Universidad Nacional de La Plata

Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación

Departamento de Lenguas Modernas
Lengua Inglesa 1

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1

The Short Narrative Essay

This handout is a first approach to the writing tasks

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Task 1: UNDERSTANDING THE WRITING TASK
In English Language 1, we work with short narrative essays. Before delving into the genre itself, let’s have a

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look at the kind of instructions we generally work with. Read the writing task below and underline key
words in order to complete the checklist

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✔​ ___________
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✔​ Incident:
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✔​ ___________
✔​ Title
✔​ Word-limit: ______
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Task 2: UNDERSTANDING THE GENRE

What is a short narrative essay then? Is a narrative the same as a narrative essay? Let’s now read two
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pieces written by students that answer the writing task you have in Task 1 and try to see if we can tell the
aspects that they have in common as well as the differences across these two genres. As you read, reflect
on how the information is organized and presented (focus on the introduction, the body and the
conclusion)
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Composition A
Dust in the wind

Last spring, two years after I had finished secondary school, I met Lisa, my high-school crush, on the bus,
by chance. We started to follow each other on Instagram and chatted for some weeks. One day, I
managed to have a date with her We met at a park, one windy Saturday, where we spent the afternoon
together and did a variety of activities to choose from. We chatted and ranted about our likes, hobbies
and favourite things.
 After we’d ran out of conversation, we went for a walk around the park, which was quite large. I gifted a
balloon I bought from a balloon stand to my date, although it wasn’t the brightest idea during a windy
day. It ended up tangled up on a tree. I managed to get it down, but slipped off on my way down and
fell on my rear end. By the end of the date, my bum was still sore, but we were laughing about the
experience. We then finish the day, and signed our names onto the balloon and set it free as a way of
departure and to pin the day to our hearts and memories.
Although we both knew what we felt for each other, we decided to remain friends. I don’t regret not
having more dates with her; perhaps we could’ve been really happy together, but I found the memories
of that day to be comforting and beautiful. I’d say we both made the most of each other’s day, and

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knowing that fills me with peace. (275 WORDS)

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Composition B

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The importance of other people’s advice

During teenage years, we tend to ignore pieces of advice from adults without noticing that their words
can have a paramount role in our daily lives. A recent event has taught me the importance of that.
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One summer afternoon, my family and I were hanging out at our city’s main park because there was an
annual fair that we had been eagerly anticipating for weeks. A few hours later, my parents bought my
little sister the last unicorn balloon available in the whole place which she had been craving all evening
long.
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Back then, I was always trying to annoy my sister just for a laugh and unsurprisingly, that time was not
different. Smirking, I grabbed her balloon and raised it as high as possible so she could not reach it.
Dramatically, she started to make a tantrum in front of everyone, so
my parents told me to stop playing around with her balloon as she was quite excited about it and I could
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make her upset by ruining it.

Anyway, I ran away with it and my sister chased me. It turned out that by a mistake, the balloon reached
a tree branch and bursted. Immediately, she dissolved into tears. In the end, I was not grounded, but I
couldn’t have felt more guilty.
From this experience I have learnt that listening to what grown-ups have to say is crucial. After all, they
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are wiser than us most times. Since then, I always listen carefully to their advice. (247 WORDS)
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★ Now, put a tick (√ ) or a cross (X) in the following chart to organize our thoughts as to the generic
features of each piece:

Composition A Composition B

Title

Word-limit
Overview Instructions
Opinion/learning lesson

Incident
 In the first
paragraph we get answers
to the
following questions:
Introduction who?/when?/where?

It has a general overview

with the learning lesson

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It describes/develops the
Structure
whole incident/anecdote
(introduction, problem

a
and resolution)
Body

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It develops the problem
/climax of the incident

It goes back to the

introduction and restates
Conclusion
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the learning lesson
We find the resolution to
the incident
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Based on your comments in the previous chart, we go back to a question already stated above: is a
narrative essay the same as a narrative? Pay attention to the ticks you have made in the column of
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Composition B. Let's work together and write down the main features of a short narrative essay!
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3: ANALYSING A SAMPLE
A- Read Composition C and answer:

a) Is it a narrative or a short narrative essay? Why?

b) Does it follow the instructions properly? Why/Why not?

c) Is the title coherent to the piece?

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d) Is there a variety of structures and specific vocabulary?

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Composition C

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Simpathy

During childhood, I was a thoughtless kid. I used to behave inconsiderately when I did not get whatever I
wanted immediately. But for an incident I went through, I would not have changed my mind, nor my
attitude.
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Every weekend my mom would take my sister and I to the park to have some fun with us. One of those
days, as soon as we arrived at the park we saw a man selling balloons (He had only one left). My sister
and I ran towards him excitedly to get it, my mom followed us. We met the seller and mom
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asked, along with paying, him for the balloon while my sister and I were already arguing about who
should take it. As she asked our mom for a reasonable solution for this argument, I grabbed the balloon
from the seller’s hands, without permission. When my sister noticed what I had done, she complained
about me being unfair, therefore, mom threatened me saying that if I did not share the balloon with my
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sister I would get grounded, however, I did not care. Instead, I teased my sister by showing off my
balloon. All of a sudden, she bursted into tears, saying that she could not stand my behaviour. An abrupt
sense of guilt started to ease me, I realised how despicable I was for no reason. In the end, I apologized
to my sister for being disrespectful. Consequently, she calmed down, forgave me, and the three of us
played keepy uppy with the balloon.
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After this unpleasant experience, I learnt to be empathetic as well as thoughtful with others. (271
WORDS)
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Task 4: REFLECTING ON WRITING AS A PROCESS

At the same time, apart from the features we’ve discussed so far, we need to remember something that
is hugely important when writing: writing is a process. What does this mean? What does this process
consist of? Complete the stages.

★ (re) read the task and underline key words

★ Brainstorm ideas

★ ____________________

★ ____________________
★ ____________________

★ ____________________

Task 5: FURTHER WORK ON WRITING

A- Read the instructions and underline key words

Write a short narrative essay about an incident you went through with a ball when you were a teenager.
Give your opinion about this incident. Write between 200 and 250 words. Give your essay a title.

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B- Brainstorm ideas

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- Characters:

- Setting:

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- Anecdote:

Incident: gl
Resolution:

- Learning Lesson:
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- Possible title:

C- Write the INTRODUCTION with a partner

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D- Write the BODY

E- Write the CONCLUSION

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a
F - EDIT your essay

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Think…

*Any possible collocations with BALL? (the element in the instruction) Which other verbs
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apart from “play with a ball” can I use? What kind of ball is it?

Check: https://www.freecollocation.com/
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* Did I use narrative tenses appropriately in the body? Do tenses in the intro and body fully

convey my message/learning?

*Can I use any conditional? Can I paraphrase any of my sentences with a relative clause to
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make a more complex structure?

*Did I repeat “and” “so” “but” “commas” many times? Which other linking devices can I

use to avoid such repetition?

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* Did I use many vague words such as things, something, anything, everything? Which other

word(s) or expression(s) can I include to be more precise?

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