SBLE2113 ENGLISH PROFICIENCY II

UNIT TWO

SIGHTSEEING

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, you will be able to:
1. Read for specific and general information in a text.
2. Use the Past Perfect Tense.
3. Ask direction and give responses related to sightseeing.
4. Write a descriptive writing effectively.

Before You Read

Discuss the following questions.

1. How do you normally spend your holidays?
2. Do you like travelling? Why?
3. Do you like to go travelling with family or friends? Why?
4. How do you prepare for any trips?

READING
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.

RUSTIC CHARM OF VILLAGE LIFE

I I have always been a village girl at heart and a proud one at that. My
cousins, siblings and I spent part of our childhood, before we started
schooling, with my grandparents in Kampung Baru, Kuala Sungai Baru,
Malacca. Our playmates were the ducks, chickens and geese. Despite
having lived in different parts of Kuala Lumpur because of my father‟s job, I 5
consider Kuala Sungai Baru to be my hometown. It is a small town in Alor
Gajah district, between Kuala Linggi and Pengkalan Balak.

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II Kampung Baru is located right where a river flows into the Straits of
Malacca. It is picturesque and retains much of its old village charm. Many
dramas and movies were filmed in Kampung Baru. As you drive through 10
the village, you will see many typical houses of Malacca. The most
recognizable features of a typical house Melaka include the balcony and
stair way, which is usually decorated with paintings. When we were
growing up, there were only a few channels to watch on TV. So, what my
cousins and I did was to invent games to keep ourselves entertained. One 15
of them was to see who could run the fastest from one end of the house to
the other.

III University College Islam of Malacca is located in the town. There is also a
district clinic, police station, post office, petrol station, bank and several
hawker centres. There are several stalls selling grilled fish at the Kuala 20
Sungai Baru Ikan Bakar complex at the end of Kampung Baru. The floating
complex facing the Straits of Malacca is famed for its fresh and cheap
seafood. The nearest hospital, Terendak Camp hospital, is 16kilometers
away at Terendak military base. A good number of my family members
were born at the hospital, including my uncles, brothers and cousins. The 25
military base is famed for its free roaming monkeys. It is an old family joke
that anyone born at Terendak Camp hospital is as mischievous as the
cheeky animals.

IV One of our family rituals when we go back to Kuala Sungai Baru is to get
traditional cakes called apam balik from a peddler called Mat Pantun. 30
Rumour has it that he loves pantun, Malay poem, so much that anyone
challenging him to a pantun match is sure to be defeated. Even in the midst
of selling and preparing his apam balik, he will throw in a pantun or two on
request. But, even if you beat him in a pantun match, you still have to pay
for your apam balik. So whenever you are in town, try to get Mat Pantun‟s 35
apam balik. Or, have some grilled fish, and if you want fresh fermented
shrimp, knock on Hajah Rohani‟s door. You can ask anyone in town for
directions to her house.

V None of the houses in Kampung Baru are numbered but the postman
knows where to deliver the letters, as he knows who lives in which house. It 40
has always been like that. It is really hard when you try to give directions to
an outsider because you have to be really specific. For example, you might
tell him to look for “the third blue house from the bridge”. My grandparents‟
place is a dream spot for retirement. Just open the front door and you are

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greeted by the beach. 45

VI You can also get fresh seafood everyday in Kampung Baru. Fishermen
return to shore between 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and villagers can pick their
seafood right off the boat. It does not get any fresher than that. And, when
the tide is low and it is the season, we can go to the beach and dig for
remis, a tiny edible shellfish. It is really fun and easy. All we have to do is 50
sit on the beach in front of my grandparents‟ home and start digging and
we will find many remis. We used to spend the whole evening playing and
searching for remis until my grandmother shouted that it was time to go
home. When we brought our “loot” home, my grandmother would cook it
and we would eat it together. My grandmother also makes her own 55
fermented shrimp. If it‟s shrimp season she will make a lot of it for sale.

Read the questions below and discuss your answer with a partner.

1. Where is the writer‟s hometown located?

2. Why were many dramas and movies filmed in Kampung Baru?
3. List three facilities in and around Kampung Baru, Kuala Sungai.
4. Why has it become the writer‟s family joke that anyone born at Terendak Camp is
mischievous?
5. Provide two reasons for Kampung Baru to be a dream spot for retirement?
6. What were the writer‟s favourite activities during the low tide?

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Read the statements below and decide if they are true or false with a partner.

1. The writer has lived in Kampung Baru all her life. T F

2. Ducks, chickens and geese were the writer‟s playmates. T F
3. The writer had always considered Kuala Lumpur as her hometown. T F
4. Kampung Baru is a small town at a river mouth. T F
5. Balcony and stair way are the features of traditional Malacca T F
house.
6. Mat Pantun has acted in dramas and movies. T F
7. „Remis‟ is a type of fish. T F
8. Although Kampong Baru is a small town, it has sufficient facilities. T F
9. The postman knows every house in Kampung Baru. T F
10. Mat Pantun has won many pantun competitions organised in T F
Kampung Baru.

Read the text again. Match the words on the left with their meanings on the right.

e.g. Siblings (para.I, line 2) a. conforming to some type

1. playmates (para.I, line 4) b. brothers or/and sisters

2. picturesque (para.II, line 9) c. made famous

3. typical (para.II, line 11) d. friends that a child plays

with
4. famed (para.III, line 26) e. charming enough to form a
pleasing picture
5. rituals (para.IV, line 29) f. can be eaten

6. peddler (para.IV, line 30) g. choose

7. midst (para.IV, line 32) h. something done regularly

each time

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8. pick (para.VI, line 47) i. prawn

9. edible (para.VI, line 50) j. someone who sells

something
10 shrimp (para. VI, line 56) k. middle part

GRAMMAR

The Past Perfect Tense

This tense indicates that an action was completed at some point in the past before
something else happened.

It is formed with the past tense form and the past participle of the verb which the verb
can be either regular or irregular in form:

Examples:
Daniel had walked from the library to the class.
Shila had run 300 metres before the bus stopped.

Functions of The Past Perfect Tense

 It refers to a time earlier than before now.

 It is used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past.
 It does not matter which event is mentioned first - the tense makes it clear which
one happened first.
 In these examples, Event A is the event that happened first and Event B is the
second or more recent event:

Event A Event B
John had gone out when I arrived in the office.
I had saved my document before the computer crashed.
When they arrived we had already started cooking.
He was very tired because he hadn't slept well.

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Form of the Past Perfect Tense

The Past Perfect tense in English is composed of two parts:

The past tense of the verb to have (had) + the past participle of the main verb.

Subject + had + past participle

Affirmative She had given

Negative She hadn't asked.

Interrogative Had they arrived?

Interrogative Negative Hadn't you finished?

TO DECIDE, PAST PERFECT

Affirmative Negative Interrogative

I had decided I hadn't decided Had I decided?
You had decided You hadn't decided Had you decided?
She had decided She hadn't decided Had she decided?
We had decided We hadn't decided Had we decided?
They had decided They hadn't decided Had they decided?

PAST PERFECT + JUST

'Just' is used with the past perfect to refer to an event that was only a short time earlier
than before now, e.g.

 The train had just left when I arrived at the station.

 She had just left the room when the police arrived.
 I had just put the washing out when it started to rain.

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Singular Plural

I had walked We had walked

I had slept We had slept
I had been We had been
You had walked You had walked
You had slept You had slept
You had been You had been
He/she/it had walked They had walked
He/she/it had slept They had slept
He/she/it had been They had been

Put the verbs into the correct form (past perfect simple).

1. The earthquake destroyed the building and houses that we (build) __________.
2. George (not / be) __________ to Jakarta before 2017.
3. When Aidil went out to play, he (do / already) __________ his homework.
4. My little brother and sister ate all of the pancake that our mom (make)__________.
5. The contractor put more plaster that he (put on) __________ last week.
6. The waiter brought a drink that I (not / order) __________.
7. Leah and Jane could not remember the lesson they (learn) __________ the week.
8. My kids collected the chestnuts that (fall) __________ from the tree.
9. (Amir / phone) __________ Hamidah before he went to see her in London?
10. Diana (not / ride) __________ a motorcycle to her class before yesterday.

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FOCUS ON WRITING
Writing a Descriptive Essay

One of the keys to writing a descriptive essay is to create a picture in your reading
audience‟s mind by engaging all five of their senses. These are six steps in writing a
descriptive essay will lay the groundwork for the entire piece.

Step 1: Choose a topic

A descriptive essay will usually focus on a single event, a person, a location or an item.
When you write your essay, it is your job to convey your idea about that topic through
your description of that topic and the way that you lay things out for your reader. You
need to show your reader what you are trying to describe by illustrating a picture in their
mind‟s eye very carefully.

Your essay needs to be structured in a manner that helps your topic to make sense. If
you are describing an event, you will need to write your paragraphs in chronological
order. If you are writing about a person or a place you need to order the paragraphs so
that you start off in a general manner and then write more specific details later. Your
introductory paragraph sets the tone for the rest of the essay, so it needs to set out all of
the main ideas that you are going to cover in your essay.

Step 2: Create a statement

The next step is to create a thesis statement. This is a single idea that will be prominent
throughout your essay. It not only sets out the purpose of the essay, but regulates the
way that the information is conveyed in the writing of that essay. This is an introductory
paragraph that sets out your topic framework.

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Step 3: Create an outline

The next step is to create an outline listing the details of the discussion of each
paragraph. The standard five paragraph essay has a particular structure including the
introductory paragraph with the inclusion of a thesis statement, followed by three body
paragraphs which prove that statement.

Step 4: Write the conclusion

Finally, the conclusion paragraph makes a summary of the entirety of your essay. This
conclusion also needs to reaffirm your thesis (if necessary). Your conclusion needs to
be well written because it is the final thing to be read by your reader and will remain on
their mind the longest after they have read the remainder of your essay.

Step 5: Review your essay

It is important to take a break from your writing once you have completed the work.
Read the entire essay again thinking about your reader. You should ask yourself if you
were the reader, would the essay make sense to you? Your choice of words and
language need to convey what you are trying to describe when you talk about a
particular topic. The details that you have provided should give your reader enough
information that they can form a complete picture. Any details in the essay should help a
reader to understand the meaning of the topic from the writer‟s point of view.

Step 6: Finish it up

Finally, read your essay again very carefully and check for any grammar, punctuation or
spelling errors that are obvious within the essay. If you find any clichés, be sure to
delete them, they certainly do not belong in your essay. If there are any parts that are
not completely descriptive or don‟t make as much sense as you would like them to,

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rewrite them once again and then follow the proof reading and reading aloud process
again to ensure that the final product is exactly as expected. You can never be too
thorough when it comes to reading the essay over again and checking for any areas
that need to be reworked.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

WRITING STORY (DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY)

Choose one of the topics below and write a story of about 350 words. Write you essay
in the space provided.

My Experience during Internship/Part Time Job

OR

My Experience during International Cultural Festival

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