LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEETS GRADE 11/12 – Creative Nonfiction

Name: _________________________ Date: __________ Rating/Score: ________

Activity 1: My Travelogue
What to Know: This form of nonfiction writing focuses on one’s journey or trip. This
may recount one’s travel experiences, but it gives more emphasis on certain aspects that
exists permanently in the place being journeyed by the writer himself.

What to Do: Recall a memorable travel experience that you have and write it below
and use a separate sheet of paper if necessary. Apply the factors and measures that influence
the quality of creative nonfiction.

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Creative Nonfiction LAS Q4 Week 3 & 4

Target Competency: Present a commentary/ critique on a chosen creative nonfictional text
representing a particular type or form.
Note to the Teacher:

THIS IS A GOVERNMENT PROPERTY. NOT FOR SALE

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LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEETS GRADE 11/12 – Creative Nonfiction
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Activity 2: Critiquing a Memoir

What to Know: Memoirs are real stories of the writer’s relationship with a person,
place, or even animal that also includes the writer’s insights and feelings towards the
relationships. Moreover, critiquing is looking critically for a specific piece of writing by
evaluating it using the different factors. These factors and measures are discussed on your
module.
What to Do: Make a commentary/critique paper on the given memoir and use the
format found on your module.
A.

Monsoon Mansion: A Memoir by Cinelle Barnes

Prologue: Mansion Royale
My parents named the house “Mansion Royale,” a stately home in a post-Spanish, post-
American, and newly post-Marcos democracy. They bought it together with my mother’s
inherited wealth and my father’s new money. It was the eighties, when bigger was better, and
better meant glitter, gold, and glam. Our family moved in when I was two and a half years old,
in 1988, when my first narrative memories were forming. The house became the setting for
the first moments of mundaneness, celebration, and terror that my developing brain could
retain.
The original owners of the house had their marriage legally annulled halfway through
construction and put the mansion up for sale. They left some good bones for my parents to
work with. My parents paid cash for a short sale and tipped big bucks to the real estate agent,
and the mansion was theirs—ours: a palace that housed Mama’s social aspirations and
Papa’s business success and the miscellanies that were the staff, my half brother Paolo, and
myself. The mansion also housed many conversations—some in English, some in Taglish (a
fusion of Tagalog and English, the upper class’s preferred tongue), some in straight Tagalog
(the help’s lingua), and a few borrowed throw-ins from Old World Spanish and island dialects.
Our family entered through wrought-iron gates that were guarded by armed security staff.
Flattened metal bars curved to golden swirls sprawled from one hinge of each gate door to
the other, and although outsiders could look through the gaps between the swirls, the half-ton
gates kept us separate from lookers and passersby.
Past the gates, our driveway stretched from the entrance, around the front lawn, through the
shaded dropoff, down to the basement parking lot, then around the back to the basketball
court. When my mother threw parties, the driveway turned into a meandering buffet of shrimp
cocktail, fondue, roasted whole pig, beef Wellington—and barrels, bottles, and goblets of
alcohol. The winding shape of the driveway was perfect for the zigzagging drunks who
sauntered through…
Full text of this memoir is found here https://theculturetrip.com/asia/philippines/articles/read-
an-excerpt-of-monsoon-mansion-a-memoir-of-a-childhood-in-a-philippine-mansion/
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Creative Nonfiction LAS Q4 Week 3 & 4

Target Competency: Present a commentary/ critique on a chosen creative nonfictional text
representing a particular type or form.
Note to the Teacher: The softcopy of A Day of Love’s Surprise: A Memoir is personally emailed to the
writer of this learning activity sheets.

THIS IS A GOVERNMENT PROPERTY. NOT FOR SALE

Sale
LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEETS GRADE 11/12 – Creative Nonfiction
3
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Note to the Teacher and Learner: Use the rubric below in assessing student’s output. You
may also use your own way of assessment.
Criteria 4 3 2 1 Score
Organization Evidently Somewhat More or less Lacks
clear, clear in clear, consistency
consistent presenting inconsistent and poor
organized events; used pattern logical pattern
pattern specific point
of view
Elaboration Provides Contains Lacks useful Very limited
relevant enough details details
details clear details
insights and without
analysis deepening
Clarity of Successfully Somewhat Attempts to Unclear and
Purpose highlights the presents a present a confusing
theme theme theme purpose
Audience engaging Somewhat Attempts to Unsatisfactory
engaging engage response from
readers readers

Language Effective use Interesting Uses cliches, Uses irrelevant

use of words and fresh contains and vague
without word choice some glaring words, have a
corrections with minimal errors lot of glaring
corrections errors

B. A Day of Love’s Surprise

A Memoir
Arnold Jarn Ford G. Buhisan
(from the book “Creative Nonfiction by Andrew John C. Baronda)

It was an ordinary lazy afternoon that even the gloomy weather conspired with my
inability to stand-up from the old couch in our rented apartment. TV kept me company but did
not really show anything interesting. I was just listening to the ticking of the clock while my
housemate was busy preparing our food for lunch. I felt that there was nothing more to do to
help. As we were eating, he thought of a place where we could hang out and could make our
lazy afternoon exciting and fulfilling. He tried to convince me by saying that I would find an
enjoyable and satisfying experience there.
For so long a time I had not been to any serious romantic affair. I wasn’t necessarily
looking for love. My friends kept on telling me not to look for it. It would come and like any
other wonderful accidents, it would just come out unexpectedly. I had a lot of escapades as I
met people in various circumstances, but still I felt incomplete.
I thought of the invite to hang out in an unfamiliar place regarded by adventurous men,
bisexuals, and gays as a haven of liberation and sexual expression to be just like the other
casual and short encounters I had but… I was mistaken. I never thought that this would cause
an eventual change in my life—an experience that I would always consider noteworthy to
remember.

Creative Nonfiction LAS Q4 Week 3 & 4

Target Competency: Present a commentary/ critique on a chosen creative nonfictional text
representing a particular type or form.
Note to the Teacher: The softcopy of A Day of Love’s Surprise: A Memoir is personally emailed to the
writer of this learning activity sheets.

THIS IS A GOVERNMENT PROPERTY. NOT FOR SALE

Sale
LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEETS GRADE 11/12 – Creative Nonfiction
4
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As I walked along the busy and crowded pavements of Recto, I saw a lot of faces. As
we reached our destination—the old movie house situated within the busy and crowded district
of Manila, I was nervous and reluctant. However, I could not deny that I got curious of what
was happening within its walls. I felt my legs were shaking while entering the old movie house
that my friend told me about. As I stepped in, I noticed the marks of aging in both the structure
and interior of the theater.
The darkness and the humid air as well as the dusty smell of the place welcomed me.
I saw a number of men of various ages, who kept on entering and walking around from time
to time as if they were looking for something. They seemed to be alert when a newbie walks
by. It was not the place I expected it to be. It was entirely different for it was not about the
featured film that people tended but it was all about the strange and erotic happenings that
had been going on amid of the theater’s darkness and heat.
The entirety of the place reminded me of the past. Back when black and white movies
were as exciting as the colored ones created during this era; back when the city was still at
the hype of its beauty and grandeur. Inside that Recto movie house, I noticed the troubling in
some ways as I saw people scattered all over; sitting, waiting, and walking. The air smelled a
faint odor of manliness, a disturbing yet familiar smell of passion and liberation.
I sat alone in one corner and tried to appreciate the featured old American film. It was
a busy place to be in and yet I decided to park and just enjoy the pretty decent selection of
entertainment. I decided not to join in the risky action and put my guard on for any attempts of
lustful invitation. Suddenly, destiny figured a way to let this persistent young and good-looking
man, who caught my selective interest to be with me during that moment. He sat beside me
and did not talk for a while. He commenced the exchange of messages that led to a solicited
union of our bodies and desires. Such experience was indeed unexpected. It was tiring, but
truly satisfying.
I did not want that night to end that quick, so I thought of inviting him for dinner in a
familiar fast food restaurant just within the busy district. In that way, we could have an extended
time to probably know each other better. During our exchanges, I was right with my
impression; he’s interesting and adorable in his own ways. I could sense that he had a good
impression of me, too. The moment I checked my watch, it was already late and it’s time to
go. We had such a great moment that we did not even notice the passing of time. Luckily, we
got the same route going home and we could have more time to talk while on the road. His
verbosity made me interested to know him better. We agreed to exchange numbers so we
could still be connected hoping that it was not the last time that we could be together.
Fortunately, it was the first of the many meet-ups we had.
With such encounter, I understood that what seemed to be an ordinary day turned out
to be the start of something magical that I had been aspiring for so long. This persistent young
man who was a just a stranger captured my heart and turned to be a long-time partner of mine.
Whenever we had the chance to reminisce that strange encounter, we would just laugh at
each other with glittering eyes. I even asked myself if we were really destined to meet one
another. Well, love can be really odd and beautiful. It can find you in the most hopeless of
places.
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Creative Nonfiction LAS Q4 Week 3 & 4

Target Competency: Present a commentary/ critique on a chosen creative nonfictional text
representing a particular type or form.
Note to the Teacher: The softcopy of A Day of Love’s Surprise: A Memoir is personally emailed to the
writer of this learning activity sheets.

THIS IS A GOVERNMENT PROPERTY. NOT FOR SALE

Sale