Prompt 1: There are 10 different narrative and recount texts you have.

Choose one of
the texts and analyse the text based on:

A. Type of text (type of narrative or type of recount)

B. Structures of the text
C. Grammatical features of the text :
- Tense
- Modality
- Verbs (action, mental, and relational)
- Connectives Types
- Metaphorical Verbs (if any)
- Other narrative grammatical characteristics (if any)

1. Memorable Experience

When I was about 13 years old, I visited an airport in Vancouver, Canada, to see a great
holy personality: Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. She was the founder of Sahaja Yoga
Meditation—a worldwide movement of spiritual practices that continues to this day. My
mother was and still is a follower of hers and I was merely interested and tagging along. It
turned out to be one of my most memorable experiences.

Getting to the airport, I was nervous for some reason. I never saw Shri Mataji in person,
and she was and still is highly revered in India and abroad. So, it was a bit like seeing a
celebrity for the first time. There was a large crowd at the entry gate where she was
supposed to come out. Word usually spread about where she was travelling and her
followers would come to each airport to go to greet her into a new country or city.
Commonly, people would enjoy giving her flowers as she entered the airport, and she
would talk to her disciples in the process.

In light of this, I was carrying a flower as well. As soon as it was announced that she was
coming through the entry gate, my nervousness shot up. People began to get closer to the
gate in an almost half circle. As Shri Mataji passed through the gate, people walked
towards her in an unrushed way, and gave her flowers, one by one. Shri Mataji was giving
short comments to each person like, “Thank you,” “Oh, such a nice fragrance,” and such.
Sometimes, she would stall at one person and ask about his or her family or a meditation
program he or she was conducting.

When it came to my turn to give a flower, I did not know what to do. My mother looked at
me with kind eyes and prompted me to offer her a flower at her feet, as was the custom in
Indian society to a guru or a person of significant stature. I do not remember what Shri
Mataji told me and how she looked at me, but what has stayed strong in my memory is how
I was smiling. I was smiling in such a way that I have never done. I felt so much joy and
satisfaction that it is practically indescribable.

I was smiling so much that I even tried to stop smiling. For some reason, I could not stop
my face from making an expression of happiness. It was like I had lost control over my
 facial movements, or that I could not edge my way out of how I was feeling. There seemed
to be no stopping my joy.

The rest is a blur, but I do remember going to the house where Shri Mataji was staying.
Even after the ecstatic experience at the airport, I was still too shy to be in her presence. So,
I mostly watched her interactions with people from afar and did not try to get in a
conversation with her. My mother, on the other hand, was comfortable speaking to her, and
was even talking to her about the future health of my little adopted sister, who was born
drug-affected. At that moment, I was watching this unfold from a glass screen door from
the backyard. Reflecting upon this, I feel a bit of shame and disappointment that I did not
have the courage to converse with this great person. In a way, I missed the chance of
lifetime, as Shri Mataji became increasingly busy in the future—so, it became more and
more difficult to find an opportunity to talk to her on a personal level.

Anyways, the joy and satisfaction I felt when I offered a flower to Shri Mataji’s feet is
something I will never forget and still reminisce about at the age of 33. I think it is the fact
that I felt a height of emotion and spiritual bliss that I never experienced before, and that it
happened seemingly in an instant. When I meditate now each day, I try to achieve that
same feeling and mood. Sometimes I can get glimpses of it spontaneously—but other
times, I wish I could meet Shri Mataji again, though she has now passed away. To this day,
I am amazed that just the presence of a person can uplift someone to such a consciousness.

2. My First Job

Everyone’s first job is special. There are a couple of reasons for this: the experience is
burned in one’s memory, it gives you the practice needed to fulfill other positions, and it
teaches you about the value of money. Of course we do jobs around the house when we are
young, like cleaning dishes, vacuuming, and doing laundry, but working for others for
money gives off a different feeling.

When I was about sixteen years old, I wanted to buy albums from my favorite bands, but I
did not have any money. My parents were not the type of people to give money to me out
of nowhere, or even for work done at home. I had to find work in order to purchase the
music I wanted.

So, I inquired as to who could give me work around town. I lived in the town of Woodway,
which was relatively small, with no street lights, and hardly any population. But my
neighborhood, Twin Maples, had enough people, especially elderly people, that needed
help in their yards. I went to the oldest person I knew in my neighborhood, Mrs. Hudson.
She was over eighty years old, and could not tend her garden anymore. She had flowers, a
grass lawn, and some tomato plants. I knocked on her door, building up enough courage to
ask her for work. She answered that indeed she needed help in her garden. She did not
discuss the amount of money I would get for the work.

My first job was to pull out weeds. I got down on my knees with foam protectors and began
to pull out weeds one by one in her front yard and backyard. After this tedious task, I
mowed her lawn—front and back. That was it for my first day, and it took me about two
hours. I asked her much I would get paid, and she said, “I will give you $5 an hour. I don’t
 know much people are paid these days, anyways.” It was less than I thought I would get
paid, but at least I had a job.

After getting that $10, I walked the few miles to the supermarket at the top of the hill,
above the Puget Sound. I went to the electronics section of the supermarket, and bought an
album from the band “Tool,” which was extremely popular at that time. It was dark and
richly-layered alternative rock music with sinister lyrics: the type of music teenagers enjoy.

One of my favorite hobbies was to lay on my lawn with two computer speakers between
my ears and to listen to music with all of its nuances, moods, and atmospheres. This, and
taking in the fresh air of the woods around me, was a sort of bliss. That is why I worked: to
make these moments even more rapturous with more music.

After many days of working for Mrs. Hudson, and buying more CDs, I came to the
conclusion that I wanted to save money for something even more interesting than music: a
Gameboy. Gameboys at this time were all the rage, so it was natural for me to yearn for it. I
started to work for multiple clients, so to say, in order to earn enough money to purchase
this prized possession.

When I gathered enough money to buy a Gameboy (it was about $100 at that time), I went
out to a shop and bought a shiny red one, and one game to play on it. However, after one
day of playing on it, I realized that I had made a mistake: it was not as fun as I thought it
was going to be, and I felt like I wasted my money. I sweated in the hot sun for hours doing
yard work to buy something I did not want. So, the next day, I returned it for a full refund.
From then on, I bought only music albums with my money.

I think everyone should get on one’s knees and pull weeds. I believe everyone should
at least once work for an elderly person, and help him or her take care of his or her
garden. I think everyone should feel the searing sun on one’s back as they mow grass.
It seems these experiences harden our spirits and resolve, and make us more in touch
with the earth. Besides this, a first job like this supplies you with the value of money, as
sweat turned into cash is something no can take away from you.

3. Best Summer Memory of My Childhood

When I was 11 years old, I attended a Unitarian church camp for a summer vacation with
my family. It was a pleasant area, with the Puget Sound not far away, grass fields, many
old-style wooden buildings, an expansive forest, and an elongated pond between the road
and the camp. Deer and other wildlife regularly visited the grounds. It was an ideal place to
forget your worries and the routine of common life. As an 11-year-old boy, it was a place
for me to meet my friends, and maybe fall in love with a girl. However, this summer camp
was more spiritual than others—not because of a religious message, but because I had an
awakening at the camp that year.

I had been going to this summer retreat almost every year since I was very young. But
somehow, this year was different. It seemed my mind and soul was ripe for a
transformation. I recorded my first poem in my 11th year, and I seemed more introspective
 than usual. I was less interested in playing and joking around with my friends. I was
searching for answers to deep questions about life and God.

While walking down a path next to a grass field leading to the camp’s cafeteria, suddenly
my vision changed. The grass was shining, the texture of the bark of trees was lucid, and
each detail around me seemed like it was the first time I was seeing. In a sense, it was a
feeling of rebirth. In church, there is talk of baptism, which is more of a ritual than anything
else, in my opinion. The real baptism is an inner transformation. But back to the
experience, this natural baptism came spontaneously. No effort was put into it. It was like a
light was switched on in my consciousness, and I saw everything as new again. This sight
was accompanied by a fresh sense of peace—a mental silence that I had not experienced
before. Also, joy was coursing through my being at the exhilaration of such a happening.

From that moment, the world around me and within me was never the same. The only
problem was that I was too young to fully grasp what had happened. In fact, I thought I was
some sort of prophet. Seeing a tarot card reader only made the issue worse. Through the
reading, I thought I was “the victory of the people,” and someone no one else was like.
However, there were many other people who had the same experience—I just did not know
this at that tender age. Later in life, I learned there are many people just like me, and that I
was not all that special.

What I learned from this experience is that baptism, or spiritual rebirth, is a

spontaneous happening, and not done only from the hand of a priest. Also, I learned
about getting a spiritual ego, where you think you are important based on spiritual
experiences. My natural baptism and my knowledge of spiritual ego has allowed me to
gain much in life: more creativity, inner peace, and how to be humble in the face of
achievements.

4. Floods in Pakistan

The summer of 2010 produced Pakistan’s worst flooding in 80 years. The number of people
affected, who need food, shelter and clothing to face a harsh Pakistani winter, is 20 million.

Flooding began on July 22, 2010, in the area of Baluchistan. The swollen waters then poured
across in the northwest before flowing south into Punjab and Sindh. Estimates of the death
toll of the floods range from 1,300 to 1,600.

Even as Pakistani and international relief officials scrambled to save people and property,
they despaired that the nation’s worst natural calamity had ruined just about every physical
strand that knit the country together — roads, bridges, schools, health clinics, electricity and
communications.

The flooding, which began with the arrival of the annual monsoons, eventually affected about
one-fifth of the country — nearly 62,000 square miles — or an area larger than England.

Six weeks after the floods began, as rivers continued to devour villages and farmland in the
southern province of Sindh, aid workers warned of a triple threat: loss of crops, loss of seed
for the next planting season and loss of a daily income. There was widespread worry that the
disaster will destabilize the country and aggravate its problems.

Poorly handled relief efforts have added to the distrust that many Pakistanis already feel for
their political leaders, while the armed forces have performed rescue and relief missions
along the length of the flooded areas.

5. Violence can be an answer

I was rather small and skinny, and because of this, I had been dumped into toilets, locked
into lockers, pushed around, called names, and I was finished with it. No one was going to
bully me anymore. That is how I felt in the fifth grade, when for years I had been subjected
to torment by my larger peers.

Madrona Elementary was a non-graded school, which meant that we never received a
grade, but only a “pass” or “fail.” It is a progressive approach to education, but the
playground and the halls were not as modern as one might expect. The issue of bullying
still abounded. Perhaps even more so, with troubled children coming to the school to find
an easier footing in the Washington state educational system. Though I had been bullied
for as long I could remember, it never stopped. Pacifism had not done its purported
job.

On my birthday in the fifth grade, I got a basketball from my mother. Basketball was my
favorite sport, though I was short. I loved watching the theatrics and the intense pace of the
game. Sometimes there was nothing better than going to a hoop and shooting baskets and
dribbling around. It was a type of therapy for me.

The day after my birthday, I brought my basketball to school. I wanted to shoot some hoops
during recess. After only a few shots, a big kid came up to me and snatched the ball away
from me with strong force. At that moment, something surged within me. It was a rage I
had never known. It must have been cultivating within me through the years of bullying
and mocking. Without a thought, I punched the kid in the face as hard as I could. It seemed
like an uncontrolled force made me do it—purely out of instinct. All the pain and shame I
felt powered my punch, and knocked the kid down into a crying fit.

The principal called my mother in a calm voice and informed her of my actions. My mother
seemed indifferent about it, and thought it was best that I fought back. I think she was right,
because after this fight, no one bothered to bully me again, until middle school. But that is
another story.

6. The Termination of My Position

I was sitting at my office desk when the phone rang. It was the front office buzzing, the
director of Human Resources wanted to speak with me immediately. This can’t be good, I
thought. We were on a fast-approaching deadline and needed to get the magazine finished for
printing. I didn’t have time for this. There was work to be done.
Then, for some paranoid reason, I got the fear I was losing my job. Though I had done
nothing wrong, I assumed the worst.
On my way to the HR department, I searched my memory for any wrongdoing I had done at
work. Sure, I had used some work stamps for my personal letters; I had taken some printer
paper when no one was looking, but, that didn’t warrant me being fired – which is what I
feared was going to happen in the very-near future. It was inevitable. It had gone from a
normal day to one of pure dread.
Turning the corner to the office, and even though I was growing more worried and anxious
by the minute, I walked up to the receptionist’s desk.
“Mr. Jacobs wanted to see me. I’m Ralph Thompson,” I said.
“Yes, yes, just a minute,” she said. “He is in the middle of a business call at the moment.
He’ll be right with you when he’s done. In the meantime, please have a seat.”
And I did. But it was a very long wait. Much too long when you’re expecting to get axed.
Eventually, I heard my name called.
“Mr. Jacobs will see you,” said the receptionist, who then opened the door of her boss’s
office.
The minute I walked inside, I noticed that my editor, my publisher and the company’s boss
were also in the HR director’s office. This was going to be worse than I had imagined –
much, much worse.
After saying hello to everyone, I grabbed a seat in the middle of the room. I noticed that
everyone was serious – almost too serious – and they seemed to be very uncomfortable.
Finally, I just couldn’t take it anymore.
“So I’m curious why you called me in this morning,” I said. “Is something wrong? We’re on
deadline, as you all very well know.”
“Mr. Thompson, nothing is wrong. Everything is just right. The company has made a
decision,” said the HR director.
“Yes, we have decided to terminate your position,” said the president of the company, Jim
Dorsey.
“I’m really sorry to hear that,” I said. “I … I’ve really enjoyed working here. And I don’t
know why this is happening. … Did I do something wrong?”
But, then, the most unlikely thing happened: they all broke out in laughter. And I felt like
standing up and slapping all of them with a heavy leather glove.
And then I remember being so confused.
“Guys,” said my publisher, Lori, “we should stop laughing and be serious. It gives the wrong
message. Listen, Ralph, your position is being terminated – but it has nothing to do with your
performance – which has been nothing short of stellar.”
“So why are you firing me?”
“Firing you? We’re not firing you,” she said. “It’s the total opposite.”
“So I’m firing you?”
“What? No … no, not at all,” said the president, Lori’s husband. “What Lori means is, we’re
creating an entirely new position so we can keep you and get the most out of you. How about
becoming our new website’s Content Manager? You’ll get a $10,000 raise.”
“I … I don’t know what to say. I was expecting the worst. I didn’t see this coming. Not at all.
I thought you were firing me. I was convinced of it.”
“If I were you,” he said, “I’d say ‘yes.’ ”
“You’re right,” I said after a few long seconds. “Sounds like a deal. I’ll take the job.”
And we shook hands; they said my new salary would go into effect immediately and we all
left the room for lunch.
On the way to my office, I noticed a framed poster of a quote by Mark Twain.
It read: “I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually
happened.”
And then I learned a valuable lesson: to never take life too seriously, and to expect better
things to happen to me. Because they always do. Life’s a mental thing. Embrace it.

7.

Dear Jazzy,
Last week our class went on the most amazing trip to the Dramcester Water Park. The first
thing that we did was to gather in a group by one of the lakes. The instructor, who was called
Jeremy, showed us the canoes. He taught us how to climb in and out. We all had to wear
safety jackets in case somebody fell in. Jeremy demonstrated how to paddle. After that we
climbed into our own canoes and set off. I got myself covered in water! It was great fun.
After that we had our break. Miss Vole gave everyone a hot drink and a biscuit. She said that
this would help to warm up anyone who had got wet. As I was soaked, I was allowed two
drinks.
Jeremy then showed a film of some of the creatures that live near and in a lake. I hadn’t
realised that there were so many different sorts of fish and birds. He took us to a ‘hide’. A
hide is like a hut that is close to the water. From the hide we could see all sorts of different
birds without them seeing us. Skater kept making silly noises and Miss Vole said that if he
continued behaving like a baby he would have to wait inside the coach. That silenced him!
In the afternoon Jeremy set us a challenge. We were put into groups and had to build a raft
and then sail it to a red buoy. Luckily, Skater was in our team because he was really good at
making the raft. We were first in the water. More importantly, we did not sink! The prize for
winning was a Mars Bar each! When we got back to school, Miss Vole said that she had had
a great time. She was really pleased with all of us – and she even seemed pleased with YOU
KNOW WHO…. So – it was a great trip and now I’d like to go there with my family. I think
that they would enjoy the park.
I’m looking forward to seeing you soon,
Love Janey Lee.
 8. Blackout – Town suffers

More than 2 000 homes were without power in the town of Cranville last night when the
city’s main power grid failed at about 6:45 pm. People were in the dark for as long as six
hours as ENERGEX workers battled to solve the problem.
Traffic lights were out, as well as street lights, making peek hour traffic conditions
dangerous. Businesses getting ready for late night shippers were forced to close down. Only
those with emergency poser generators such as the Cranville Hospital could function.
“We found it very inconvenient with a family of six to feed. No stores were in operation and
we couldn’t cook a meal,” a Cranville resident reported this morning.
“I saw two cars collide at the South Road intersection where the lights were out. No police
were on duty. It was chaotic!” a motorist claimed.

Ron Maloney of ENERGEX calmed any fears of a repeat of the incident. “We’ve isolated the
fault and installed new circuitry. It’s something that only happens in rare circumstances.”
Town police sergeant Harvey O'Donnell warned residents that in the case of a blackout,
remain off the road. “If you can get home and keep your car off the road, the chances of
dangerous traffic conditions are minimized.
 

9. Against All Odds

Yesterday, in the packed stadium in Sydney, Australia, where the games have been taking
place all week, Chris ran the race of his life to cross the line in the gold medal position.

For any athlete a championship medal is the ultimate achievement, but for Chris it was also
the culmination of years of determination and courage. The 20 year old was just 5 when he
had to have his right leg amputated below the knee. The pain caused by his artificial leg was
not enough to stop the lively youngster from Motherwell running around living life to the
full.

When he joined the local athletics club he never dreamt that he would end up an Olympic
champion.

Now, thanks to the pioneering work of sports scientists and the doctors at Glasgow’s St
Thomas’ Hospital, Chris has been able to take advantage of the latest sports technology, a
new prosthetic sports leg.

“The new leg is made of light weight materials and the foot section has as close to normal
foot movement as an artificial leg can get,” said Ken Brown, one of the doctors who worked
on the project. Chris backed up Dr. Brown’s claim when he said that the new leg allowed for
fluid movement and a much less cumbersome running style.

Certainly, the benefits the artificial leg will bring to sports women and men all over the world
could be seen yesterday in Sydney, when Chris Brodie showed the world what a powerful
combination courage and innovation can be.
 10. My Best Holiday
Last year my family and I went on the most amazing holiday to Spain. We had never been to
Spain before and my Dad wanted to go there because he said that he was fed up with sitting
around in the damp and gloom! When we arrived at the villa it was baking hot. The first thing
that Dad did was to take a shower. He said that he needed to cool off after such a long
journey. There was a swimming pool so we spent a lot of time mucking about in the water or
splashing water over Dad!

One afternoon we went to visit some caves in the hills. Inside the caves were the most
amazing stalagmites and stalactites. They were knobbly and looked like massive, misshapen
spears. Some were like bars in a zoo. The guide tapped some and it was rather like playing a
glockenspiel. In the caves it was quite cold and by the end of the tour we were all ready for a
bit of sun and an ice cream.

On the third day we visited a beach. The waves were just right for surfing so we hired some
bodyboards. Dad was worried that we would drown so he spent the afternoon standing in the
sea watching us. It was a breeze! The waves were strong enough to float in on but not too
powerful.

One of the best things about the holidays was that Dad was so useless at cooking that we had
to go into the town every night to eat. There was a stall where you could buy chips and
calamari. The calamari was squid cooked in batter – it tasted like rubbery
fish. Once we had eaten, we played on the pinball machines. When we got home Mum
wanted to see all the photos. I had a magnificent picture of Dad’s very red face from too
much sun. All in all I think that it was a great holiday and I can’t wait to go back.

Prompt 2: You are required to write a story (your real story or imaginative one) based
on the following narrating topics. Your writing must have at least 150 words
and fulfill criteria of the narrating structures.

1. Pain stories (someone hurt you, argument with best friend, parents).
2. First day of school stories (it can be interesting to tell your first day of
teaching story).
3. Weather stories (tornadoes, hurricanes, thunderstorms).
4. Animal stories (pets, getting bitten by a dog).
5. Holiday stories (traditions of the holiday, a memorable one).
6. Physical hurts (broken bones, stitches, surgeries, bee stings, etc) stories.
7. A move from one place to another.
8. Something funny that happened to you.
9. Something funny that happened to one of your family members or friends.
10. Something embarrassing that happened to you.
11. A dangerous experience.
12. A misunderstanding between yourself and someone else.
13. A difficult decision that you had to make.
14. The end of a friendship or relationship.
15. The beginning of a friendship or relationship.
16. A time when you judged someone first and then realized that you were
wrong about the person.
17. A time when someone judged you first and then realized that he or she was
wrong about you.
18. A moment when you felt that you were starting to grow up.
19. A time when you saw one or both of your parents in a different light.
20. A time when you looked up to your older sibling.
21. A time when your younger sibling looked up to you.
22. A time when you were grateful to be an only child.
23. An experience that you think has only ever happened to you!