Recounting the Past Events  

 

Q1. WHAT IS A RECOUNT?

A recount retells an experience or an event that happened in the past.  The purpose of a recount can be to inform, entertain or to reflect and evaluate. 

Q2. What is a recount text?

A recount text is a text which tells about something that happened in the past. The details in a recount can include what happened, who was involved, where it took place, when it happened and why it occurred. Its purpose or goal is to entertain or inform about the past activity to the reader or listener.

Q3. What is the purpose of recount writing?

A recount is the retelling or recounting of an event or an experience. Often based on the direct experience of the writer, the purpose is to tell what happened. Daily news telling in the classroom is a useful example to this particular writing genre. Recounts though often personal, can also be factual or imaginative.

Q4. Explain the Important Recount types?

A recount can focus on a specific section of an event or retell the entire story.  A recount should always be told in the order that things happened. There are five types of a recount to consider.

PERSONAL RECOUNT

Retells an activity the writer has been personally involved in and may be used to build the relationship between the writer and the reader e.g. anecdote, diary journal, personal letter.  These usually retell an event that the writer was personally involved in.

FACTUAL / NEWSPAPER RECOUNT

Reports the particulars of an incident by reconstructing factual information e.g. police reconstruction of an accident, historical recount, biographical and autobiographical recounts.  A factual recount is an objective recount of a true event by someone not personally involved in the situation. Its purpose is either to inform, entertain or both.

IMAGINATIVE RECOUNT

Applies factual knowledge to an imaginary role in order to interpret and recount events e.g. A Day in the Life of a German soldier, How I manned the first mission to the moon.  An imaginative recount is the re-telling of events, usually in the first person. This style of recount allows for embellishment beyond facts and events- perfect for creative writing.

PROCEDURAL RECOUNT

Records the steps in an investigation or experiment and thereby providing the basis for reported results or findings.  Procedural recount records events such as a science experiment or cooking. Procedural recounts present the events chronologically (in the order in which happened). The purpose of procedural recounts is to inform the audience. 

LITERARY RECOUNT

Retells a series of events for the purpose of entertainment.  A literary recount is like a factual recount.  Both provide details about what happened, including who was involved, when and where the event took place, and what may have resulted. A literary recount can be about real or fictional events and characters.

Q5. What are the ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE RECOUNT?

STRUCTURE

ORIENTATION

Explain the who, what, when, whereof the experience in your introduction. The nature of the topic is explained in this section.

FOCUS

Only significant events are included. Unnecessary details should be avoided.

CHRONOLOGY

Events are described in the sequence in which they occurred. The first thing happened should be discussed first. Restrain yourself from “Stream of consciousness” in writing

ORGANIZATION

Relevant information is grouped in paragraphs. Sentences must be coherent and clear.

INSIGHT/Body

Include personal comments, opinions or interpretations of the recounted experience or event. Supporting Details can be given in this section.

Topics:

·         Pain stories (someone hurt you, argument with best friend, parents).

·         First day of school stories (it can be interesting to tell your first day of teaching story).

·         Weather stories (tornadoes, hurricanes, thunderstorms).

·         Animal stories (pets, getting bitten by a dog).

·         Holiday stories (traditions of the holiday, a memorable one, when you found out there is no Santa Claus when you found out there really is a Santa Claus and he's you).

·         Physical hurts (broken bones, stitches, surgeries, bee stings, etc) stories.

·         'First time I swore in front of my parents' stories. Stories about being in trouble.

·         Getting caught stories (sneaking out, sneaking someone else in).

 

Extra Links:

https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Personal-Recount

https://youtu.be/35F2vgkxRxA

https://youtu.be/qzOUFiCWzQM