVE
Definition: 
Descriptive text is a text to describe a particular place/
thing/ person

Generic Structure:
• Identification (mention the special participant)
• Description (mention the part, quality, and
characteristics of subject being described)
Language Features:
The use of adjectives and compound adjectives.
Example: 
• a five hundred seated football stadium
• a beautiful ancient Roman opera house.

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 1. CRITICAL THINKING
This section encourages the students to connect their
background knowledge about a topic to the real world
life,as well as to the Islamic value; and to think critically
about the topic. This section also aims to expose the
nuance of language and expression used in a
descriptive text, while improving the students’
predicting and previewing reading skills.

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1. CRITICAL THINKING (CONT.)

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1. CRITICAL THINKING (CONT.)

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1. CRITICAL THINKING (CONT.)

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1. CRITICAL THINKING (CONT.)

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1. CRITICAL THINKING (CONT.)

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 2. WORDS IN CONTECT

This section guides the students to improve their

scanning and skimming reading skills by eliciting a
descriptive text about a topic and disccussing the
general purposes of the text; as well as to define
words in context by identifying part of speech of
words with a follow-up discussion connected to
the reading text

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 2. WORDS IN CONTECT (CONT.)
EXERCISE ON DESCRIBING PEOPLE, PLACE, OBJECT AND EVENTS

1. DESCRIBING PEOPLE: APPEARANCE

Hair, face, skin and complexion

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2. WORDS IN CONTECT (CONT.)

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 2. WORDS IN CONTECT (CONT.)

1.1 Answer these remarks with the opposite description.

EXAMPLE A: I thought you said he was the short, chubby one.
B: No, no, no, not at all, he’s the tall, thin-faced one.
1. A: Was that his brother, the dark-skinned, wavy-haired one?
B: No, completely the opposite, his brother’s ...
2 . A: She’s always quite well-dressed, so I’ve heard.
B: What! Who told you that? Every time I see her, she’s ...
3 . A: So Charlene’s that rather plump, fair-haired woman, is she?
B: No, you’re looking at the wrong one. Charlene’s ...
4 . A: So, tell us about the new boss; good looking?
B: No, I’m afraid not; rather ...
5 . A: I don’t know why, but I expected the tour-guide to be middle-aged or elderly.
B: No, apparently she’s only ...

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 2. WORDS IN CONTECT (CONT.)

1.2 Write one sentence to describe each of these people, giving

information about their hair and face, their height and build and
general appearance.

1. yourself 3. a neighbour
2. your best friend 4. your picture of a handsome man / a beautiful
woman

Now, in the same way, describe somebody very famous, give some extra
clues about them, e.g. He’s/She’s a pop star/politician. Can someone
else guess who you are describing?

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 2. WORDS IN CONTECT (CONT.)
1.3 From these jumbled words, find combinations for describing people, as in the
example. Not all of the words are on the left-hand page. Some of the combinations
are hyphenated. Use a dictionary if necessary. You can use the words more than
once.

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 2. WORDS IN CONTECT (CONT.)
2. DESCRIBING PLACE

I live in a big house. There are three floors in any my house. On the ground floor there
is a staircase and play room. The play room is empty at the moment because I am re
decorating. On of the first floor there is a sitting room and a kitchen. In the sitting room
there is abig sofa and a small chest of drawers. There is a big double bed in the
bedroom and a beside table with lamp on it. In yhe kitchen there is a big fridge, and
oven and a microwave. On the top floore there is a bedroom, and bathroom and
washing room. In the bathroom there is a bath and shower, a basin and toilet. In the
washing room there is a washing machine and tumble drier.

Exercise: Describe a place have recently visited. You should say: where you
went; who you you went with; how you you get there; and explain why you
enjoyed it.

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 2. WORDS IN CONTECT (CONT.)
3. DESCRIBING EVENT

Describe what you can see and what is happening in the photos.
• Where it’s happening: on the right/left, at the bottom/top, in the middle,
behind, in front of...
• Use present continuous. What are they doing
• What clothes are they wearing?
• What’s the weather like?
• Are they inside or outside?
• Use Adjective. Do they look happy, sad, angry, bored, tired?
• How does the photo make you feel?
• Would you like to be there? Why

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 READING SKILL
Text : Ka’bah
KA’BAH
Kaʿbah, also spelled Kaaba , small shrine located near the centre of the Great
Mosque in Meccaand considered by Muslims everywhere to be the most sacred spot on
Earth. Muslims orient themselves toward this shrine during the five daily prayers, bury their
dead facing its meridian, and cherish the ambition of visiting it on pilgrimage, or hajj, in
accord with the command set out in the Qurʾān.

Kaʿbah, shrine in the Great Mosque, Mecca.

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 READING SKILL (Cont.)
Text 1: Ka’bah (Cont.)
The cube-shaped structure is roughly 50 feet (15 metres) high, and it is about
35 by 40 feet (10 by 14 metres) at its base. Constructed of gray stone and marble, it
is oriented so that its corners roughly correspond to the points of the compass. The
interior contains nothing but the three pillars supporting the roof and a number of
suspended silver and gold lamps. During most of the year the Kaʿbah is covered with
an enormous cloth of black brocade, the kiswah.

The Kaʿbah surrounded by pilgrims during the hajj, Mecca, Saudi Arabia

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 READING SKILL (Cont.)
Text 1: Ka’bah (Cont.)
Located in the eastern corner of the Kaʿbah is the 
Black Stone of Mecca, whose now-broken pieces are surrounded by a
ring of stone and held together by a heavy silver band. According to
tradition, this stone was given to Adam on his expulsion from paradise
in order to obtain forgiveness of his sins. Legend has it that the stone
was originally white but has become black by absorbing the sins of the
countless thousands of pilgrims who have kissed and touched it.

Every Muslim who makes the pilgrimage is required to walk

around the Kaʿbah seven times, during which he kisses and touches
the Black Stone. When the month of pilgrimages (Dhuʾl-Hijja) is
over, a ceremonial washing of the Kaʿbah takes place; religious
officials as well as pilgrims take part.

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 READING SKILL (Cont.)
Text 1: Ka’bah (Cont.)

The early history of ka’bah is not well known, but it is certain that in the
period before the rise of Islam it was a polytheist sanctuary and was a site of
pilgrimage for people throughout the Arabian Peninsula. The Qurʾān says of 
Abraham and Ishmael that they “raised the foundations” of the Kaʿbah. The
exact sense is ambiguous, but many Muslims have interpreted the phrase to
mean that they rebuilt a shrine first erected by Adam of which only the
foundations still existed. The Kaʿbah has been destroyed, damaged, and
subsequently rebuilt several times since. In 930 the Black Stone itself was
carried away by an extreme Shīʿite sect known as the Qarmatians and held
almost 20 years for ransom. During Muhammad’s early ministry, the Kaʿbah was
the qiblah, or direction of prayer, for the Muslim community. After the Muslim
migration, or Hijrah, to Medinah, the qiblah briefly switched to Jerusalem before
returning to the Kaʿbah. When Muhammad’s forces conquered Mecca in 630, he
ordered the destruction of the pagan idols housed in the shrine and ordered it
cleansed of all signs of polytheism. The Kaʿbah has since been the focal point of
Muslim piety.

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 READING SKILL (Cont.)
Text 1: Ka’bah (Cont.)

Note on Generic Structure of Deescriptive Text

Generic Structure Details

Identification The text above is clearly about a specific place,
Ka’bah the most sacred spot on the Earth

Description First part which is described is the location and

structure of Ka’bah. The last part is described
Ka’bah historical background.

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 READING SKILL
(Cont.) Text 1: Ka’bah

2.3 Answer this question based on the thext above!

• What does the text tell you about?
• What does the most suitable title for the text?
• What is the main idea of this text?
• What is topic of this text?
• What does this text discuss about?

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