I went to Yogyakarta last holiday.
RECOUNT TEXT
OBJECTIVES
- Learners are able to understand the use of recount text.
- Learners are able to understand the content of a recount text
LEARN ABOUT IT
A recount text is a text that contains several chronological events explained by the writer. The events might be the writer’s personal experiences happening in his/ her life. The aim of a recount text is to tell the readers/listeners about particular chronological events.
Now pay attention to the following example of a recount text. Pay attention to how the writer tells the story chronologically.
I went to Yogyakarta last holiday. I went there with my best friends: Gian, Lili, and Fitra. There were four of us. Before we went there, we had booked our hotel for four days and three nights. We went there by train because it was cheaper and we would not get stuck in traffic.
So, our first day of adventure began and we decided to start exploring Yogyakarta from one of its most popular tourist spot: Keraton Yogyakarta. We went to keraton by pedicab. Our next destination is the museum. We went to several museums in Yogyakarta. From one museum to another, we took the bus “transjogja”. We only need to pay Rp. 3500,- for the bus. The bus was comfortable with air conditioner inside.
The second day, we went to Borobudur temple. It was quite far from the city, but it was worth the trip because you would see the wonderful view of Borobudur. Next, we went to Prambanan temple and saw the art performance in Prambanan at night.
The third day we went to Parangtritis beach. We played there until noon and we walked around Malioborostreet at night.
On the last day, we went around the city to find any local restaurant that sold local foods. Finally, we were heading home at night.
That was the most amazing experience that I have ever had with my bestfriends because that was the first time we went together for holiday. I would love to do it again someday.
In the text above, you can see that the first paragraph tells you about who was involved in the story (the author and her three friends: Gian, Lili, and Fitra), when and where the event happened (last holiday, they went to Yogyakarta). It gives you the overview of the events. This part is called orientation.
*The next paragraphs (paragraph two to paragraph five) tell you about the description of the events in chronological order from the first day until the last day. *Those paragraphs tell you more about the events. You can find where the author went or what s/he did during the events. These paragraphs are called the events.
The last paragraph tells you about the author’s statement of the event (it was the most amazing experience for her and she would love to do it again). It is also a closing statement of the text. This part is called re-orientation.
If we take a look at the text above, we will know that recount text in general consists of three parts:
- Orientation: This part is the opening part that gives the reader overview of the setting, the time, and/or the participants.
- Event(s): In this part, the author tells the reader the sequence of events that happened in the past. This part describes the series of events in detail and in chronological order.
- Re-orientation: This part is optional. You can include re-orientation in your text or not. If you want to include this part, you need to understand that this part is more like a closing paragraph. This part is about personal statement of the author related to the story.
Mr. Richard’s family was on vacation. They are Mr. and Mrs. Richard with two sons. They went to London Britain 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
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
Something which happened in the past is the main resource to compose both recount and narrative text. In writer's point of view, the thing is an experience. It can be what the writer has done, hear, read, and felt. Composing recount and narrative is retelling the experiences of the past event to be a present event.
What does recount differ from narrative?
The easiest way to catch the difference is analyzing the generic structure. Recount text presents the past experiences in order of time or place; what happened on Sunday, then on Monday, the on Tuesday. In simple way, recount describes series of events in detail. It does not expose the struggle on how to make them happen. The event happened smoothly. On the other hand, narrative introduces crises and how to solve them. Narrative text always appear as a hard potrait of participant's past experience. It reveals the conflict among the participants. Cinderella's conflicts with her step mother and sister are the example. The conflict is the most important element in a narrative text. Narrative without comflicts is not narrative any more.
There were so many places to see in Bali that my friend decided to join the tours to see as much as possible. My friend stayed in Kuta on arrival. He spent the first three days swimming and surfing on Kuta beach. He visited some tour agents and selected two tours. The first one was to Singaraja, the second was to Ubud.
On the day of the tour, he was ready. My friend and his group drove on through mountains. Singaraja is a city of about 90 thousands people. It is a busy but quiet town. The street are lined with trees and there are many old Dutch houses. Then they returned very late in the evening to Kuta.
The second tour to Ubud was a very different tour. It was not to see the scenery but to see the art and the craft of the island. The first stop was at Batubulan, a center of stone sculpture. There my friend watched young boys were carving away at big blocks of stone. The next stop was Celuk, a center for silversmiths and goldensmiths. After that he stopped a little while for lunch at Sukawati and on to mass. Mass is a tourist center
My friend ten-day-stay ended very quickly beside his two tour, all his day was spent on the beach. He went sailing or surfboarding every day. He was quiet satisfied.
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.
KEYPOINTS
WHAT IS RECOUNT?
1. Definition of Recount
Recount is a text which retells events or experiences in the past. Its purpose is either to inform or to entertain the audience. There is no complication among the participants and that differentiates from narrative
2. Generic Structure of Recount
1. Orientation: Introducing the participants, place and time
2. Events: Describing series of event that happened in the past
3. Reorientation: It is optional. Stating personal comment of the writer to the story
3. Language Feature of Recount
• Introducing personal participant; I, my group, etc
• Using chronological connection; then, first, etc
• Using linking verb; was, were, saw, heard, etc
• Using action verb; look, go, change, etc
• Using simple past tense
