FAMILIARISATION STAGE ACTIVITIES

TASKSHEET A (Sentence connectors)

Nini and her friends went for a trip to the National Park recently. She wrote a recount
about her experience there. Read her recount and answer the following questions.

Last Saturday, my friends and I went for a trip to the National Park. The trip
was organized by 3 Abu Bakar. We went there by bus. The journey took about 2 hours.
We chose National Park because we wanted to get away for a few days after a stressful
week of the final examination. The purpose of this trip was to let us appreciate the
beauty of nature and at the same time to learn more about the flora and fauna species
found there.
Upon arriving at the National Park, we checked in at the chalet. The chalet was
small yet beautiful. There was no television and entertainment. Luckily, my friends
brought laptops, games and cards. We unpacked our things and prepared for the next
activity.
Our first activity was boat ride. We crossed a river to visit the Orang Asli
settlement. It was a unique experience as we got a chance to learn their culture and how
they lived. At that time, we knew the Orang Asli have varied occupations and ways of
life.
The next activity was cave exploring. The cave was very dark but luckily we
brought torchlight to explore what was in there. While we were walking, we saw a
population of bats hanging upside down. The supervisor in charge told us that the bats
were sleeping. They sleep during the day and find food at night. We were all
spellbound on how they slept without falling. After a while, we found a waterfall. The
water was cool and crystal clear. There were birds chirping merrily. We splashed water
at each other and shrieked as the icy water stung our bare skin. It was definitely a relief
from the stress from the intense weather and exhausted day. How could we resist such
a great temptation? We saw a lot of fish swimming in the water. We caught the fish for
our barbeque at night. We decided to wrap our day as the sun started to disappear.
The next morning, we went for jungle trekking. All of us were fascinated at
seeing the wild animals, plants and rich biodiversity found in Malaysia. The flora and
fauna were very beautiful and colourful. My friend, Shasnaa, screamed as she saw a
huge millipede. We all burst into tears. We took photographs of this unique experience.
It was cool and refreshing to be in the vegetation. The fresh air that surrounds the area
was good for us to recover from the hustle and bustle of the city life. We returned to
the chalet as the darkness started to roll in. We were grateful because we had the
chance to explore the jungle.
On the last day, we woke up early and packed our things to go home. All of us
craved to go for another trip as soon as possible.

FAMILIARISATION STAGE ACTIVITIES

In her recount, Nini has used words such as because, while and as to link ideas. Can
you spot other sentence connectors used in the text? Circle them in the sample recount.

The ideas below are taken from the recount. Read the recount to see how Nini
connected the two ideas. Write the word she used in the space below.

Idea

Sentence
connector

Idea

We chose National Park

we wanted to get away for a few days after a

stressful week of the final examination

The cave was very dark

luckily we brought torchlight to explore

what was in there.

They sleep during the

day

find food at night

Notice how Nini has combined the ideas. Is there any changes in the structure
of the sentence? Punctuation? Discuss.
_______________________________________________________________

Why do you think Nini joins the two ideas? Why doesnt she write the two
ideas as separate information?
_______________________________________________________________

FAMILIARISATION STAGE ACTIVITIES

TASKSHEET B (Adjectives)

Besides sentence connectors, Nini uses words such as beautiful, small, dark
and huge to describe all the things and nature elements that she saw on her trip.
These words are called adjectives. An adjective tells us what something or
someone is or seems like. It is used to describe nouns or pronouns. Spot the
adjectives that Nini used in her recount to describe the following :
a) chalet

______________________

b) cave

______________________

c) water

______________________

d) flora and fauna

______________________

e) weather

______________________

f) air

______________________

g) final examination week -

______________________

Why do you think adjectives are important?

_______________________________________________________________

If you do not have them, how will that affect the recount?
_______________________________________________________________

FAMILIARISATION STAGE ACTIVITIES

TASKSHEET C (Tense)

In her recount, Nini recounts her experiences which are in the past. She uses verbs to talk
about what she and her friends did and felt. These verbs are listed in the table below but they
are written in their base form. Refer to Ninis recount and do the following :

Write down the actual form of the verb used in the recount against its
corresponding base form listed in the table

Paragraph
1

Base form of Verb

go
take
want

is
check in
bring
unpack

prepare
cross
get
live
know
tell
sleep
find
splash
shriek
sting
can
catch
decide
start
are
scream
see
take
return
have
wake up
pack
crave

Taken from the Sample Text