Dear Mario,
My name is Anna, and I'm your pen pal!  I've wanted a pen pal for ages so I was really excited when my teacher told me that you were looking for a pen pal too.  I thought I'd start things off and write the first letter!
I'm 13 years old and I live in Bournemouth, on the south coast.  I live with my mum, dad, older sister and younger brother, and our house is about 5 minutes from the beach! My mum is a doctor and my dad is a head teacher - not at my school though!  I go to the local comprehensive school and I'm in Year 9 at the moment.  My favourite subjects are French and Computer Science.  What are your favourite subjects at school?  Next year, I have to start studying for my GCSEs.  I've already chosen my subjects - I'll be doing Maths, English language, English Literature, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, French, German, Religious Studies and Computer Science.  What kind of school do you go to?  Mine is quite strict: we have to wear a school uniform and we get loads and loads of homework!
My older sister is called Eleanor and she is going to university in September to study Chemistry - which means for the first time in my life I'm going to have a bedroom all to myself.  I absolutely can't wait.  My dad has told me that I can paint the room if I want to.  I'm still trying to decide on a colour.  I can't choose between blue and yellow.  My younger brother is only 8 years old and he's quite annoying.  His name is Joshua.  Do you have any brothers and sisters?
I've got lots of plans for the summer holidays.  I'm going to the south of France with my family for two weeks, which should be fun as long as my younger brother isn't too irritating!  We're going to be staying in a gite which has its own swimming pool.  I love swimming so I'm pretty sure I'll spend most of my time in the water as long as the weather is nice.  We're also planning lots of day trips to different towns and villages.  My mum is French so she knows the area really well and always takes us to brilliant places that aren't full of tourists.  I got a new camera for my birthday and I'm looking forward to using it for the first time.  I'm not normally very good at taking photos but I've been reading a book on how to improve so fingers crossed!  Perhaps I'll send you some of the best ones when I get back!  I've got a couple of birthday parties to go to - one friend is having a bowling party and another is having a barbecue on the beach.  Both sound like fun, though I'm absolutely rubbish at bowling and I'll probably lose.  We've also got some students from France coming to stay with us, which will be fun.  We have students over every year to help them improve their English.  We've got two girls coming over this year.  They're called Marie and Elise and they're a bit older than me.  Hopefully I'll be able to practise my French out on them as well as them speaking lots of English.
Do you have many hobbies?  Mine are dancing, reading, playing the piano and singing.  I dance three times a week – I take classes in ballet and ballroom.  Classes stop over the summer though which is annoying.
I really hope to hear from you soon.
Anna :)
