What is A RECOUNT?

A recount is a piece of text that retells past events, usually in the order in which they occurred. Its purpose is to provide the audience with a description of what occurred and when it occurred.

Examples of recount texts include:

• eyewitness account

• newspaper reports

• letters

• conversations

• television interviews

• speeches

Constructing a recount

A recount text usually has three main sections. The first paragraph gives background information about who, what, where, and when (called an orientation). This is followed by a series of paragraphs that retell the events in the order in which they happened. Some recounts have a concluding paragraph, however this is not always necessary.

Grammatical features of a recount

Recounts usually include the following grammatical features:

• proper nouns to identify those involved in the text

• descriptive words to give details about who, what, when, where and how

• the use of the past tense to retell the events

• words that show the order of the events (for example, first, next, then).

The RECOUNT scaffold

Text Box

Step 1 (ORIENTATION)

Introductory paragraph that tells who, what, where, and when.

Step 2 (EVENTS)

A sequence of events in the order in which they occurred.

Step 3 (CONCLUSION/RE-ORIENTATION)

A conclusion

Last week, I spent my holiday in Jogjakarta. I went to Borobudur Temple. My family and I went there early morningWe went to Borobudur Temple by private car. I had prepared everything before we went to Jogja. While we were driving, we could see some beautiful views of mountains, forests, and waterfalls.My family and I arrived at Borobudur Temple at 11:30 in the afternoon. There, I saw many tourists. Borobudur Temple was crowded in that holiday vacation. I could learn and practice speaking English with one of foreign tourists. His name was Jack. He was very friendly. It was my first time to speak English with foreign tourist.We went back at 04:30 in the evening. It was a very interesting vacation.

#2 Love Story Started Again at the Lovely Party

It was Friday again, the day for famous parties at Wellington High School. Students were dancing in the garden and everyone was enjoying the pleasure of being away from boring lessons.When Sarah came to the party, the music had already started. Tim suddenly noticed Sarah and felt shocked. He had been looking for her for 2 years. They met each other at a holiday camp in 1999, but mysteriously Sarah disappeared after a while. He had been thinking about her since then.At the party, Sarah was talking to one of her friends while most of the students were drinking as much as they could. Tim decided to talk to her and waited for her friend to leave. When he went next to her, she was searching for something in her bag, so she did not see him. As soon as he touched her on the shoulder, she raised her head and couldn’t believe her eyes. She had never forgot him.

At the end of the party, no one was happier than Sarah and Tim as they found each other after 2 years.

#3 My Holiday was Fantastic

Last summer I got a fantastic holiday. I visited some great places.I went to an airport and was going to fly to Cleveland. I was spending there two days. I liked to see some Cleveland Cavaliers basketball matches.Then I went to Hollywood. Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It had become world-famous as the center of the film industry. Four major film companies – Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO and Columbia – had studios in Hollywood. I did not want to leave but I had to.After that, I went to New York city. I visited the Statue of Liberty. I went from the bottom of Manhattan to the top of the crown. That was very amazing.The places made me feel at home but I have to go home. Next time I would return to them.

#4 Visiting Bali

Mr. Richard’s family was on vacation. They are Mr. and Mrs. Richard with two sons. They went to London. They saw their travel agent and booked their tickets. They went to the British Embassy to get visas to enter Britain. They had booked fourteen days tour. This includes travel and accommodation. They also included tours around London They boarded a large Boeing flight. The flight was nearly fourteen hours. On the plane the cabin crews were very friendly. They gave them news paper and magazine to read. They gave them food and drink. There was a film for their entertainment. They had a very pleasant flight. They slept part of the way. On arrival at Heathrow Airport, they had to go to Customs and Immigration. The officers were pleasant. They checked the document carefully but their manners were very polite. Mr. Richard and his family collected their bags and went to London Welcome Desk. They arranged the transfer to a hotel.

The hotel was a well-known four-star hotel. The room had perfect view of the park. The room had its own bathroom and toilet. Instead of keys for the room, they inserted a key-card to open the door. On the third floor, there was a restaurant serving Asian and European food. They had variety of food.

The two week in London went by fast. At the end of the 14-day, they were quite tired but they felt very happy.

#6 Short Biography of Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain was the lead singer and the guitarist of an American grunge band called Nirvana. He was born in Aberdeen, Washington, on 20 February 1967.When Cobain was eight years old, his parents divorced. This divorce gave bad impact on his life. At his fourteenth birthday, his uncle gave him a guitar as the gift. Since that, he began work on his own songs. He and his friend, Krist Novoselic usually practiced music in the upstairs room of a salon own by Novoselic`s mother.In 1986, they formed a grunge band named Nirvana. Cobain was the vocalist as well as guitarist and Novoselic played bass. They released their first album titled Bleach in 1989. In 1991 they released the second album, Never mind. It was their greatest album which made them a kind of popular superstar. This album included popular songs like Smell Like Teen Spirit, About A Girl, Come as You Are, In Bloom and Lithium.

However the popularity was intimidating to Cobain. He began addicted to drugs and became worse, even he overdosed on heroin. On March 30, he went to a rehabilitation but ran away. He was reported missing for a few days. Then on 8 April 1994, he was found dead in his house in Lake Washington. He had shot himself.

#7 Biography of Marion Barber

Marion Barber was born on June 9, 1983, and growing up in Minnesota. He attended Wayzata High School in Minnesota, and excelled in football, baseball, and track. Then, he attended the University of Minnesota, where he majored in Business Marketing.In his college football career, Marion Barber would earn myriad honors and broke numerous records to boot. Marion Barber’s 3,276 yards and 14 100-yard rushing games ranked third in Minnesota Golden Gophers history.Marion Barber hit the big time when the Dallas Cowboys selected him as the fourth round of the 2005 NFL Draft. Fans with Dallas Cowboys tickets watched Marion Barber emerge as a starter, rushing for 95 yards against the Seattle Seahawks and 127 yards against the Arizona Cardinals, which was the first 100-yard rushing game of the season for the Dallas Cowboys. He and the Dallas Cowboys agreed to a six-year contract extension worth $45 million. His stats will continue to improve and impress his teammates, coaches, and fans with Dallas Cowboys tickets.

#8 Short Biography of Albert Einstein

I stayed a night at Sakhuwa of Gati VDC because a landslide near Baseri had blocked the road, The next morning, I hopped onto the bus with registration number Ba 2 Kha 4013 that was on the way to Barhabise from Tatopani.I took a seat by the doorside and remember that there were around 35 passengers, including me. The driver started the bus. A kilometer into the journey, I noticed a ditch on the road.The driver tried to avert the ditch. Before I could know what was going on, the bus started hurtling towards the Bhotekoshi.I had given up hope of surviving, but found a ventilator glass broken. I came out of the shattered glass and plunged into the Bhotekoshi.The river carried me for about 35 kilometers and left me on the shallow surface. I passed out after that. The rescuers took me to a hospital when I regained consciousness.

I heard later that all except four passengers had survived. I have sustained injuries on the face, hands and other body parts. Nonetheless, I feel that surviving was my destiny.

#11 My Horrible Experience

Let me remind you my experience during an earthquake last week. When the earthquake happened, I was on my car. I was driving home from my vocation to Bali.Suddenly my car lunched to one side, to the left. I thought I got flat tire. I did not know that it was an earthquake. I knew it was an earthquake when I saw some telephone and electricity poles falling down to the ground, like matchsticks.Then I saw a lot of rocks tumbling across the road. I was trapped by the rock. Even I could not move my car at all. There were rocks everywhere. There was nothing I could do but left the car and walked along way to my house, in the town.When I reached my town, I was so surprised that there was almost nothing left. The earthquake made a lot of damage to my town. Although nothing was left, I thanked God that nobody was seriously injured.

1. recount

narrate or give a detailed account of

2. text

the words of something written

3. event

something that happens at a given place and time

4. occur

come to pass

5. purpose

what something is used for

6. provide

give something useful or necessary to

7. audience

a gathering of spectators or listeners at a (usually public) performance

8. description

the act of describing something

9. example

an item of information that is typical of a class or group

10. include

have as a part, be made up out of

11. report

to give an account or representation of in words

12. construct

make by combining materials and parts

13. section

one of several parts or pieces that fit with others to constitute a whole object

14. paragraph

one of several distinct subdivisions of a text intended to separate ideas; the beginning is usually marked by a new indented line

15. background

the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground

16. orientation

the act of orienting

17. series

similar things placed in order or happening one after another

18. concluding

occurring at or forming an end or termination

19. grammatical

of or pertaining to grammar

20. feature

a prominent attribute or aspect of something

21. proper

marked by suitability or rightness or appropriateness

22. proper noun

a noun that denotes a particular thing; usually capitalized

23. noun

a content word that can be used to refer to a person, place, thing, quality, or action

24. identify

recognize as being; establish the identity of someone or something

25. involved

connected by participation or association or use

26. descriptive

serving to describe or inform or characterized by description

27. tense

taut or rigid; stretched tight

28. scaffold

a temporary arrangement erected around a building for convenience of workers

29. model

representation of something (sometimes on a smaller scale)

30. sequence

a following of one thing after another in time

31. conclusion

a position or opinion or judgment reached after consideration

32. holiday

leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure

33. coast

the shore of a sea or ocean

34. disappear

become invisible or unnoticeable

35. lethal

of an instrument of certain death

36. academy

a learned establishment for the advancement of knowledge

37. queue

a line of people or vehicles waiting for something

38. tour

a journey or route all the way around a particular place or area

39. travelling

the act of going from one place to another

40. comfortable

providing or experiencing physical well-being or relief (`comfy' is informal)

41. explain

make plain and comprehensible

42. cultural

of or relating to the shared knowledge and values of a society

43. souvenir

something of sentimental value

44. enjoy

derive or receive pleasure from; get enjoyment from; take pleasure in