Pertama kali yang harus anda ketahui ketika mempelajari narrative text adalah tujuan; untuk apa anda menulis (writing), membaca (reading), berbicara (speaking), atau mendengarkan (listening) teks naratif. Saya khawatir ketika anda sudah susah payah menulis, karena salah menentukan the purpose of narrative text, tulisan tersebut gagal di depan pembaca.

 Tujuan teks naratif memang bisa lebih dari satu. Teks ini merupakan teks yang unik di pangkuan pembacanya. Ada banyak keinginan yang digantungkan kepada teks ini, misalnya saja, dengan membaca teks naratif seseorang ingin mendapatkan hiburan (entertainment), nilai-nilai moral (moral value), atau untuk mempermainkan/menggerakkan emosi (emotion game).

Macam-macam Narrative Text:

1. Dongeng (fairy tale)
2. Cerita rakyat (folk tale)
3. Legenda (legend)
4. Cerita binatang (fable), dan cerita rekaan lainnya.

Hal penting kedua,  generic structure atau stuktur teks, yaitu:

1. Orientation: bagian awal yang berisi pengenalan tokoh, setting tempat dan waktu, dan awalan  masuk ke tahap berikutnya. Contoh:

Once upon a time, there lived a sparrow with her husband on a tree. She had built a nice nest and laid eggs in it.

2. Complication: bagian ini tokoh utama berhadapan dengan masalah (problem). Bagian ini menjadi inti teks naratif; harus ada. Jika tidak ada masalah, masalah harus diciptakan. Contoh:

One morning, a wild elephant was in search of shade and he arrived at the tree. However, soon he became angry and shook the tree hard. He didn’t find enough shade.

Down came all the sparrow eggs and broke one by one. But both parents were saved. The mother sparrow was very sad.

3. Resolution: bagian ini merupakan kelanjutan dari complication, yaitu pemecahan masalah. Masalah harus diselesaikan dengan cara yang kreatif. Contoh:

The woodpecker, a friend of hers, offered to help her think of a way to kill the elephant.

The woodpecker flew to her friend, the gnat, which in turn went to the wise frog for advice. The frog devised a scheme for killing the elephant.

The frog asked the gnat to buzz in the ears of the elephant, so that the elephant would be thrilled to listen to the music of the gnat and close its eyes. Then, he asked the woodpecker to peck the elephant’s eyes out. He himself would be on the edge of a pit and would croak misleading the elephant to think that it was a pond.

4. Re-orientation: bagian penutup. Seperti dalam recount, orientation berisi gambaran perasaan tokoh atau penulis, atau kesimpulan tentang cerita. Contoh:

The next day at noon the three animals carried out the plan and the elephant was killed when he fell flat into a pit after being blinded by the woodpecker when he closed his eyes in response to the gnat. So the revenge was taken with collective wit of all three animals.

Tense yang digunakan

 Secara logika, sebenarnya kita bisa menebak. Semua teks narrative pasti terjadi pada masa lampau (in the past), sehingga tense atau kata kerja yang digunakan ialah past tense. Perhatikan kata kerja yang dicetak merah.

Features (ciri-ciri)

Untuk tingkat SMP, teks naratif yang dipelajari adalah teks naratif sederhana. Paragrafnya masih linier, simple dan sesuai dengan aturan baku. Biasanya, narative di buka dengan frasa seperti di bawah ini.

 -          Once upon a time…

-          A long time ago, ….

-          One day, ….

Pemahaman Singkat Teks Recount

Recount text adalah jenis teks yang digunakan untuk menceritakan pengalaman, peristiwa-peristiwa yang sudah terjadi pada masa lampau, pengalaman berlibur, sejarah, atau sejarah hidup seseorang. Recount text juga digunakan untuk menceritakan pengalaman seseorang yang lucu.

Jadi, tujuan komunikatif teks recount adalah to tell the past event.

Karena digunakan untuk menceritakan the past event, recount text menggunakan simple past tense. The simple past tense adalah bentuk kata kerja yang digunakan untuk menceritakan kejadian yang sudah lewat.

 Contoh:

Last week I went to Bali for holiday

Yesterday my brother bought a new laptop computer

My father rode his new schwinn recumbent bike yesterday

 Perhatikan kata kerja yang bercetak merah. Kata itu adalah verb (kata kerja) berbentuk past tense.

 Generic Structure (Kerangka/struktutur Teks)

1. Orientation
2. Events
3. Re-orientation

 Contoh

Orientation

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.

 Events

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 a variety of food.

 Re-orientation

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

Orientation membahas who(siapa), what (apa), when (kapan waktunya), dan where (di mana waktunya). Siapa yang pergi berlibur. Siapa melakukan apa. Siapa melakukan apa  di mana dan kapan waktunya. Orientation merupakan pijakan pertama dan sekaligus menjadi pengantar cerita.

Events adalah peristiwa-peristiwa yang terjadi dalam peristiwa itu. Kalian dapat menempatkan satu event untuk setiap paragraf.

Re-orientation berisi kesimpulan, atau ungkapan perasaan penulisnya, atau tanggapan personal, atau pendapat penulis tentang peristiwa yang diceritakan.

Untuk siswa SMP contoh teks recount yang paling sering digunakan adalah menceritakan kembali pengalaman pergi berlibur (holiday).

Silakan latih kemampuan anda dengan soal-soal latihan berikut.

Diberikan sebuah teks monolog berbentuk recount tentang suatu event, siswa dapat menentukan informasi rinci tersurat dengan benar.  

Last month SLTP Utama team entered for a tug-of-war contest with SLTP Bangsa. Two weeks before the contest, the boys of SLTP Utama team started practicing hard. “We must learn to pull the rope together at the same time,” said Amin, their team leader. “Only then will our team be strong.”

           On the day of the contest, the team from SLTP Bangsa arrived at SLTP Utama in a bus. Everyone was surprised to see that these boys were much taller and bigger than the boys of SLTP Utama. “We’ll surely lose,” said Rano, a member of SLTP Utama.

           “Don’t give up so easily,” said Amin. “We must try our best.” Soon the contest began. Which team do you think of the winner of the contest? It was SLTP Utama. It was too strong for the SLTP Bangsa team. Why was that so? You see the SLTP Utama boys pulled the rope together at the same time. SLTP Bangsa boys, on the other hand, were not united at all.

1. When did SLTP Utama team enter for the tug-of-war contest with SLTP Bangsa?

             a. Last month

             b. Two weeks ago

             c. Two months ago

             d. One day of the week

 Diberikan sebuah teks monolog berbentuk recount,  siswa dapat menentukan gagasan utama  dengan benar.

 2. What does the second paragraph tell us about?

       a. The winner of the contest

       b. The participants of the contest

       c. The team leader of the contest

       d. The place and time of the contest

Diberikan text berbentuk recount , siswa dapat menentukan informasi rinci tersurat dengan benar.

 3. Why did the SLTP Bangsa team lose the contest?

      a. They gave up easily.

      b. They were not united.

      c. They were taller and bigger.

      d. They pulled the rope at the same time.

Disajikan sebuah teks monolog pendek berbentuk recount tentang suatu bencana , siswa dapat menentukan makna kata  dengan tepat.

 4. ” Which team do you think of the winner of the contest? It was SLTP Utama.”

    The underlined word has the similar meaning with ….

       a. loser

       b. enemy

       c. champion

       d. participant

 Selamat bertemu kembali dalam tutorial brikutnya.

Menentukan Informasi Rinci (Detailed Information)

Pada artikel sebelumnya saya sudah membagi tentang bocoran pertanyaan untuk soal-soal tentang menentukan gambaran umum sebuah teks. Sekarang saya akan melanjutkan tentang menentukan gambaran rinci (detailed information)

Sebelumnya saya akan berikan gambaran atau definisi sederhana tentang apa itu informasi rinci (detailed information). Informasi rinci dapat dijabarkan sebagai berikut.

1. Yaitu pertanyaan yang jawabannya berupa informasi yang tertulis dalam teks tetapi keberadaannya tersebar di sana sini dalam teks tersebut.

 2. Salah satu ciri pertanyaan tentang informasi ini adalah menggunakan kata tanya  WHY dan HOW.

Ciri lain soal menentukan informasi rinci adalah pertanyaan biasanya terdapat pada informasi utama, sementara jawabannya ada pada informasi penjelas.

Perhatikan contoh di bawah ini.

…. This morning Rina left for Bangkok. She went there by airplane. ……

How did Rina go to Bangkok?

Jawabnya: by airplane

 Penjelasan:

Rina pergi ke Bangkok adalah informasi utama, sedangkan ia ke sana naik pesawat terbang adalah informasi penjelas.

 Contoh lain:

Some bees are as small as 0.08 inch (2 millimeters). Some bees are as big as 1.6 inches (4 centimeters). Bees come in many colors – black, gray, yellow, red, green, or blue. Most bees live alone. They are called solitary bees. Some bees live in groups called colonies. They are social bees.

1. Why do people call bees solitary creatures?
2. Why some bees are called social creatures?
3. What is the color of a bee?

Perhatikan teks di atas. Pertanyaan “Mengapa lebah atau tawon disebut makhluk penyendiri (solitary)” sesungguhnya menanyakan informasi utama dan jawabannya diambil dari kalimat penjelas. Begitu juga pertanyaan kedua “Mengapa lebah disebut makhluk social” juga menanyakan informasi utama, dan jawabannya terdapat dalam kalimat penjelas. Pertanyaan ketiga juga sama.

Ciri khas pertanyaan menentukan informasi rinci adalah sebagai berikut. Mohon diperhatikan betul.

    >Why is ….”.

    >Which of the following statements is correct/ incorrect/true/wrong?

(Manakah pernyataan di bawah ini yang benar/tidak benar/benar/salah?)

Tips menyelesaikan pertanyaan menentukan informasi rinci:

1. Baca pertanyaan lebih dulu.
2. Baca teks seluruhnya secara hati-hati.
3. Tentukan kalimat yang mengandung informasi utama yang ditanyakan.
4. Temukan kalimat penjelasnya, sebab, kalimat penjelas itulah yang biasanya menjadi jawaban.

Contoh soal

The Sparrow and the Elephant

Once upon a time, there lived a sparrow with her husband on a tree. She had built a nice nest and laid eggs in it. One morning, a wild elephant was in search of shade and he arrived at the tree. However, soon he became angry and shook the tree hard. He didn’t find enough shade.

Down came all the sparrow eggs and broke one by one. But both parents were saved. The mother sparrow was very sad. The woodpecker, a friend of hers, offered to help her think of a way to kill the elephant.

The woodpecker flew to her friend, the gnat, which in turn went to the wise frog for advice. The frog devised a scheme for killing the elephant.

The frog asked the gnat to buzz in the ears of the elephant, so that the elephant would be thrilled to listen to the music of the gnat and close its eyes. Then, he asked the woodpecker to peck the elephant’s eyes out. He himself would be on the edge of a pit and would croak misleading the elephant to think that it was a pond.

The next day at noon the three animals carried out the plan and the elephant was killed when he fell flat into a pit after being blinded by the woodpecker when he closed his eyes in response to the gnat. So the revenge was taken with collective wit of all three animals.

  Which one is not true according to the text?

a. The woodpecker was the sparrow’s good friend.

b. The frog gave a plan to kill the elephant.

c. The elephant was killed by the gnat.

d. The mother sparrow was sad as her eggs were broken.

Sekian dulu, ya. Sampai jumpa di bocoran soal Ujian Nasional Bahasa Inggris SMP  berikutnya.

Jika kamu ingin lulus Ujian Nasional, sebaiknya kamu perlu mencermati Standar Kriteria Lulusan (SKL). Di samping itu, tidak ada salahnya mencari bocoran pertanyaan UN Bahasa Inggris. Untuk mata pelajaran bahasa Inggris, INDIKATORnya adalah menentukan gambaran umum, mencari pikiran utama paragraf, menentukan informasi tertentu, informasi rinci, informasi tersurat, informasi tersirat, menentukan rujukan kata (referring), mencari makna kata atau frasa dan menentukan tujuan komunikatif.

 Sementara KOMPETENSI yang diujikan dalam UN adalah reading dan writing. Untuk kompetensi reading meliputi teks fungsional dan esai sederhana. Teks fungsional, yaitu  caution/notice/warning, greeting card, letter/e-mail, short message, advertisement, announcement, dan invitation. Esai sederhana meliputi teks procedure, descriptive, recount, narrative, dan recount. Sedangkan untuk kompetensi WRITING, materi yang diujikan adalah melengkapi kalimat rumpang (tidak utuh) dalam esai pendek procedure/report dan narrative/recount, menyusun kata menjadi kalimat, dan menyusun kalimat acak menjadi paragraf.

Nah, sekarang saya ingin memberikan bocoran pertanyaan ujian nasional bahasa Inggris untuk kalian agar bisa mempersiapkan UN secara lebih cerdas. Mempersiapkan UN ternyata tidak hanya bekerja keras, tetapi juga harus berkerja cerdas.

Bocoran pertanyaan UN Bahasa Inggris ini akan saya bahas secara bertahap secara rinci berdasarkan indicator yang saya sebut di atas. Untuk bagian pertama, saya ingin membagi bocoran pertanyaan seputar menentukan gambaran umum teks.

Begini, mencari gambaran umum adalah keterampilan menentukan topic atau isi sebuah teks. Teks atau bacaan tersebut membahas masalah apa. Pertanyaan-pertanyaannya adalah sebagai berikut.

Ciri khas pertanyaan Soal Gambaran Umum:

1. What is the text about?
2. The text tells us about…
3. What does the text mostly tell you about?
4. What is the title of the text?
5. What is the best title for the text above?

 Pertanyaan what is the text about?, the text tells us about…, dan What does the text mostly tell you about? lebih sering muncul dibandingkan dengan pertanyaan (d) dan (e).

Bocoran Soal UN untuk Menyelesaikan Soal Gambaran Umum

Tips dan trik menyelesaikan soal menentukan gambaran umum.

1.  Bacalah teks secara keseluruhan

2. Amati kalimat-kalimat penjelas

3. Tariklah simpulkan teks tersebut

Contoh:

Jika ada sebuah teks dengan paragraf sebagai berikut.

Paragraf 1  tentang television;

paragraf 2 tentang radio;

paragraf 3 tentang handphone;

What is the text about?

Jawabannya, mungkin adalah means of communication (alat komunikasi)

Ingat, jangan hanya membaca paragraf pertama saja untuk menjawab pertaanyaan jenis ini, karena soal UN tidak boleh soal yang jawabannya mudah.

Sekarang cek pemahaman kamu!

 Teks 1

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 a variety of food.

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

 What is the text about?

a. the Richards’ flight to London

b. the Richards’  vacation in London

c. a well-known four-star hotel in London

d. a restaurant serving Asian and European food

Teks 2

Seals, sea lions, and walruses live both on land and in the sea. When on dry land or on ice, they are very clumsy in their movements. But in the water, they swim gracefully. They all leave the water for land or ice fields to give birth to their young.

The dolphins and the sea cows are sea mammals. Dolphins and porpoises look alike but usually the dolphins are larger. These animals are mainly fish eaters. Experiments show that dolphins are intelligent and can communicate with each other. They can be trained to perform various kinds of tricks and acts.

The highly intelligent killer whale belongs to the dolphin family. Despite of its scary name, it has never been heard to attack humans.

The text mainly tells us about….

a. behavior of sea mammals

b. way of sea mammals eat

c. different sizes of sea mammals

d. different kinds of sea mammals

Oke gitu aja untuk tips hari ini. Tunggu bocoran soal UN Bahasa Inggris berikutnya.

Dalam banyak situasi, sering Anda harus memulai percakapan. Jika Anda tidak memulai dialog, suasana pun bisa menjadi sangat membosankan. Untuk itu Anda harus mempelajari Conversation Starters. Di bawah ini saya sajikan contoh Conversation Starters untuk berbagai situasi.

Ice Breakers

1. Where did you grow up?
2. Do you have any pets?
3. Do you have any siblings?
4. Do you know what your your name means?
5. What type of phone do you have?
6. What did you do this past weekend?
7. What are your plans for this weekend?
8. What do you like to do in your spare time?
9. What is the first thing you do when you wake up?
10. What is the last thing you do before you go to sleep?
11. What is your middle name?
12. What was the last thing you purchased?
13. What is your favorite holiday?
14. What is your favorite day of the week?
15. If you could meet anyone in history, who would it be?
16. What do you like to do to relax?
17. Are you a saver or a spender?
18. Do you play any instruments?

Childhood Questions

1. What was your favorite childrens book?
2. What is your first childhood memory?
3. What type of kid were you (e.g. spoiled, rebellious, well-behaved, quiet, obnoxious…)?
4. What is one thing you miss about being a kid?
5. What did you want to grow up to be when you were younger?
6. School/Work Topics
7. Where did (do) you go to school?
8. What was (is) your favorite subject?
9. What was (is) your least favorite subject?
10. What’s the first thing you do after school/work?
11. Were you the class clown or teacher’s pet?
12. What do you do for a living?
13. What is your dream job?
14. If you had $10 million, would you still be working/going to school?
15. What was your least favorite job that you’ve ever had?
16. Have you ever been fired?

Relationship Questions

1. What is the first think you notice about a guy or girl?
2. Have you ever been in love?
3. Do you believe in soul mates?
4. What are your turn offs?
5. Do you believe in love at first sight?
6. Do you prefer short hair or long hair on a guy/girl?
7. What do you look for in a guy/girl?
8. Who was the last person you called?
9. Would you rather be rich and never find true love or be poor and find true love?

Sports Conversation Starters

1. Who is your favorite athlete?
2. How often do you exercise?
3. What is your favorite sports team?
4. Do you play any sports?

Vacation Questions

1. Where was the last place you went on vacation?
2. Where do you plan on going for your next vacation?
3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
4. What countries have you traveled to?
5. What was your worst vacation experience?

Food/Drink Topics

1. What is your favorite drink?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What is your favorite meal of the day?
4. Are there any foods that you dislike or will not eat?
5. Are there any foods that you would like to try?
6. What is your favorite restaurant?
7. What is your favorite pizza topping?
8. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
9. What did you have for dinner last night?
10. What is the signature dish that you cook?

Entertainment Topics

1. Who is your favorite actor?
2. What is your favorite movie of all time?
3. What was the worst movie you’ve ever seen?
4. What is your favorite TV show?
5. What was the last movie you’ve seen?
6. What type of music do you like to listen to?
7. Who is your favorite music artist?
8. What was the last book you read?

Personal Questions

1. Who do you look up to?
2. Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
3. What are you scared of?
4. What is the best piece of advice you’ve received?
5. What do your parents do for a living?
6. What is your biggest regret?
7. What is your most embarrassing moment?
8. What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
9. What are some of your short-term goals?
10. What are some of your long-term goals?
11. Misc. Conversation Starters
12. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
13. Tell me about your first car.
14. Do you drink coffee or tea?
15. If you could have any super power, what would it be?
16. If you were stranded on a deserted island and you could have only 1 item, what would it be?
17. Do you believe in luck?
18. Do you play video games?
19. Do you believe people are inherently good?
20. How often do you shower?
21. What is your favorite board game?
22. What is your favorite charity?
23. Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket?
24. Do you prefer cats or dogs?
25. Would you prefer to live in the city or a rural area?
26. What is your favorite season?
27. Do you speak any other languages?
28. Have you ever cried because you were so happy?
29. What is the best thing that happened to you during the past week?
30. What is the worst thing that happened to you during the past week?
31. Do you sing in the shower?
32. What is the most valuable thing that you own?
33. What would you do if you only had 24 hours left to live?