UNIT 5

Let’s Have a Look!

(Descriptive)

View from Prospect Point, Niagara Falls, New York.

In this unit, you will learn how to

 respond to spoken monologue texts of descriptive
 create spoken monologue texts of descriptive
 identify the meanings, the linguistic features and the text structure of written essays of
descriptive
 write essays of descriptive using the appropriate linguistic features and text structure
SECTION ONE

Spoken Descriptive

Presentation
_________________________________________________________
Activity 1

Answer your teacher’s questions about your meal.

- How many times do you eat a day?
- What do you have for lunch and dinner?
- What is the staple diet for most Indonesian?

Activity 2
The following words will help you understand the texts you will find in this unit. Check the
meaning and the pronunciation of the following words.
Average nursery moist
Prey dimunitive swirling
Solitary mate undigested
Vulnerable vital indicative

Activity 3
The following expressions will help you understand the text you will find in this unit. Those
are several ways of describing things or living creatures. Check the meaning and the
pronunciation of the following expressions.
It is usually solitary.
It is large, with large, with grey legs and yellow bill.
It is most diminutive …..
It lives in moist broadleaf forests.
Its diet consists of fruit as well as bird eggs.

Listen to your teacher reading the above expressions, then repeat after him.

Activity 4
Your teacher is going to talk about “Rice”. He/she will do it two or three times. Listen to
him/her and pay attention to the way he/she talks.

RICE

Is there anybody here who desn’t eat rice? I’m sure everybody does. Now let me tell
you something about it. Among cereals, rice is perhaps the most vital, although it is of less
importance in world trading terms. It is grown in Indonesia and becomes the most important
food crop of the inhabitants.

You know rice is grown mainly in River deltas and alluvial plains, however, some rice
is still produced in hilly areas. Rice is not sown directly into the field. Instead the seeds are
sown in a nursery and when the young plants are big enough, they are transplanted into the
flooded fields.

You know what? After flooding his field, the farmer puts the second crop – young fish
into the water. When the rice is ready for harvesting, the farmer gathers two harvests, the
rice and the grown fish. It’s great, isn’t it?

After being harvested, rice may be ground into flour, but mainly it is husked, boiled
and eaten in its original state.

Use these questions to help you understand the text.

Comprehension questions.
1. Why is rice the most vital?
2. How is rice planted?
3. What second crop does the farmer put into the flooded field?
4. What benefits does the farmer get at the harvesting time?
5. What does the farmer do with the grain after being harvested?

Activity 5
The following is the explanation about adjectives. Study it carefully.

ADJECTIVES

Adjectives describe nouns. In grammar, we say that adjectives modify nouns. The word
modify nouns. The word modify means “change a little”. Adjectives give a little different
meaning to a noun: intelligent student, lazy student, good student. Examples of adjectives
are young, old, reach, poor, beautiful, brown, French, modern.

1. Descriptive adjectives to describe people.

Personality and Behaviour

Good bad bright unpleasant
Kind unkind nervous stupid
Polite rude impolite intelligent
Friendly cheerful pleasant smart
Selfish generous unselfish dumb
Out-going sociable shy
Quiet calm unfriendly

Examples: I like a girl who is kind, polite, out-going, and smart.

Barbara has got blue eyes and black hair and she is also a generous person.

Emotional Feelings
Happy awful furious frightened
Sad terrible homesick
Unhappy depressed lonely
Great calm embarrassed
Terrific angry proud

Physical Feelings
Well energetic hungry
 Sick tired thirsty
Awful exhausted sleepy

Examples: At a glance Brad looks, calm but he is an energetic person.

I get angry easily when I am exhausted.

2. Adjective (Word Order)

a. Sometimes we use two or more adjectives together.

Examples: The female of Red Bird of Paradise has dak green feather.
Komodo Dragon has a strong long tail.
Red bird of Paradise has glossy crimson red plumes.

Adjectives like long, small,dark brown are fact adjectives. They give us objective
information about something (age, size, colour, etc). Adjectives like strong and glossy
are opinion adjectives and usually go before fact adjectives.

Examples: a bearded masculine appearance (opinion-opinion)

A strong long tail (opinion-fact)

b. Sometimes there are two or more fact adjectives. Very often (but not always) we put
fact adjectives in this order.

1 2 3 4
how how how where
big? old? colour? from?

noun

Examples: a tall young man (1 2)

big blue eyes (1 2)
an old Russian man (1 2)

If we combine those fact adjectives with opinion, the order is like the following:

1 2 3 4 5
Quality or Size or Age Colour Origin
Characteristic Length

Beautiful Tall Young Black French

Famous Fat old Green Dutch
Dirty Slim mature White English
Handsome Slender etc Blue Spanish
Nice Etc. Etc. Etc.
Etc

Examples: a famous young talented artist a tall thin girl

a beautiful young girl a fat funny boy
 a slender young woman a thin middle-aged man

GRAMMAR EXERCISE

I. How do you feel? Use an appropriate adjective in the blank space below by choosing one
of the adjectives above. Sometimes more than one word will fit.

1. I feel h...... because I passed the English test.

2. I’m f...... becuse someone wrecked my new car.
3. My family and friends live far away. I’m very l.......and h......
4. The party was t.... . I had a great time
5. Some children are f.... of the dark.
6. I spilled coffee on Mr. Baker’s dress. I was very e.....
7. I feel g.... today. I ‘ll give you twenty dollars.
8. Parents want to be p.... of their children.

II. Underline the adjectives in the following description.

Mr. Wilcox is a tall, thin middle-aged man He is bald but he has black mustache. He
wears big glasses. He is wearing a blue jacket and striped tie. He is crying a briefcase
and an umbrella.

III. Read the following topics. Which one can you discuss or write about with descriptive
adjectives? Check your answers and discuss them with your friends.

A Trip to the Zoo

Your lovely pet
Mangrove tree
Water fall in Tretes

Practice
________________________________________________________
Activity 1
Close your book. Listen to your teacher reading the following text about the most famous
waterfall in the world. Then, answer the questions that follow.

NIAGARA FALLS

Niagara falls is a famous area of waterfalls. It’s one of the most beautiful natural wonders
of North America. It is on the Niagara River, about halfway between Lake Erie and Lake
Ontario. The Niagara River forms parts of the border between Canada and the US. At Niagara
Falls, Ontario, Canada is on one side of the river, and the US state of New York is on the
other side.

Niagara Falls really has two waterfalls. The Horseshoe Falls are in Canada and the
American Falls are in the US.

The Niagara Rivers drops into a steep gorge or canyon at the falls. Most of the water flows
over the Horseshoe Falls. They are not as high as the American Falls, but they are 2600 feet
(792 m) wide – about 0.5 mile (0.8 km). The American falls are about 1000 feet (305m) wide.
Beyond the falls are the Whirlpool Rapids. There, the powerful swirling water has carved a
bowl out of the rock.

At night, colored lights shine on the thundering falls. About 10 million people visit Niagara
Falls each year.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki)
Questions
1. Why are North Americans proud of Niagara Falls?
2. Where is exactly Niagara Falls located?
3. How can Niagara River be the border of Canada and the US?
4. Describe the two waterfalls which belong to Niagara Falls.
5. What is the whirlpool Rapids?

Activity 2
It’s time for group work.
Now it’s your turn to give an oral description. Work with your partner to describe
‘Antarctica’ orally. Use the information in the following text.

Antarctica

(http://en.wikip edia.org/wiki/File:Fryxellsee.Opt.jpg)

Antarctica is the most southern continent in the world. It is like nowhere else on earth. It
is much larger than Europe, and nearly twice the size of Australia. It is an icy plateau with the
South Pole at its centre. Antarctica is the coldest and windiest place in the world, even colder
and windier than the North Pole. In the summer, the sun shines for twenty-four hours a day,
but in the winter it’s completely dark about three months. Very few plants grow there, but
there is some wildlife, including whales, seals and penguins.

In 1770’s noone lived there. Today, a few scientists work in Antarctica, but they only
spend fairly short periods there. Many scientists in Antarctica are studying the ozone layer.
The ozone layer is getting thinner and thinner worlwide. The biggest ‘hole’ is over Antarctica,
where the weather is getting warmer. Scientists think that this cold and lonely place can
teach us a lot about the earth and how to keep it safe.

(New Interchange: 1997)

Activity 3
Now you can work individually to describe one of the historical remains which you are
familiar with. Use the following questions as guidelines to prepare your description.
What is the place like?
Why is it considered to be a historical remain?
Where is it located?
Do people come to visit? Why?
What can you learn about the place?

Production
________________________________________________________
Activity 1
Now that you’re ready to talk about one of the historical remains, you’re invited to
come forward and tell the class about it. Read an example below.

The Must – See Ambarawa Railway Museum

(http://www.panoramio.com)

This Museum is located only less than an hour’s drive from Semarang. During the
Dutch occupation Ambarawa was a military zone and the railway station was used to
transport troops to Semarang. Ambarawa is 474m above the sea level, so the weather is cold
and the air is clean and fresh.
The Railway Museum is well taken care. It is a medium sized building. Visitors come
and take a trip on the railway route. The panorama is really beautiful during the route.
All in all, this is a truly exciting treasure to visit.
(Dit SMP: 2006)
Activity 2
Before we describe places, people, plants or living creatures, we have to find out
words which are used for a description. These words are called adjectives. Fill in the world
map with suitable adjectives. Use your dictionary to help you find the words.

Places People
Beautiful, unpolluted, generous, proud, sociable,
exciting, hot,…. ……

Description

Plants Living creature

Tropical, broadleaf, aquatic, … Solitary, large, extinct,
vulnerable, …..

Section Two
Written Description

Presentation
_________________________________________________________
Activity 1
Read these amazing facts about Iceland, then guess the answer to the questions. Check the
answers

MYSTERIOUS ISLAND

Iceland is a very unique island—in fact, it’s like nowhere else on earth. The interior of
this island contains incredible contrasts. It has tundras, huge glaciers, volcanoes, and
waterfalls.
 Fact 1:
Swimsuit maker Speedo sells a very large number
of bathing suits in Iceland. Is it warm here all
year?

Fact 2:
The island’s climate is cool, but most people don’t
pay money for heat. Energy is very cheap and it
doesn’t cause pollution.
What kind of energy do Icelanders use?

Fact 3: Icelanders eat fresh fruit and vegetables all

year, but they rarely buy them from other
Pic. 5.5 countries. Where do they get them?
(http://www.desktopscenes.co
m)
Fact 4:
Icelanders like to play golf all night during the summer. How do they see the
ball?

ANSWERS

1. No. Winters are cold in Iceland, but the people of Iceland swim all year in
heated swimming pools.
2. They use geothermal heat from under the ground. Icelanders use water from
volcanoes, hot springs, and geysers. Pipes carry the heated water throughout
the country. The water heats buildings.
3. They get them from greenhouses. Icelanders use geothermal energy to grow
fruit and vegetables in greenhouses, even in the winter. This means they
don’t need to import products.
4. Iceland is very close to the Arctic Circle. In the summer the sun doesn’t go
down, so people can play sports all night.
Notes on vocabulary:
geyser a hot spring that shoots water into the air.
glacier
greenhouse
produce
tundra

Cultural Notes
a large body of ice that moves slowly over land.
a glass building used for growing plants.
foods such as fruit and vegetables.
a large, fat area of frozen land without trees.
Subtropical countries have four seasons a year: spring, summer, fall (autumn), and
winter. In the North Hemisphere, spring is between March-May, summer between
June-August, fall between September-Novembe vtr, and winter between
December-February. In the South Hemisphere, spring is between September-
November, summer between December-February, fall between March-May, and
winter between June-August.
 For each season, fnd in the Internet some information about:
• what people usually do.
• what kinds of clothes people usually wear.
• how the weather is.

Activity 2
Now that you have got some information about amazing places, you will be given other
information about amazing animals. Read the text below carefully.

Deinonychus
OPENING
STATEMENT The model of Deinonychus, a dinosaur from the Cretaceous period, can
INTRODUCIN
G THE be found in the Museum of Natural Science.
Deinonychus is small by dinosaur standards. It is about 2.5 meters in
SERIES OF length and stands about one meter high at the shoulder.
PARAGRAPHS This reptile has a long tall, spindly legs and slender neck. The head is large
DESCRIBING
THE SUBJECT and the jaws are lined with sharp teeth.
The tail, approximately 3 meters in length, has vertebrae surrounded by
bundles of bony rods soothe whole tail can be held stiff.
The toes of Deinonychus are unusual. The first toe is small and points
A CONCLUSION backwards. The second toe has a huge sickle-shaped claw and is raised. The third
and the fourth toes are in the normal position.
Deinonychus is an interesting example of a fast-running dinosaur.

(http://ghostradio.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/dinosaurs17.jpg)
Comprehension Questions
1. What distinguishes deinonychus from a dinosaur?
2. Does it still exist?
3. How do you describe the reptile?
4. What are the characteristics of its toes?
 5. What conclusion can be made about its unusual toes?
6. How is the text about “Deinonychus” organized?

Activity 3

A. When you describe a place, a person or a thing, you begin by introducing the subject
of the description called identification.
- The model of Deinonychus, a dinosaur from the Gretaceous Period, can be found
in the Museum of Natural Science.
- Rice is perhaps the most vital among cereals.
- Antarctica is the most southern continent in the world and like nowhere else on
earth.
The rest of the passage gives you more details of the physical description. In the text
about Deinonychus, the details are the body and the tail
- The reptile has a slender neck.
- The tail is 3 metres in length.
The passage also gives us the specific characteristics of Deinonychus.
Guess what? The toes.
1. The first toe is small.
2. The second has a huge sickle-shaped claw.
3. The third and the fourth toes are in the normal position.
There can also be a final concluding section that signals the end of the description.
- Deinonychus is an interesting example of a fast-running dinosaur.
B. Descriptions usually include the following grammatical features:
- verbs in the present tense
- adjectives to describe the features of the subject

Practice
________________________________________________________________________
Activity 1
Now read the following text about the diversity of Indonesian Fauna. Use a
dictionary to help understand the difficult words. Answer the questions that follow.

SUMATRAN TIGER

Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) is a subspecies of tiger found in

Sumatra. Its habitat ranges from lowland forests to sub-mountain and mountain-forests,
including peat samp forests. About 400-500 sumatran tigers existed in 1998, but the
number has continued to decline.[3]
 The Sumatran Tiger is the smallest of all surviving tiger subspecies. Male Sumatran
tigers average 204 cm (6 feet, 8 inches) in length from head to tail and weigh about 136
kg (300 lb). Females average 198 cm (6 feet, 6 inches) in length and weigh about 91  kg
(200 lb). Its stripes are narrower than other subspecies of tigers' stripes, and it has a
more bearded and masculine appearance, especially the males. Its small size makes it
easier to move through dense rain forests.

It has webbing between its toes that, when spread, makes Sumatran tigers very fast
swimmers. It is capable of driving hoofed prey into the water, especially if the prey
animal is a slow swimmer.

Sumatran Tigers commonly prey on larger ungulates, like Wild Boar, Malayan Tapir
and deer, and sometimes also smaller animals, like fowl, monkeys, and fish. Orangutans
could be prey, but since they spend a minimal amount of time on the ground, tigers
rarely catch one. Sumatran tigers will sometimes prey upon mice and other small
mammals when larger prey is scarce.[2]

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Panthera_tigris_sumatran.jpg)

Comprehension Questions
1. Why is the tiger named after Sumatran Tiger?
2. What kind of forests are Sumatran Tiger most found?
3. How do you describe the Tiger’s size?
4. What distinguishes Sumatran Tiger from its other subspecies?
5. What is the male tiger like?
6. What makes Sumatran Tigers very fast swimmers?
7. Why do the tigers rarely prey on orangutans?
8. What size of animals could be the tiger’s prey?

Activity 2
Read the text about Sumatran Tiger again. Try to identify the organization of the
text as we have seen in the text about Deinonychus.
Identification:
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
 Description:
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………

Activity 3
Are you ready to write about another animal which is typically Indonesian? Let’s
follow the steps to help you write your paragraph.

Part 1
Write one question in the web on your paper, like the following example. Then
pass it to the student on your right. He/she will write another question in another circle.
When you get a paper from your left, read it and add one new question. Pass the paper
until all the circles are filled with questions.

Where is
mostly found
found?

Typical
Indonesian Animal

Part 2
Find your original paper. Read the questions. Choose four questions you want to
answer and cross out three that you don’t want to answer. Now you have 5 questions
including the one you wrote.

Part 3
Number the questions in the order you want to answer them.

1
2
3
4
5
Part 4
Write your paragraph based on your answers to the questions.
.....................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................

Production
______________________________________________________
Activity 1

The following text about Komodo Dragon is not written properly. Edit the text so
that it makes sense. Then answers the questions that follow.

Komodo Dragon
It eats by learning large chunks of flesh and swallowing them whole while
holding the carcass down with its forelegs. For smaller prey, like a goat, its loosely
articulated jaws, flexible skull and expandable stomach allow it to swallow the prey
whole.

The Komodo dragon is also known as the Komodo monitor. To the natives of
Komodo island, it is referred to as or a biawak raksasa.

The Komodo Dragon has a strong tail as long as its body. With this strong, the
Komodo can knock down large pigs and deer.

In the wild an adult Komodo Dragon usually weight around 150 lb.

Comprehension Questions
1. Where is Komodo Dragon mostly found?
2. Describe how strong its tail is.
3. How does it eat its big prey?
4. Does it do the same with smaller prey?
5. What does “in the wild” mean?

Activity 2

Read the following text about another kind of Indonesian Fauna, “Borneon
Orangutan” carefully. Then, find the meanings of the underlined words. Finally, answers
the questions that follow. Use a dictionary when necessary.
 BORNEON ORANGUTAN

The Bornean Orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus, is a species of orangutan native to

the island of Borneo. It belongs to the only genus of great apes native to Asia.

It has a life span of about 35 to 40 years in the wild; in captivity it can live to be
60. The males weigh on average 75 kg (165 lb), and 1.2-1.4 m (4-4.7 ft) long; females
average 38.5 kg (82 lb), and 1-1.2 m (3.3–4 ft) long.

The Bornean Orangutan lives in tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
in the Bornean lowlands as well as mountainous areas 1500 m in elevation. It lives at
different heights in the trees and moves large distances to find trees bearing fruit. Its
diet consists of fruit as well as shoots, bark and bird eggs. It also eats insects. Bornean
Orangutans use spears to catch fish.[6]

The Bornean Orangutan travels on the ground, because there is no need to avoid
the large predators which only exist in Sumatra such as the Sumatran Tiger.

The Bornean Orangutan is solitary. Males and females generally come together
only to mate. Sub-adult males will try to mate with any female, though they probably
mostly fail to impregnate them since mature females are easily capable of fending them
off. Mature females prefer to mate with mature males.

Newborn orangutans nurse every three to four hours, and begin to take soft
food from their mothers' lips by four months. During the first year of its life, the baby
clings to its mother's abdomen by entwining its fingers in and gripping her fur. Babies
stay with their mothers until they are about eight or nine years old and have a long
childhood compared to other apes.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/OrangutanP1.jpg)

Comprehension Questions.
1. Where can you find Borneon Orangutan?
2. What is the size of the male? And the females?
3. What’s its favourite place to live?
4. Why do they usually travel on the ground?
 5. What is their diet like?
6. How close are newborn orangutans to their mothers?

Homework
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go to the library or browse in the internet to get information about the diversity
of Indonesian fauna. Choose one of them. Write its characteristics in a descriptive text.
Use the following questions to help.
1. Where is it most probably found?
2. What is the typical size of males and females?
3. What is the diet like?
4. What are the distinguishing features?
5. How does it reproduce the off springs?

Summary
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this unit, you have learned:
 how to respond to spoken descriptive;
 how to make spoken descriptive of your own;
 how to respond to written descriptive; and
 how to make written descriptive of your own.

You have also learned these

 When you describe a place, a person or a thing you begin with identification.
 The rest of the text gives you more details of the physical description.
 The text also gives you the specific characteristics of the place, the person or the thing
you are describing.
 Sometimes the text also provides you with the closing statement.
 In addition to the above text structure, you have also learned descriptive adjectives to
modify a place, a person or a thing.

Evaluation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Choose the correct words for the following cloze test about “Red bird of Paradise”.
 RED BIRD OF PARADISE

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/CpZ.Paradisaea.rubra.00.jpg)

Red Bird of paradise, also called Cendrawasih Merah, is a bird of paradise in the
1) ......... Paradisaea. As an Indonesian 2) ............, it is distributed to lowland 3).............
of Waigeo and Batanta islands of West Papua.
Red Bird of Paradise is 4) .............brown and yellow with a darkbrown iris, grey
legs and yellow bill. The 5).............. has an emerald green face, a pair of elongated black
corkscrew-shapel tail wires, dark green-feather pompoms above each eye and a train of
6) .......... crimson red plumer with whitish tips at either side of the breast. The male
measures up to 72 cm 7)............ including the ornamental red plumer that require at
least six years of 8)....................attain. The female is 9)........ but smaller in size, with a
dark brown face and has no ornamental red plumer. The diet 10)..... mainly of fruit,
berries and asthropods.
The Red Bird of paradise is depicted on the front side of 1992 edition of
Indonesia 20.000 Rupiah banknote.

Consists large endemic similar glossy

Genus male rainforests long fully

II. Read the text carefully. Answers these questions

1. Why is Red Bird – of – Paradise called Cendrawasih Merah?
2. Where is its favourite place to live?
3. How does the male distinguish from the female?
4. What is the diet like?
5. What is the average size of the male bird?
Reflection
______________________________________________________
1. I think I know how to describe a place , a person or a thing. When describing a
place, a person or a thing, I need to
include .............................................................
2. The advantages of knowing how to describe a place, a person or a thing for my
study are ............................................................................................................

Vocabulary List

Words Parts of Phonetic Indonesian Equivalent

Speech Transcription
Alluvia Adj Tanah endapan
Average N Rata-rata
Bill N Paruh
Captivity N Penangkaran
Carrion N Daging bangkai
Dimunitive Adj Kecil
Depicted Adj Tergambar
Grind V Menggiling
Husk V Mengupas kulit ari
Indicative Adj Menunjukkan
Predaors N Binatang yang makan binatang lain
Scarce Adj Jarang
Solitary Adj Menyendiri