Writing an Essay — 1

One day Thomas came home from school and gave a paper to his mother. He said to her, 'Mom, my teacher gave this paper to me and told me only you are to read it. What does it say?'

The woman's eyes welled with tears as she read the letter out loud to her child: 'Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have good enough teachers to train him. Please teach him yourself.'

Many years after his mother had died, Thomas was going through a closet and found that letter. He opened it. The message written on the letter was, 'Your son is addled*. We cannot let him attend our school anymore. He is expelled.'

By the time Thomas Alva Edison was reading that letter, he had already become one of the greatest inventors of the century.

*mentally deficient

Do you think the story is true? Search the Internet to find out.

Task 1 (answering questions)

  1. What do you think might have happened if Edison's mother had read the letter as it was?
  2. Do you think this story is true? What makes you think so?

Task 2 (formulating topics)

Formulate three different essay topics related to the story. For example: 'Schools do not recognize talent in students', 'Parents play an essential role in children's life'.

Task 3 (writing an essay)

Choose one of the topics you've formulated in Task 2 (or use one of the topics given as examples) and write your essay in 200–250 words.

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standard writing, upwego writing, school, encouragement, parents

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