Instructions
Please do
the following tasks to make sure you understand the Learning Activity 2.
1.
Complete these sentences about the different stages of a recount.
Use the words in the box.
a.
The orientation stage of a recount orients the reader to the
events in the story. It tells the reader who the story is about, where it happened and when the event
occurred.
b.
In the record of events stage, the writer retells the events
in a logical time sequence so that the reader can follow them easily.
c.
In the
reorientation stage, the writer rounds off the story and brings the reader back
to the reason why the story is being told.
2.
Read again the text entitled ‘Fishing’ above. How many events are
there mentioned in the text? List them
from the first to the last events.
|
Events
|
Fishing
|
|
Record of
Events
|
1)
I woke up
earlier in the morning,
and then I went
to the marketplace to buy some shrimps I would
use for the fishing bait.
2)
After that, I went to
the lake to start fishing.
3)
At the lake, I looked for the best point to fish. I went to the place under a big tree
at the bank of the lake. I threw my hook as far as I could, and then I waited
for the fish eating my bait.
4)
After about a thirty-minute waiting, I felt that a fish ate
my bait, and it was
true. I got a big fish. It
was the first big enough fish I got
in fishing. I got ten big fish and
three small fish that day. I was
very happy.
5)
I would cook those fish
at home and then I would call my friends to come to my house. We would have a
small party.
6)
But I was not lucky
enough because on the way home, I met a beggar. He was an old poor beggar. I
gave all of my fish to him and I wish he would be happy getting those fish.
Perhaps, he could sell them at the market and got some money to buy some food.
|
3.
Historical Recount “Ballooning” Topic Ballooning
Orientation The first
kind of
air transportation was not
a plane. It was
a balloon. People traveled by balloon 100 years before
there were planes or jet aircraft.
Those early days of ballooning were exciting, but they
were also dangerous. Sometimes the balloons fell suddenly. Sometimes they burned. However, the danger did not stop the balloonists.
Record of
Events
(1)
The first real balloon
flight was in France in 1783. Two
Frenchmen, the Montgolfier brothers, made a balloon. They filled a very large paper bag with hot
air. Hot air is lighter than cold air, so it goes up. The Montgolfier’s hot air balloon went up 1,000 feet in the sky.
(2)
Later that same year, two other Frenchmen ascended in the basket
under a balloon. They built a fire under the balloon to make the air hot. This
made the balloon stay up in the air for a few hours. But their balloon was tied
to the ground. So it could not go anywhere.
(3)
The first free balloon flight was in December, 1783. The balloon
flew for 25 minutes over Paris. It traveled
about 5 ½ miles. Flying a balloon is not like flying a plane. The balloon has
no engine and therefore no power of its own. The wind directs the balloon. It goes where the wind blows. The pilot
can control only the altitude of the balloon. He or she can raise and lower the
balloon to find the right wind direction. That is how a good pilot controls
where the balloon goes.
(4)
Soon balloonists tried longer flights. A major event in the
history of ballooning was the first long flight over water. In 1785, an
American and a Frenchman flew over the English Channel. They left England on a
cold, clear January day. After about an hour, their balloon began to descend
toward the water. They threw out some equipment and food to make the balloon lighter.
The balloon
continued to fall,
so they threw
out almost everything in the basket—even some of their
clothes. Finally, after about three hours, they landed in France, cold but safe.
Reorientation During the nineteenth century, ballooning became a
popular sport. There were balloon races in Europe. Balloons were also used by
scientists to study the air and by armies in wartime. After the airplane was
invented, people lost interest in balloons. Planes were much faster and easier
to control. But some people today still like to go up in balloons. High up in
the balloon basket, they find quiet. They have a wonderful view of the world
below.
Read again
the text entitled ‘Ballooning’ above,
and then answer
these questions which are related to it:
a.
Who firstly made a balloon?
The
Montgolfier brothers firstly made a balloon
b.
When did people fly freely by balloon
for the first time? And where?
The first free balloon
flight was in December, 1783. The balloon
flew for 25 minutes
over Paris.
c.
What does ‘it’ in paragraph 1 refer to?
‘It’ in
paragraph 1 refers to the first air transportation
d.
There are two words ‘they’ in paragraph 1? Do they refer to the
same thing?
‘They’
refers to the same thing, that is Balloon.
e.
How was the first balloon developed?
The first balloon was filled a very large paper bag with hot air. Hot air is lighter than cold air, so it goes up.
f.
What does ‘Flying a balloon is not like flying a plane’ mean in
paragraph 4?
It means that the balloon
has no engine and therefore no power of its own. The wind directs the balloon. It goes where
the wind blows although Balloon also needs pilot to control it. But, flying
plane is different. The plane has many complicated feature.
The plane
needs run way to take off or to land but the plane is easier to control by
people than balloon.
g.
Why didn’t people gradually like anymore to fly by
balloon?
They didn’t like to fly by balloon anymore because planes were
much faster and easier to control.
h.
Why do some people still like to fly by balloon today?
Because when they high up in the balloon basket, they find
quiet. They have a wonderful view of the world below.
i.
Why didn’t people stop flying by
balloon although it was dangerous at the
early days?
Because ballooning was exciting while there was no the air
transportation like jet aircraft.
j.
Summarize the text by making its
outline.
ü The first kind of air
transportation was a balloon.
ü The first real balloon flight was
in France in 1783 made by two Frenchmen, the Montgolfier brothers
ü Ballon was built by a fire under
the balloon to make the air hot.
ü The first free balloon flight was
in December, 1783.
ü Balloonists tried longer flights
of ballooning was the first long flight over
water.
ü During the nineteenth century,
ballooning became a popular sport.
4.
Read each paragraph. Working in pairs, decide on the best topic.
Be sure your topic is not too general or two specific. Write the topic below
the paragraph.
a.
Galileo Galilei was one of the first modern scientists. He was
born in Pisa, Italy, 1564. At first, he studied philosophy, but later he studied mathematics and astronomy. He was
interested in the way the earth and other planets move around the sun. He
found out several important facts about our world. He also started a new way of working in science. Before
Galileo, scientists did not do experiments. They just guessed
about how
something
happened. Galileo was different. He did not just make guesses. He did
experiments and watched to see what happened.
Topic: Galileo’s interest in science.
b.
Galileo is famous for his study of how things fall. He was the first person to do experiments
about this problem. Before, people thought that heavy things always fell faster
than light things. He found out that this was not true. He took a heavy ball
and a light ball and he dropped them both from a high place.
They fell at the same speed. This meant that weight is not important.
This is the law off falling bodies. It is
an important law for understanding our world.
Topic: The thing made Galileo famous
c.
The life of a scientist was not always easy in the 1500s. For example, Galileo got into trouble because of his scientific ideas.
His ideas were not the same as the
religious ideas at the time. Many religious people did not agree with him.
During his whole life he had to worry about this. He even went to prison for a
while. But no one could stop him from thinking. He continued to look for
scientific answers to his questions about the
world.
Topic: Galileo got into trouble because
of his scientific ideas
5.
Read this personal spoken recount by Tom Bass, a famous Australian sculptor. The recount tells us
about a particular incident when Tom discovered his talent for carving. On the
left, mark the stage of orientation,
record of events, and reorientation.
|
Orientation
|
When I was 16 – that’d be in 1932 – my family lived in St
Peters and it was a very slummy part of St Peters and it was right in the
very heart of the Depression and I’d realized I was an artist when I
was 8 years old.
|
|
Record of events
|
It turned out that … that what he’d brought
home was core-sand …
that’s what they cast metal
into and the way they used to do it
in those days – I don’t know if they do it now – but they
used to mix
|
|
|
the sand with linseed oil and that
would hold it together and then the heat
of the metal would fuse it all together … and it was dark and
a beautiful color and you know to
all intents and purposes it looked like stone and I had an impulse to try
carving this because I’d been
trying to do things of all kinds but mainly drawing and things like that and we only
had an old hammer with
a broken handle
and a funny old screwdriver and you
know I started with these … and I found myself having this amazing
experience and actually discovering
I could carve
|
|
reorientation.
|
It just happened in that way.
|
6.
In this
recount, Tom has added another stage of explanation to the basic pattern. Use a
highlighter pen to mark this stage. (They are on the text above) Why do you
think Tom added this stage to the basic
pattern?
He added because
he wanted to give more explanation about the basic pattern and he wanted to give his opinion, in that explanation.
7.
Reread the orientation to Tom’s recount and write the words which
tell you where and
when the incident happened.
a.
When : In 1932,
when Tom was 8 years old.
b.
Where : In St Peters
|
8.
Number these events in Tom’s recount in the correct order:
a.
I discovered
that I could carve.
|
3
|
|
b. It was an
amazing experience.
|
4
|
|
c. I
started to carve with an old hammer with a broken handle and a funny old screwdriver.
|
2
|
|
d.
My younger
brother brought home some core sand
|
1
|
9. The stages of this written recount are not in the correct
order. Number the stages, and discuss why the order should be in that way. Mark
the orientation, record of events, and reorientation of the recount text.
Thomas and
the Gorillas
But before the zoo worker arrived, a gorilla went over to Thomas. It was Binti Jua, an eight-year-old mother
gorilla. She had her baby gorilla on her back. With one “arm” she picked
up the little boy. She carried him carefully over to a door, walking on three
legs. There she put Thomas down so a zoo worker could get him.
Janet and Kevin ran to the door, too. Thomas was badly hurt and
had to go to the hospital, but after
a few days he was better. The story was on the evening news in Chicago. Some people
cheered and others
cried when they heard it. But many of them thought about that mother gorilla and asked
themselves, “What is she doing in a zoo? What is the difference between a
gorilla and me?”
A woman saw him and shouted, “Stop him!” A tall man reached up to
get him, but it was too late. Thomas fell down the other side of the fence. He
fell 18 feet onto the hard concrete floor. He lay very still, with blood on his
head. Janet and Kevin shouted for help. People crowded around the fence, and
someone ran to get a zoo worker.
But three-year-old boys are good climbers. While the Kempers
were watching the gorillas,
little Sally started to cry. Kevin took her from Janet, and Janet looked in her
bag for a bottle of juice. In those
few seconds, Thomas climbed up the fence.
The Kempers went straight to the gorilla
exhibit. There were six
adult gorillas and a three- month-old baby gorilla. In the Brookfield Zoo, the animals are not
in cages. They are in large areas dug out of the ground. These
areas have fences around
them so the animals cannot get out and people cannot fall in.
It was a hot summer day in Chicago. The Kemper family decided it
was a good day to go to the Brookfield Zoo. Janet and Kevin Kemper had two
children: Thomas,
3, and
Sally, 6 months. Thomas loved going to the zoo. He liked watching all the
animals, but he especially loved the gorillas.
Thomas and
the Gorillas
|
Orientation
|
It was a hot summer day in Chicago. The Kemper family decided
it was a good day to go to the
Brookfield Zoo. Janet and Kevin Kemper had two children: Thomas, 3, and
Sally, 6 months. Thomas loved going to the zoo.
He liked watching all the animals,
but he especially loved
the gorillas.
|
|
Record of
events
|
The
Kempers went straight to the gorilla exhibit. There were six adult gorillas and a three-month-old baby gorilla. In the Brookfield Zoo, the animals are not in cages. They are in large areas dug
out of the ground. These areas have fences
around them so the animals cannot get out and people cannot fall in.
But
three-year-old boys are good climbers. While the Kempers were watching the gorillas, little
Sally started to cry. Kevin
took her from Janet, and Janet looked in her bag
for a bottle of juice. In those few
seconds, Thomas climbed up the fence.
A woman
saw him and shouted, “Stop
him!” A tall
man reached up to get him, but it was too late.
Thomas fell down the other side of the fence. He fell 18 feet onto
the hard concrete floor. He lay very still,
with blood on his head. Janet and Kevin shouted for help. People
crowded around the fence, and someone ran to get a zoo worker.
But before
the zoo worker arrived, a gorilla went over to Thomas. It was Binti Jua, an
eight-year-old mother gorilla. She had her baby gorilla on her back. With one
“arm” she picked up the little boy. She carried him carefully over to a door,
walking on three legs. There she
put Thomas down so a zoo worker
could get him.
|
|
Reorientation
|
Janet and
Kevin ran to the door, too. Thomas was badly hurt and had to go to the
hospital, but after a few days he was better. The story was on the evening
news in Chicago. Some people cheered and others cried when they heard it. But
many of them thought about that mother gorilla and asked themselves, “What is
she doing in a zoo? What is the
difference between a gorilla
and me?”
|
