Narrative Essay

Name: Class:

A narrative essay tells a story. It uses descriptive

language to tell the beginning, middle, and end of
an event. It has an introduction that engages the
reader’s interest, details about the main event or
action in the story, and a conclusion that describes the outcome.

Narrative Essay Organization

INTRODUCTION
Hook The hook gets the reader’s attention with an interesting
or surprising fact. Background The background tells the
history or what happened before the action.
The thesis sentence prepares the reader for the main action
Thesis
of the story, but it
doesn’t tell the whole story (just a “hint” about
the main action).

BODY PARAGRAPHS
The body paragraphs tell the main story. They use a lot of details to bring the
story to life.
The situation paragraph describes the when, where, what
Situation
happens in the story,
and why the main event is
happening, step by step. It often uses time
order.
The rising action is the main events leading to
Rising Action
the climax. It also uses time
order and many details.
Climax The climax is the main action, the surprise, or the height of the action.

CONCLUSION
The conclusion paragraph tells (1) what happened after the
main event, (2) about a lesson the writer learned, and (3) how
the writer’s life is changed now.

ACTIVITY 1 Identifying Parts of a

Narrative Essay
Match the parts of a narrative essay to the examples on the right.

1. Hook Situation

2. Background 3. Thesis Sentence 4. 5. Rising Action 6. Climax

7. Conclusion c. Japan is known as “Land of the Rising Sun.”

d. When I
was
young, I
always
thought
Japan was
an exotic
country
with
interesting
customs. I
always
wanted to
go to
Japan.

e. I didn’t
know that
a. I learned that many things in Japan look I was going to learn an important lesson
the same as in the U.K., but they are truly because of a simple pastry.
Japanese, and we should appreciate them.
Now, travelling is more enjoyable. f. I was hungry and I wanted something to
eat. I found a bakery, and I saw a strawberry
b. Getting off the airplane, and walking the jam pastry.
streets of Tokyo, Japan was very exciting,
but it also felt like home. g. I finally bit into the pastry and was
shocked to find it was not strawberry.
Narrative Essay Organization: My
First Japanese Pastry Paragraph

1 • Japan is known as “Land of

INTRO Hook the Rising Sun.” • I always

thought Japan was an exotic
Background
country with interesting
customs. I always wanted to
Thesis go to Japan.

BODY Situation• Eating a pastry taught me an

Rising Action

Climax

CONCLUSION

important lesson.
 • Getting off the airplane, and walking the streets of Tokyo,
2 Japan

was very exciting, but it

also felt the same as
home.
• I was hungry and I wanted something cheap and delicious

• I found a bakery.

3
• I saw a strawberry jam pastry like back home.

• I bit into the pastry and was surprised to find it was not
strawberry jam.
• I began to like sweet bean paste.

• I learned that many things in Japan look the same as in

4
the U.K., but they are truly Japanese, and we should
appreciate them.
• Now, travelling is more enjoyable.
Matthew Barbee, 2016
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ACTIVITY 2 Reading a Student Essay

Read the essay. Respond to the essay by answering the following questions.

My First Foreign Friend

My first foreign friend broke my heart. However, before I could
have a foreign friend, I needed to travel aboard first. I have always wanted
to go abroad and make friends around the world. Last winter, I was able to
study abroad for four weeks in Toronto. While I was studying in Toronto, I
met a Canadian girl named Jem. She told me that she wanted to make
Japanese friends, so I was happy to talk to her. I was also happy to talk to
her because she is so beautiful. Jem is half white and half Filipino, and I had
never seen anyone like her before. It is safe to say that I fell in love with her
at first sight, but not everything is meant to be. (115)
In the beginning of our friendship, I was able to meet Jem often
because we were language exchange partners. Jem helped me study
English, and I helped her study Japanese. Gradually we became more and
more friendly, so I invited her to go out to eat dinner with me. We went to a
restaurant with her friends who also study Japanese. I talked a lot with her
and her friends in English, and we ate katsudon. It is very delicious. Having
dinner together made me very happy, and I think that my language skill
improved. (100)
One day, I went to watch an American football game with my
Kwansei Gakuin friends. At the game, I saw Jem with another student. I
said hello, and I asked about her friend. She said “He is my boyfriend.”
That is, she had a boyfriend. I was surprised, and I was disappointed in
love. Furthermore, her boyfriend was also Japanese and was studying
abroad like me. I was sad because of that unbelievable fact. At that
moment, I thought that my experience in other country was sad. (95)
At last, the day I went back to Japan, I heard from Jem by email.
In her email, she wrote, “thank you for being my friend. I want to meet
you and speak in Japanese when I go to Japan this summer.’’ Her email
really made me smile. I forgot about my feelings at the football game and
 remembered all the great times I had in Toronto. Overall, I learned that life
is made up of good and bad memories, but it is most important to
remember the good ones. (90)

Total Words: 400

1. Why is the background information in the

introduction important to the story? 2. How did the

writer and Jem become friends? (What is the

situation?)

3. What happened before the writer’s heart was

broken? (What is the rising action?) 4. What broke the

writer’s heart? (What is the climax of the story?)

5. What did the writer learn? Was it a positive lesson or a negative lesson?

Matthew Barbee, 2016

3

AC

TIVITY 3 Writing
a Great Hook
The hook is the
 first sentence of your essay. The
purpose of a hook is to get the reader’s attention. There
are 5 types of hooks:

• Shocking statement
• Interesting fact
• Statistic
•

Question
• Quote

A. Below is the introduction to a narrative essay. Read the paragraph and then underline

the hook.

I cannot live without pizza. If I go very long without

eating a hot delicious slice of pizza, I become sick. When
I lived in the United States, I ate a whole pizza every
week. But when I started living in Japan, I forgot about
eating pizza. I was happy eating delicious Japanese foods
at first, but I eventually began to crave a hot slice of bread,
sauce, and cheese. After living in Japan for six months, I
ordered Japanese pizza for the first time.

1. What type of hook do you think is used?

____________________________________________ 2. Why do
you think a good hook is important?

____________________________________________________________
__________________

B. Look at the examples of different types of hooks below. Work together in a

small group to write your own hooks. The essay topic is “Japanese pizza.”
 Hooks Examples Write your own:

Shocking statement Pizza was first

invented in Italy,
but modern pizza
Interesting Fact has
changed a lot.

The average
Statistic American eats 27
pizzas a year.

What is your
Question Quote favorite food in the
world? Mine is
pizza.

Einstein once
I love pizza more said, “Pizza is
than my family. the most
perfect food.”

Matthew Barbee, 2016

4

ACTIVITY 4 Reading a Student Essay

Read the essay. Respond to the essay by answering the following questions.

My First Time Cooking

When I was ten years old, I almost died in the kitchen. One day, I was the
only one home because my parents went to an elementary school to teach,
and my big sister was staying at her friend’s house. I was bored, and I
played video games a whole lot. In the early evening, I became hungry, but
 there was nothing to eat. I looked in our refrigerator, but there was only
some vegetables and medium spicy curry roux. When I saw that, I thought,
“my mother can make curry easily, so I can make curry, too.” I decided to
make curry by myself, but it would be dangerous because I had never
cooked anything until then. (115)
At first, I started to cook some rice. Second, I cut onions, but I
couldn’t stop crying for 20 minutes. After I stopped crying, I cut carrots. I
did well partway, but I cut my middle finger because I didn’t fold my
fingers away from the knife. I felt foolish. I almost gave up, but I continued
to cook. Next, I peeled potatoes with a peeler. I thought it was safe, but I
was wrong. My nail was skinned a little by the peeler. After the vegetables,
I prepared a deep pot and started to fry vegetables and chicken. However,
another problem happened. Before I fried them, I forgot to grease the
bottom of the pot and it burned. I moved them from the burned pot to
another one, and I started to fry them again. There were a lot of problems,
but I completed making curry at last. (150)
After I made curry, I looked at my hand, and it was all cut up.
There was some adhesive tape on it, but my heart was full of
accomplishment. When I ate MY curry, it was very tasty. Later, when my
mother got home, she ate my curry and said, “this is so delicious.” She
looked so happy, and I was so happy, too. After that, my father came back
home, and he ate my curry, too. He was surprised that I had made curry
by myself. My parents were happy, so I wanted to cook again. (95)
These days, I often cook curry and rice by myself. Now that I know
how to make it properly, I have become much better at it. I think it is good
for us to try new things. Even if if we are not perfect at first, we can become
better and better. As they say, “practice makes perfect.” In conclusion, while
my first time cooking was terrible, it became an invaluable memory that I
will never forget. (75)

Total Words: 435

1. Underline the hook? A. What type of hook is it? B. Write a new hook for the

essay using a different type. A.

B.

2. Why was the writer home alone? What is some other

background information of the story? 3. How three problems did

the writer have when making curry?

4. What was the climax of the story? (Why were the writer’s parent’s happy?)

5. What did the writer learn? Was it a positive lesson or a negative lesson?

Matthew Barbee, 2016

5
 ACTIVITY 5 Time Adverbs

To sequence events in a narrative essay, we use time adverbs such as then, finally,
eventually, after that, later, and then. They usually appear at the beginning of the
sentence and followed by a comma.

Then is an exception. It is not followed by a comma.

• Our train was running late. Finally, it arrived.
• We got on the train. Then we realized that we didn’t have money for
the ticket.

Identifying Time Adverbs

Reread the student essays, My First Foreign Friend and My First Time Cooking. List time
adverbs that you find:

______________________ ______________________ ______________________

________ ________ ________
______________________ ______________________ ______________________
________ ________ ________
______________________ ______________________ ______________________
________ ________ ________

ACTIVITY 6 Subordinating Conjunctions

We also use subordinating conjunctions to sequence events such as before, as soon

as, after, when, and while in complex sentences as connectors. Complex sentences
contain a main clause (independent) and a dependent clause. The dependent
clauses give extra information about the main clause, for example, where or when it
happened.

Subordinating conjunctions tell when something happened. When a

subordinating conjunction comes are the beginning of the sentences, we use a
comma. No comma is needed if it comes at the end.

Time Clause Main Clause

After our parents left the house, we had a party.
Before my brother was born, I was on only child.

Main Clause Time Clause

We had a party after our parents left the house.
I was an only child before my brother was born.

Using Subordinating Conjunctions

Combine each pair of sentences into one complex sentence. Use the subordinating
conjunctions in (parentheses) to clarify the sentence.

1. People harvested apples. They cooked and stored them in glass jars. (after)
 _______________________________________________________________
________________________ 2. I ate the main course. I ate my salad. (before)

_______________________________________________________________
________________________ 3. She applied for the job. She was accepted. (As
soon as)

______________________________________________________________________
_________________

Matthew Barbee, 2016

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WRITING Narrative Essay: First Draft

Now its time to write your narrative essay. Use the following guidelines to help you
write.

1. Write a narrative essay about something that you did for your
first time in your life. Use many details to make the story come
alive for the reader.
2. Use an interesting hook. (Try to catch a huge fish!)
3. Be sure to tell the reader what you learned at the end of your
story. How has your life changed now?
4. Your title should be: “My First _______________________”
(Use Title Style) 5. Your essay must be 4 paragraphs (Intro, Body
Paragraphs x 2, Conclusion). You can use the Narrative Essay
Planner below to help you write.

6. Word Count: 350 - 450 words.

7. Type your essay. Follow the teacher’s typing guide.
8. Don’t forget to write your name, student ID, class, and date at the top
of your paper.

Narrative Essay Planner

Paragraph

1 2
3

INTRO Hook

Background

Thesis

BODY Situation

Rising
Action

Climax

CONCLUSION
 7

PEER EDITING This paper belongs to:

This paper is being checked by:

Exchange
papers and
answer the
following questions about your classmate’s essay.

1. Underline the hook? A. What type of hook is it? If there is no hook or you
think it could be better, what is your suggestion?

2. What is the background information of the story? What happened before the

beginning of the story? 3. Underline the thesis sentence. If there is no thesis or

you think it could be better, what is your suggestion? 4. What happened at the

beginning of the story? Where was the writer? What was the writer doing?

5. What transition words or time words does the author use? List them below. If
they need more time words for clarity, please make a memo on their paper.

______________________ ______________________ ______________________

_______ _______ _______
______________________ ______________________ ______________________
_______ _______ _______
______________________ ______________________ ______________________
_______ _______ ______

6. What was the climax of the story?

7. What did the writer learn? How did the event change the writer’s life?

8. Overall, how do you like the essay? Give a comment to the writer.
 9. How can the writer make it better? Make a suggestion here.

10. Grammar and Spelling. Work in a group to check the essay for mistakes.
Underline and add a correction symbol if you find any mistakes. Write a
question mark (?) if you don’t understand something.

Typing Guide
All Margins: 30mm
Font: Times New Roman, 12 point
Heading: Top Right. Include name, student ID number, class name/number/teacher, date
Title: Centered, Bold. Use title style capitalization.
Line Style: Essay must be DOUBLE-SPECED (行間: 2.0). Use formatting icon,
do not hit return between lines. Indent: Use “tab” key. The first line of each
paragraph must be indented.
Word Count: At the end of the paper.
 9
Name: _______________________________ SID#: _________________ Class: _______________
Score: /50

☹ Below Expectations ☹ 😐 Satisfactory 😐 ☺ Excellent ☺

0 1 2 3 4 5
Hook □ Missing hook □ Hook is present □ Hook captures the
reader’s attention well

Thesis □ Missing thesis □ Present but does not effectively □ Introduces the essay effectively
statement introduce the contents of the
essay

Introduction □ Few examples/details □ Some examples/details □ Many thorough and clear

(para 1)
□ Contains information not □ Background info is present details □ Background info well
connected to the background prepares the reader for the
story

Rising □ Paragraph does not describe □ Describes the rising action □ Describes rising action with
Action
the rising action well many details and leads into
(para 2) □ Introduces the climax too early
the climax
 Climax □ No climax present □ Climax is present □ Climax is clear and
(para 3) effective with many
details

Conclusion □ Concluding sentences □ Concluding sentences □ Concluding sentences tell

rephrases the thesis what the writer learned from
missing □ Short and not
statement this
appropriate experience
□ Missing information

Grammar □ Many grammar and spelling □ Some mistakes, but they □ Few mistakes in
and
mistakes that make it difficult don’t impact the ability to grammar, spelling, and
Spelling to understand the paragraph understand the paragraph punctuation

Clarity and □ There are several problems □ There are some problems □ High level of fluency and
Organization with understanding and clarity with understanding but
clarity □ Natural and
overall the
□ Ideas are not well
meaning is clear expressive English □ Good
organized □ Few transition □ Some transition words organization and varied
words transitions words
□ Transition words are present,
but not all specific or varied

Paragraph □ Writing is cut into many smaller □ Writing is contained within 4 paragraphs
style
paragraphs □ No indenting first line of □ Paragraphs are indented
paragraphs
□ Appropriate title
□ Missing title or heading information
□ Typing Guide followed
□ Typing guide not followed

Word count □ Less than 350 words total □ Total words: 350-400 □ Total words: 400-450

Name: _______________________________ SID#: _________________ Class: _______________

Score: /50

☹ Below Expectations ☹ 😐 Satisfactory 😐 ☺ Excellent ☺

0 1 2 3 4 5
Hook □ Missing hook □ Hook is present □ Hook captures the
reader’s attention well

Thesis □ Missing thesis □ Present but does not effectively □ Introduces the essay effectively
statement introduce the contents of the
essay

Introduction □ Few examples/details □ Some examples/details □ Many thorough and clear

(para 1)
□ Contains information not □ Background info is present details □ Background info well
connected to the background prepares the reader for the
story

Rising □ Paragraph does not describe □ Describes the rising action □ Describes rising action with
Action
the rising action well many details and leads into
(para 2) □ Introduces the climax too early
the climax

Climax □ No climax present □ Climax is present □ Climax is clear and

(para 3) effective with many
details

Conclusion □ Concluding sentences □ Concluding sentences □ Concluding sentences tell

rephrases the thesis what the writer learned from
missing □ Short and not
statement this
appropriate experience
□ Missing information

Grammar □ Many grammar and spelling □ Some mistakes, but they □ Few mistakes in
and
mistakes that make it difficult don’t impact the ability to grammar, spelling, and
Spelling to understand the paragraph understand the paragraph punctuation
 Clarity and □ There are several problems □ There are some problems □ High level of fluency and
Organization with understanding and clarity with understanding but
clarity □ Natural and
overall the
□ Ideas are not well
meaning is clear expressive English □ Good
organized □ Few transition □ Some transition words organization and varied
words transitions words
□ Transition words are present,
but not all specific or varied

Paragraph □ Writing is cut into many smaller □ Writing is contained within 4 paragraphs
style
paragraphs □ No indenting first line of □ Paragraphs are indented
paragraphs
□ Appropriate title
□ Missing title or heading information
□ Typing Guide followed
□ Typing guide not followed

Word count □ Less than 350 words total □ Total words: 350-400 □ Total words: 400-450

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