the ethnographic study, an
analytic commentary on the ethnographic texts, a pedagogical
discussion, and lastly, suggestions for further reflection and
discussion.
The book also includes three separate and important appendices. In
Appendix A, Goldstein includes a play she has written called ''Hong
Kong, Canada''. The inspiration for the play and some of its words
come from the ethnographic study itself. Appendix B is titled
''Critical Education Ethnography in Postmodern Times'' and deals with
the details of the ethnographic study, the research team, and the
theories involved in developing the study. Appendix C is titled
''Developing Oral Presentation Skills'' and deals with a workshop
given by Judith Ngan, one of the research assistants in the
project. Finally, there is a short but important prologue that deals
with the author's choice of language, encompassing racial, ethnic and
linguistic descriptors.
CHAPTER 1. Introduction: Bilingual Life and LanguageChoice at
Northside. This chapter starts with a description of the school, its
reputation for excellence and a shift to a linguistically diverse
student body. Following a 1995 review of the school, the district
decided to provide ''a major focus on oral [English] language
development'' (p. 6). This introductory chapter shows how, after a
change in linguistic policy in Toronto schools, teachers and
administrators were faced with the almost impossible task of fostering
institutional English learning while maintaining the multilingualism
of the student body.
The chapter includes a detailed description of the Cantonese-speaking
student population and a theoretical discussion of language choice.
Here Goldstein explains the impetus for undertaking the ethnographic
study, which was to understand the linguistic choices of the teachers
and students and their effect on academic success. She describes her
theoretical affiliations as a mixture of anthropological research
perspectives and interactional