Educators' reflections in Australian aboriginal translingual classrooms: Entanglement of language, culture, and emotionality

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss challenges involved in teachers' emotional entanglement with racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity in Australian Aboriginal translingual classrooms. The importance of exploring teachers' emotionality in translingual classrooms lies in expanding our understanding of this space as diverse, positive, and encouraging and also towards perceiving it as a space infused with strong emotions and histories. This includes stories of microaggressions, racism, and linguicism. As a team of educators and researchers, we weave our narratives within applied linguistics and social justice. At the same time, we give countenance to psychological well-being, reflecting on our experiences in the translingual classrooms of Aboriginal youth. Our narratives show the importance of empathy, familiarity, and intimacy and how supporting resilience, engaging in political discourse, addressing gaps in mental health support, and relatability are important factors that should be considered in such classrooms as ways to support culturally and linguistically diverse students.