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This edited book explores stories of linguistic and spiritual identity in the urban and rural Australian landscape. It is an innovative mix of thirty six personal narratives and eleven research studies, which together offer accounts of the intersection of languages, religion and spirituality in peoples lives. Teachers of Indigenous languages speak of the critical connection between language revitalization, the spirituality of Country, and well-being. Both new and long-established diaspora individuals speak of the often complex but vital joint role of language and faith in belonging and heritage. The new dimension which the book brings to multilingualism is relevant to all complex global societies. Language and Spirit is ideal for both the general reader interested in community languages and interfaith issues, and academics in global intercultural studies and Applied Linguistics study wishing to gain a nuanced insight into the Language and Spirit intersection. Robyn Moloney is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University, Australia. Formerly a language teacher in schools she became a language teacher educator and researcher. Her many book and journal publications cover personal development in learners and teachers through language learning. She currently works in supporting teacher intercultural development. Shenouda Mansour is a Priest of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Australia. His research has investigated attitudes to identity and language in a Coptic school. He is the General Secretary of NSW Ecumenical Council, a body which builds networks across churches. He is the director of Coptic Orthodox Community Outreach Service, and is a radio program producer.

Language Teachers' Professional Knowledge Landscapes is a collection of fourteen narratives from teachers of different languages, at different school levels, in different contexts across Australia.This volume brings together not simply language teacher stories, but also more political stories of the problems associated with school programs and contexts. Highlighted through these stories are some of the major political issues in schools that impact language teachers' work, and their students' success in sustained language study. The book is conceptually framed by the work of Clandinin and Connelly (1996) and their notion of 'levels' of stories told by teachers about their classrooms: the secret, the sacred and the cover stories. The term 'professional knowledge landscape' is used to indicate how teachers can critically situate their work, and thereby understand it better.The collection includes the stories of two outstanding primary language educators, and a story of mixed success in a rural program in teaching the local Aboriginal language (Ngarrabul). There are stories of frustration with policy failures, particularly in supporting the learning of Asian languages. Many of the teacher narrators ask the confronting question: 'What blocks language learning in Australia?' They offer the strategies which they have developed, that they see making a difference. Other narratives offer autoethnographic tracking of careers, for example, as a teacher of Latin and Classics, Japanese, French, Spanish, Russian, and of teachers' ongoing vigour and creativity in advocacy. A number of teachers examine their own identity story for the intercultural learning, which they then offer and extend in student learning. Consistently expressed, there is the need for teachers to take up individual responsibility, while still being strongly supported by their professional

While heritage language learners are becoming visible in the research literature as a distinct group of language learners with specific needs, existing curriculum structures in secondary schools often focus on programs either for foreign language learners or for first language learners. The study reported here examines the experiences of heritage learners of Japanese who have been inappropriately placed in courses designed for native speakers and as a result, in some cases, have withdrawn from taking any formal program of Japanese language study. Focusing on the situation of Australian senior secondary Japanese students, this article reports the findings of questionnaire and interview data, featuring the voices of both teachers and heritage learners of Japanese. The data identify the issues that delineate heritage language learners from native speakers and highlight, through the experiences of misplaced learners, the need for appropriate placement, pedagogy and curriculum

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- List of contributors -- PART I: A multilingual city in a multilingual world -- 1. Sydney: A multilingual city in a multilingual world -- Urbanism and a research deficit - a LUCIDE response -- What are the common threads? -- Some reflections on the future of our cities -- Sydney: a multilingual city in a multilingual world -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgement -- Note -- References -- 2. Multilingual Sydney: A city report -- Multilingualism in the history of Sydney -- The temporal dynamics of multilingualism -- The spatial dynamics of multilingualism -- Issues and challenges of linguistic diversity -- Everyday multiculturalism: attitudes and ideologies -- Changing ecology and changing methods -- Conclusion -- References -- 3. Language diversity in Sydney: At home and in public -- Introduction -- Sydney: a multicultural, multilingual city? -- Competence with English among the first generation immigrants, linguistic shift and language maintenance -- Urban diversity: Auburn and Fairfield -- Languages in public online spaces -- Impression management: seeing and reading diversity -- Conclusion -- References -- 4. Sydney's metrolingual assemblages: Yellow matters -- Colour matters -- 'Hadol misfareen. Misfareen hadol' [These are yellowing. They've gone yellow] -- Un-mapping multilingualism: from a bird's to a cat's eye view of the city -- Yellow Fanta: feelings of displacement -- Conclusion: distribution and assemblage -- References -- PART II: Policy, ideologies and practice -- 5. Developing policy and planning services for a multicultural community -- Background -- Multiculturalism: an interpretation -- Multiculturalism: an Australian perspective -- The disadvantaged communities -- Government responses -- The way forward -- References

In this article, the authors investigated how families of Xinjiang class students perceive the benefits of the Xinjiang class policy for students. Based on the work of Melanie Walker, the authors adopted the capability approach as an analytical tool and collected data through in-depth interviews with families of Xinjiang class students over three months of fieldwork in Xinjiang and eastern China. The authors obtained a list of seven functional capabilities that illuminate the value of Xinjiang class education, and complaints that need to be addressed in the future. The results demonstrate how the benefits of Xinjiang class education, from a familial perspective, accrue to students, their families, as well as to the wider community. Also, the findings reveal that agency of parents is limited in this educational process. The authors propose that a pretransition program and improved communication between parents and teachers would facilitate better outcomes for students and their families, and ultimately result in more effective implementation of Xinjiang class policy.

This book provides a comprehensive study of professional learning courses in intercultural settings, exploring how this impacts teachers and brings about change in classrooms, culture across schools as a whole, and children's lives. The authors argue that teachers and schools must raise the stakes globally in an intercultural practice grounded in educational equity and anti-racism. Identifying the attributes that make a difference in teacher intercultural learning and change through analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data, the study throws up marked tensions and contradictions between the desire to explore both an abstract personal concept and achieve practical outcomes in schools. As case studies of two primary schools dig deep into teachers' lives, the book proposes a model of personal teacher interculturality which is constructed from the inside out. The potential of neglected spaces in schools for intercultural identity is also highlighted by images of new practice. This book is a supportive resource for schools or educational institutions, in any global context, that are seeking a fresh approach to intercultural education and holistic change.