NARRATING A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Definition and Purpose Narrating = Telling a story We are going to; Choose a specific moment in our lives and describe it in detail

Parts of a Narrative A) Introduction B) Body C) Conclusion

INTRODUCTION HOOK The hook sentence says what the topic (your event) is and either describes it OR says your feeling about it. For example: Have you ever felt happiness and worry in one day?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION This is the place to inform your readers to begin. !!!! Do not write details! Write just small pieces of information about Who/ When/ Where

For example : I lived one of the strangest moments of my life when I went to a summer course with other people. The teachers in this course carried us to visit the Guadalajara's zoo, and that day was very strange.

THESIS STATEMENT In this sentence we give the main idea. For example: A day full of fun turned into a worry because our bus was damaged.

BODY This is the place to give details. You can give as many details as you wish -sensory details -emotional details -time order is important.

Using Sensory and Emotional Details; IIn order to make a narrative paragraph interesting, writers include sensory details and emotional details that help the reader share the experience of the story.

Emotional details: Emotional details help the reader understand the writer’s feelings. Go to page 132

Emotional details:  Suddenly, my fear vanished, and I felt confident as I looked out at the crowd.  The sight filled me with excitement.  When we began our classes, all our classmates were quiet, nobody talked. It was clear that everybody was so excited.

Sensory details: Sensory details give information about how something looks, smells, tastes, feels or what it sounds like.

Sensory details:  My teeth were shaking and my legs felt like jelly.  The morning sun warmed my back.  The sky turned from blue to orange to pink.  The birds began to sing as the sky grew lighter.

For time order, you can use some signaling words;  After, before, as soon as, when, while, until  Then, next, afterward  Finally, lastly, at last  After a while, after a short time  At that time, in the meantime, meanwhile  Immediately  suddenly

That day at 8 a.m. we went to the zoo by bus, there we sang funny songs and one of the teachers taught us how to do different figures in a piece of paper. After 4 hours, we arrived at the zoo and we went to some games to have fun. We had fun in a rollercoaster among other games, but then we were tired, so we decided to rest. We rested in a train that carried us around the zoo to watch different animals. We could see a giraffe that was walking. Also, there were a lot of beautiful monkeys and hippos. Moreover, we went to see an amazing dolphin show, in which the dolphins performed excellent shows. I liked it so much because I had never seen a dolphin show in my whole life. After that, we ate delicious sandwiches and drank sodas. Later, some of my partners went to different places around the zoo. Consequently, they got lost, so we had to look for them. When they appeared, the teacher scolded them, and finally, we had to abandon the place. We were sad, but anyway we were making noise. Suddenly, the bus was advancing slowly and then it stopped, the teacher let us know that the bus was damaged, my partners and I were worried about staying there all the night, but we only were there around 3 hours. After that, the chauffeur could fix the bus and we continued our way, while another teacher told us a horror story.

CONCLUSION The concluding paragraph (or conclusion),  Describe the outcome (result) of the event  Comment on the experience (why it was important to you or how it changed your life)  explain what lessons you learned from the experience.

For example: We were thankful to the chauffeur because he fixed the bus and we could arrive at our homes. I learned that I should be patient in some situations of my life and that not all the things will be ok. We have to think in a positive way to have success in life.

THINKING IN A POSITIVE WAY Have you ever felt happiness and worry in one day? I lived one of the strangest moments of my life when I went to a summer course with other people. The teachers in this course carried us to visit the Guadalajara's zoo, and that day was very strange. A day full of fun turned into a worry because our bus was damaged. That day at 8 a.m. we went to the zoo by bus, there we sang funny songs and one of the teachers taught us how to do different figures in a piece of paper. After 4 hours, we arrived at the zoo and we went to some games to have fun. We had fun in a rollercoaster among other games, but then we were tired, so we decided to rest. We rested in a train that carried us around the zoo to watch different animals. We could see a giraffe that was walking. Also, there were a lot of beautiful monkeys and hippos. Moreover, we went to see an amazing dolphin show, in which the dolphins performed excellent shows. I liked it so much because I had never seen a dolphin show in my whole life. After that, we ate delicious sandwiches and drank sodas. Later, some of my partners went to different places around the zoo. Consequently, they got lost, so we had to look for them. When they appeared, the teacher scolded them, and finally, we had to abandon the place. We were sad, but anyway we were making noise. Suddenly, the bus was advancing slowly and then it stopped, the teacher let us know that the bus was damaged, my partners and I were worried about staying there all the night, but we only were there around 3 hours. After that, the chauffeur could fix the bus and we continued our way, while another teacher told us a horror story. We were thankful to the chauffeur because he fixed the bus and we could arrive at our homes. I learned that I should be patient in some situations of my life and that not all the things will be ok. We have to think in a positive way to have success in life.

DO NOT FORGET!!! S*W*A*P*S