PBL Example: Student from Mexico Shares Poem About the Environment

While there are great topics available for students to explore with PenPals all year long, students also have the choice to join special contests throughout the year. Earlier this spring, students participated in the Global Poetry Contest to celebrate World Poetry Day. Students wrote original poems and voted for their favorites! Two students from New Zealand won the contest, and you can read their original poems here.

Hundreds of other students wrote incredible poems during the Global Poetry Contest, too, and today we’re excited to introduce you to PenPal Star Alejandro from Mexico!

Alejandro wrote an original poem about contamination and how it is affecting our environment.

Contamination
Last Monday I ask to myself
why is this world like this,
why humans don’t understand that
If we continue contaminating
Something bad will happen.

You know the planet is our home
look how our home is,
trash is in oceans,
smoke is in the air,
contamination is everywhere
I thing we have to clean it.

The forests are dying
Wild life is crying,
There are billions of people dying
and that’s simply
Not right.

Please take advantage of our last chance
To make a better place
and give the children
The world we deserve,
HEAL THE WORLD.

ALEJANDRO
I was inspired by the contamination of the world, the colors that are getting lost and animals dying because of the contamination.

Alejandro is 10 years old and in the 4th grade, and he was excited to be featured as a PenPal Star! When he found out, he said it “was a really good feeling because is my first feature on an international project.”

“Madison International School as an IB School believes that all learning should be connected to the real world giving meaning and purpose to our learning. Such learning benefits from the global experiences that connect us as human around the world.”
-Margarita Valdéz Ornelas, Alejandro’s Teacher

Alejandro and his teacher, Margarita Valdéz Ornelas

Alejandro’s favorite class is math, and when he’s not learning with PenPals he loves to do Taekwondo! If he could travel anywhere in the world, he told us he would want to go to Korea to meet martial artist Dai Won Moon. We caught up with PenPal Star Alejandro to learn more about his experience during the Global Poetry Contest!

PenPal Schools: What has been your favorite thing about learning with PenPals?
Alejandro: That is international, I can talk with kids around the world and express myself with different cultures. It’s a way to express your feelings and I can read the feelings of other kids.

Tell us about the final project you decided to publish in the showcase! What did you choose to create, and why? How did you come up with that idea?
I saw that the contamination is too big and we need to do something to save our planet.

How has your project changed the way you think about the world?
I discover more ways to help our planet. Global warming is an important problem and we need to do something to safe our world.

Why do you think it's important to learn with other students from around the world?
It helps you to communicate with other kids around the world and that way we can have discussions with different cultures and open our vision .

What advice do you have about being a great PenPal?
Be creative, never stop reading and learning so you can share ideas and communicate with people around the world.

Thank you for sharing such an incredible poem with PenPals around the world, Alejandro, and congratulations on being a PenPal Star!