With the help of Best Model Compositions, Teach 'Writing Narrative Compositions/Essays' in Form Three

Review: Previously in Unit 9:2, we discussed about how to teach the sub topic ‘Talking about shopping’ in Form Two. In this sub topic, Form Two students were introduced to the various expressions to use when talking about shopping. Students were introduced to the proper language to use when they go shopping.

In this Unit 9:3, we will learn how to teach the sub topic, ‘Writing narrative compositions/essays’ in Form Three. In this sub topic, Form Three students will be guided to use appropriate techniques and skills in writing narrative compositions/essays.

(Also: For Literature in English Subject, Check out my Literature in English Blog. Also check out My Diary for Diary Writing Inspiration and More! )

THE FOLLOWING IS THE COMPREHENSIVE TEACHING GUIDE ON THE SUB TOPIC:

A: INFORMATION OF THE TOPIC:

1. Topic: WRITIG USING APPROPRIATE LANGUAGE CONTENT AND STYLE

2. Sub Topic: Writing narrative compositions/essays

3. Periods per sub topic: 12
4: Class: Form Three.

B: HOW TO TEACH THE TOPIC:

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

PART TWO: Writing Imaginary Events

The specific objective of this Part Two of the Sub Topic is to able write imaginary events that happened in the past. In this Part Two, students will be able to write imaginary events of their own or of the people they know in narrative way. Stages or procedures of writing a narrative composition or essay will be introduced to them for the easy narration of their own selected past events.

5. ACTIVITIES AND GAMES TO FACILITATE A LESSON

ACTIVITY 1: BRAINSTORMING ON IMAGINATION AND IMAGINING AN EVENT.

A teacher and students take a time to brainstorm and getting to know the meaning of the terms ‘narrative’, ‘narrator’, narration’, ‘story’ and other terms that are related for their full understanding of the sub topic and what they should do.

A narrative essay is a story written about a personal experience. Writing a narrative essay provides an opportunity for the students to get to know and understand themselves better. While such awareness can occur for apparently unexplainable reasons, it most often happens when you encounter new ideas or have experiences that change you in some way. During the process of writing a narrative, students will learn ways to articulate personal experience in order to inform and entertain others. Narratives provide human interest, spark our curiosity, and draw us close to the storyteller.

A teacher will use his model compositions or any narrative compositions to guide the students to brainstorm on how to organize ideas in an essay format.

The teacher may instruct the students to imagine an event that took place in the past.

A Student should imagine an event to write for. Students should be helped and guided on how to write an imaginary event that happened in the past. The students should be guided to think or imagine of any event that did not really happen. It should be anything they like to write.

For example, a student can imagine how he/she survived a Crocodile attack:

I SURVIVED A CROCODILE!

My name is Pascal. I have lived in Karema village for many years now. Swimming to me is like a daily bread.

One day I was swimming on the famous beach of Lake Tanganyika, Kasomo Beach. I was enjoying all sorts of swimming styles like backstroke and others.

Suddenly, I saw one object approaching me. At first I thought it was a piece of buoy or any light object. But when I dived deep into the water, I realised that it was a big crocodile swimming towards me. I came up the water and started swimming and screaming. I panicked. But what amazed me about that crocodile is that it was not moving. I left it some distance.

My friends came and helped me out.

"I have seen a crocodile", I told them. Then they took a canoe and rowed towards the crocodile. I stayed back on the hot sands of the beach.

I heard them laughing in a distance. It was realised that that object was not a crocodile. It was a piece of wrecked boat. People started thinking that there might be a water accident somewhere in the lake.

I was relived and regain my happiness again. I put on my clothes and went back home.

As I went home, I still thought alone,

"Today, I survived a fake crocodile. Tomorrow I will swim again. This is my place. This is my life".

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COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

Where Pascal does goes to swim?
Does Pascal have only one swimming style?
What action did people take after receiving information from Pascal?
In your own words, what could you advise Pascal?

The model narrative composition the past event will serve as the guide to students as they brainstorm on how to organise ideas in narrative essay format. The following are the stages required when organising a narrative essay or composition:

Stages of Writing:

Pre-Writing

It involves collecting all necessary information and details about the topic or question.

Drafting

Here students think of the method of their works. They may choose chronological order or in order of preference or importance.

Structure your essay in terms of introduction, main body, and conclusion.

Revising & Editing.

Read your work again. Check its accuracy, grammar, and punctuations or read it your friend or in pairs or groups.

Rewriting the Final Draft.

Here is the stage where the student writes his/her final work after going through all the stages above. After this stage, a student submits his/her work to the required place.

Features of Narrative composition/Essay

What is common for most narrative essays is that they describe specific experiences that changed how you felt, thought, or acted. The format of a narrative composition is similar to a story in that it describes how your character is feeling by "showing" through his/her actions, rather than by coming right out and "telling" your readers.

A good narrative composition does not only entertain, but also it has a point to make, that is, it has a purpose to convey.

Narrative essay or composition has the following features that should be observed when writing this particular kind of essay. If you are writing a narrative essay keep in mind of the following things:

Choose an interesting incident or event to tell your readers.
Arrange your events in sequence.
Include details of people, places and events by using five human senses.
Present conflicts or important messages in your narrative essay.
Connect the past events with the people, places and events of the present.
Choose appropriate point of view for your narration.

Note: Remember this writing is imaginary writing. So, all the details like places, places, events and other things should be imaginary.

ACTIVITY 2: SELECTING A TOPIC AND WRITING THE FIRST DRAFT

At this point, the teacher may guide his or her students to select topics to write what happened in the past. These topics should at least include common aspects of life such as conflict resolution, ways of creating wealth like small businesses and ways of fighting corruption.

After guiding students to the selection of topics, then the teacher guides them to write the first draft in pairs/groups. When they are writing, they should consider the stages of writing a narrative composition, although they apply to other kinds of writing as well. The teacher should walk around to help students write or jot things down for their narrative essay.

How to Plan the Narrative Essay

As teacher, guide students to plan a narrative composition. Discuss with them that they should plan their narrative essay as follows:

	(1) First, they should select an incident that is important to about,
	(2) Second, they should find relevant details about the incident they want to write about.
	(3) Finally, they should find our more details which will make the incident real for readers.

In finding relevant materials for their narrative essays, students can use model compositions, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, internet, and newspapers.

After selecting and planning, the students now write their first draft of the narrative composition/essay. This is real writing they do before finishing and going to another stage.

ACTIVITY 3: REVISING AND EDITING THE FIRST DRAFT.

This is the revising stage in which students revise and edit their works focusing on the content of the topic. They read their works once again to check if it is fine. If they are in groups, one student can read and others can listen to it and correct what see unfit for their work. At this stage, they remove some parts of the composition, they correct grammatical errors, they put right some confusing mechanical errors (Punctuation), and they work on anything they can do in order to make their work look good before they submit it.

As they revise and edit, the teacher to move from group to group encouraging interaction among the students as they edit their work.

After revising and editing their works, students can submit their works to the teacher.

Lastly after marking students’ works, the teacher displays the best works for others to visit and read.

GRAMMAR PRACTICE: The Form and Function of the Sub Topic: Transition words. These are linking words, phrases, and expressions that are used to connect the sentences so as to have a meaningful and cohesive paragraphs and ideas. Some of these transitions are conjunctions, adverbs, and prepositions. There are various transitions which are applied in various stages of various kinds of writing. The following are some of the transition words that are applied in writing and some of them have been featured in the model compositions above and students are encouraged to apply them as well:

Transitions for stating or introducing an opinion: These are those words that are used to introduce a topic or to start a conversation of a discussion.

According to me; to me; to my way of thinking; in my opinion; in my view; from my point of view; it seems to me that; from my perspective; I think; I believe; I feel (that); I suppose; I understand.

Transitions for Giving Examples: These are the transition words that are used when the speaker or the writer is giving examples on something.

For instance; in other words; namely; for example; such as; that is; like.

Comparing transitions: These are words that are used to compare two or more ideas.

As….as; also; in the same way; at the same time; similar to; in common; either…or; neither…. nor; just as; resemble.

Contrasting transitions: These are the words that are used to different two or more opposing ideas or points.

But; on the other hand; though; instead; however; although; otherwise; even though; alternatively; on the contrary; nevertheless.

Generalising transitions: These are the linking words that indicate that a speaker or the writer is summing up r winding up his or her conversation, speech, essay, or a discussion.

Generally speaking; as a rule; for the most part; on the whole; generally; in general; overall; essentially; basically;

There might be other transitions words, phrases and expressions that deal with how people agree, disagree, suggest, interrupt, and add on the conversation or discussions, but these are just some of the useful transition words for writing narrative compositions and essays.

Note: In the model narrative composition above, italicised words, phrases and expressions are transitions.

6. CONNECTION: Beyond the Sub Topic: In addition, narratives can do the following:

Create a sense of shared history, linking people together.

Narrative composition provides entertainment.

They provide psychological healing. Reading or listening to the narrative of someone who faced a life crisis similar to one the reader is experiencing can help him/her through the crisis.

They can also help the writer or anyone who wants to be the writer.

Provide insight. Narratives can help students discover values, explore options, and examine motives.

7. NOTE: Writing the Narrative Composition/Essay needs an effective and working plan. If it is not planned, a narrative composition produces misunderstanding to the readers. Here are a few things to remember when writing a narrative essay:

	(a) Narratives are generally written in the first person, that is, using I. However, third person (he, she, or it) can also be used.
	(b) Narratives rely on concrete, sensory details to convey their point. These details should create a unified, forceful effect, a dominant impression.
	(c) Narratives, as stories, should include these story conventions: a plot, including setting and characters; a climax; and an ending.

Narrative composition/essay also lays a foundation to the students who can later pursue writing as their careers. A student who aspires to be a writer, this topic is the beginning. It may not provide everything necessary for the students, but for this stage, it the good beginning point.

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Check out how to Study & Teach other Form Three Sub Topics in this Blog!

Listening for specific information

Listening for general information

Participating in debates, dialogues, interviews, impromptu speeches and discussions Part 1

Participating in debates, dialogues, interviews, impromptu speeches and discussions Part 2

Participating in debates, dialogues, interviews, impromptu speeches and discussions Part 3 l

Reading intensively for comprehension

Reading extensively

Identifying and analysing setting, main plot, and characters Identifying themes

Identifying main features of different genres Part 1

Identifying main features of different genres Part 2