Class Supplement, TOEFL Essay, How to use a large donation of money to your school

☆Writing Topic
Imagine that the school you attend has received a large donation of money. If you had the power to decide how to spend this money, how would you choose to use the money? Offer specific reasons to explain your response.

☆Let’s Think
Reading this question, you might say to yourself, “This question is a piece of cake. I could use the money for the drama club I belong to. Building a theater would be a good idea. I have a lot to write about.” But are you really answering the question well enough by this choice? Would you do the same if the money were given to your family and, for some reason, your family left you how to use the money? You would not think of installing a set of new equipment for your own project that would never benefit the whole family. The same should be true with this question. The large amount of money donated to your school is for the benefit of the whole school, not for a specific part of it.

The usage of the money should be something that benefits the whole school either directly or indirectly. It can be for the improvement of the thing that already exists or it can be something that does not exist. Here are some things that can be the hint for the needs you could write about:
1. facilities: library, computer room, laboratory, gymnasium, cafeteria
2. system: exchange students program, scholarship
3. environment: buildings, surrounding areas, trees and lawns

Now let’s ask ourselves some questions about the needs and answer them.

1. Problem: What is wrong?
e.g. Many students cannot afford home stay. Also, even for students who can afford it, it consumes a lot of time and energy.




2. Goal: What should be done?
e. g. I would set up a fund for a domestic home stay program. Through the program, students stay at homes of native speakers of English who are staying in Japan.




3. Expected Benefits: How will it benefit my school?
e.g. The financial burden would be lighter, and in case something goes wrong, adjustment can be done more quickly and easily than the case of real home stay..



☆Sample Essay
Writing for the TOEFL iBT, p. 331, Barron’s
Our school has many needs, but I think the best way to spend a gift of money is on new classroom equipment. Our school is old. We don’t have enough desks and chairs for all the students and our classroom furniture is out of repair. If we buy new equipment, the students will feel better and want to work hard. The community will take pride in our school. New equipment will last a long time, so we will feel the benefit of the gift for many years.

It is hard for students to study when there aren’t enough chares in the classroom. It is hard for them to use old, broken blackboards. It is hard when there aren’t good bookshelves and cabinets to organize the classroom supplies. With new equipment, students will feel like school is a nice place to be. They will feel like the teachers care about them. They will be motivated to study harder and do the best job they can.

It is hard for the community to feel proud of a school that looks old and broken. If members of the community visit the school and see new classroom equipment, they might feel better about the school. They might say, “This school has improved, and we can improve it more.” They might be motivated to contribute money and volunteer time to further improve the school. Every school is better when community members become involved. New equipment can help motivate them.

We could spend the gift money on educational trips for the students. We could spend it on supplies such as paper and pencils or on books. All these things are important for education, but they don’t last. Students this year will benefit, but students five years from now won’t. Classroom equipment, on the other hand, lasts many years. If we spend the money on equipment, students will benefit for many years to come.

New classroom equipment will motivate both students and community members to improve their participation in school. Everyone will benefit from new equipment now and in the future as well. Therefore, I think this is one of the best ways we can spend a gift of money to our school.