In September of the third year of this project, Martin, Julie, Amy and Surjeet were enrolled in Mrs Larson's Grade 2 class, along with 10 children classified as learners of ESL and eight children designated as English speakers. This classroom was somewhat bigger than the Grade 1 classroom; desks were placed together in 'pods' of four or five. Mrs Larson, in consultation with the children, changed seating arrangements every two weeks or so. Mrs Larson was in her sixth year of teaching, and had spent all six years at Suburban School.

During the summer vacation between Grades 1 and 2, Julie's family had begun to have serious difficulties with regard to their immigration status and were threatened with deportation. Because they were resisting the deportation, they did not know whether or when they would be required to leave Canada. As it happened, they were deported in June of the next year. Amy had spent some of the summer between Grades 1 and 2 in Hong Kong with her parents and her grandmother; her parents were considering where they would live after the repatriation of Hong Kong to China. Martin's family reported that their summer had been 'relatively uneventful' and that both Martin and his brother (who was about to enter Grade 1) were looking forward to school. Surjeet's grandparents had returned from an extended trip to India over the summer and they reported to Karen Dhaliwal-Rai that they had begun to be 'active in assisting [Surjeet and two cousins] in completing homework and additional work that the grandfather feels is needed for their learning'.

I interviewed Mrs Larson early in the school year (in October) about the focal children as they entered her classroom. The following are excerpts from that interview:

Excerpt 6.1

Julie's doing okay. She's average Grade 2 in reading ...