from our hands to yours

Poems by ESOL students, Mana College, Porirua

$18

Editors: Adrienne Jansen and Alexandra Heke

from our hands to yours is a selection of poems from five years of poetry workshops with students in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes at Mana College in Porirua.

These moving, charming, funny, sometimes awkward poems were written by students from Samoa, Syria, Fiji, Vietnam, Tonga, Tokelau, Philippines, Myanmar, and Colombia. Some are English beginners, others are more fluent.

They write about many subjects, from grandparents, to wishes, to how they seem to other people. Their poems provide an illuminating glimpse into the immigrant experience as seen through teen eyes, and are a celebration of many different cultures and of Aotearoa New Zealand itself.

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Notes for teachers, including the writing exercises which shaped the poems in this book, are available under Resources.