Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region VIII
SCHOOLS DIVISIONS OF TACLOBAN CITY
Leyte National High School
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET IN CREATIVE NONFICTION

MELC: Analyze factual/nonfictional elements in the texts

READ THIS
CHARACTERS OR CHARACTERIZATION
 Characters are actual people including the writer himself.
 Dialogue or the actual conversation the writer has remembered or recorded is an effective device for revealing characters.
 What characters say or how characters express themselves provides readers ideas of the kind of people they are—
careful, temperamental, cautious, dismissive, rude, straightforward, evasive, defiant etc.
 The nuances and subtleties of one’s character are often revealed through dialogue.
 Monologue is a long speech by one person in a conversation.
Techniques:
1. Direct Description
Example: There are photographs of him. The largest is of an officer in the 1914-1918 war. A new uniform—buttoned, badged,
strapped, tabbed—confines a handsome, dark young man who holds himself stiffly to confront what he certainly thought of his
duty. His eyes are steady, serious, and responsible, and show no signs of what he became later.
---“My Father” by Doris Lessing
2. Action & Reaction
Example: Action
I watched the train conductor appear at the head of the car. ”Tickets, all tickets, please!” In a more virile age, I thought, the
passengers would seize the conductor and strap him down on seat over the radiator to share the fate of his patrons. He
shuffled down the aisle, picking up tickets, punching communication cards. No one addressed a word to him.
---“Why Don’t We Complain” by William F. Buckley, Jr.
Example: Reaction
I myself can occasionally summon the courage to complain, but I cannot, as I have intimidated, complain softly. My own
instinct is so strong to let the thing ride, to forget about it—to expect that someone will take the matter up, when the grievance
is collective, in my behalf—that is only when the provocation is a very special key, whose vibrations touch simultaneously a
complex of nerves, allergies, and passions, that I catch fire and the reserves of courage and assertiveness to speak up. When
that happens, I get carried away. My blood gets hot, my brow wet. I become unbearably and unconscionably sarcastic and
bellicose; I am girded for a total showdown.
---“Why Don’t We Complain” by William F. Buckley, Jr.
3. Other Character’s Opinions
Example: My aunt told me that when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus
came into your life! And God was with you from then on! She said you could see and hear and feel Jesus in your soul.
----“Salvation” by Langston Hughes
4. Dialogue
Example: He would wander around the laboratory pleased with the progress all the students were making in drawing the
involved and, so I am told, interesting structure of flower cells, until he came to me. I would just be standing there. “I can’t see
anything,” I would say. He would begin patiently enough, explaining how anybody can see through a microscope, but he would
always end up in a fury, claiming that I could too see through a microscope but just pretended that I couldn’t. “It takes away
from the beauty of flowers anyway,” I used to tell him. “We are not concerned with beauty in this course,” he would say.
---“University Days” by James Thurber
5. Monologue
Example: I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners
will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state
sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and
justice.
---“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr.
6. Focusing on a Character’s Distinct or Idiosyncratic Behavior
Example: The Wild Man made forays out of the swamp. Farmers encountered him taking fruit and corn from the turkeys. He
broke into a house trailer, but the occupant came back, and the Wild Man escaped out of a window. The occupant said that a
bad smell came off the Wild man. Usually, the only evidence of him were his abandoned campsites. At one he left the remains
of a four-foot-long alligator, of which he had eaten the feet and tail.
---“The Wild Man of the Green Swamp” by Maxine Hong Kingston
Types of Characterization
1. Direct (Explicit) Characterization- informs the readers of what the character is like which can be deciphered through the
narrator, or through how the characters behave, act, or speak.

2. Indirect (Implicit) Characterization- allows the readers to infer about the character’s thoughts, actions, conversations,
physical appearance, idiosyncrasies, and workmanship or team play with other characters.
WRITING EXERCISE
Directions: Write down your observations about your chosen subject. Focus on the things that you like about that person. Physical
description and the person’s background must be very accurate. Consolidate your thoughts and write a three paragraph character
sketch. Each paragraph must contain five sentences. Use any of the techniques in characterization.
Note: Identify the technique you used and write it down beside your title
Observe any of the following:
1. Your mother
2. Your father
3. Your brother/sister
4. Your helper/kasambahay
5. Any other person living with you
Rubric:
CRITERIA 5 4 3 2 1
Title/Creativity/Originality
Grammar/Spelling
Proper Use of the Techniques in
Characterization
Organization/Cohesion/Neatness

Prepared by:
AIRRA MAE A. DACUT
Subject Teacher
My mother is a brave and wonderful woman. Her eyes are like the galaxy in the skies when she’s happy.
She may be fat, but she’s the most gorgeous and beautiful woman I’ve ever known. Though, she’s like a fierce lioness
When she’s angry. She stares and call me by my full name when she’s angry and make me realize that I made a
Mistake that made her upset. And in that way, I will say “sorry” to her and she’s back to an angel.

Her hobby is house chores and taking care all of us. If one of us is sick, she runs like an ambulance and
Check is we’re just okay and takes care of us. Doing house chores makes her happy although she loves more
When we help her in small chores like sweeping the floor and washing dishes at night. Her cooking skills are no joke.
She makes every dish special like a 5-star chef and makes our stomach full.

During Sundays, she wanders at every corner of our house and checks if there are still chores to make.
We would definitely help her to do remaining tasks to make her happy. If no tasks to do at Sundays, we watch
Movies and eat together with our whole family.