A YEAR 5 class at Llantilio Pertholey School have become pen friends with poet Benjamin Zephaniah after an exchange on Twitter, writes Joe Pugh.

The interaction began when the pupils tweeted about the poet via the school’s account.

The tweet contained a video of the children performing ‘Clever Trevor’, a poem by Zephaniah.

The class had been learning about him and his poetry in November before the Christmas lockdown. 

Zephaniah replied in a Tweet: “Oh, wow, I’m impressed, Llantilio Pertholey are the best, they took my football poetry, and made it sound better than me.”

This reply delighted the children, who then decided that they wanted to interview the man himself.

In another exchange, Zephaniah agreed to answer questions from the children.

The subjects ranged from his influences as a young poet, how he finds inspiration to write and what he would do if he were Prime Minister for a day.

After sending them over, he replied after Christmas, once again to the amazement of the pupils.

Tracey Pugh, Year 5’s class teacher, said: “It meant so much to the children that Benjamin Zephaniah took the time to reply to their questions.

‘‘I don’t think they will ever forget this experience.

‘‘I have been a fan of his for a long time, and now he has 30 more fans!

‘‘I can honestly say they all love poetry which is thanks to the likes of him” she said.

The children were thrilled by their interaction with a famous poet. The interview was the climax of their learning on their poetry unit and has been a highlight of their experience of distance learning in lockdown.

*Benjamin Zephaniah, and the tweet from pupils