First Voice is a celebration of writing by Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School (PNINS) students from non-English speaking backgrounds. The First Voice programme was initiated in 2000 by Anne Sommerville at Massey University, and involved various schools. In 2002 former PNINS ESOL teacher Barb Drake picked up the programme, and in 2023 PNINS ESOL teacher Steph Bunny took over the reins. 

This year in May, 57 PNINS students participated in the annual First Voice workshop. Here they drafted a piece of writing about ‘Cultural Cuisine’ in their heritage language. They met multilingual community mentors who were there to tautoko the students with the process. The collection of writing was then made into the First Voice 2024 book.  

At the end of August, PNINS students held a special Multicultural Celebration to highlight the diverse cultures at the school. The presentation included traditional clothing, dances, games, foods and customs. The celebration was also the book launch, where the cover design was revealed. This year the winning design was by Jiyu Kim. All students involved with First Voice received their very own book to keep! 

The 26 languages in this year’s book are Afrikaans, Arabic, Burmese, Chinese, Dutch, French, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Igbo, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Malay, Malayalam, Munukutuba, Naija, Nepali, Punjabi, Shona, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Tuvaluan and Urdu.  

You can find First Voice 2024 on the library catalogue and online through Manawatū Heritage.  

This project has been a collaboration between Palmerston North Intermediate Normal, Manawatū Multicultural Council and Palmerston North City Library.