This paper describes the classroom underlife found in an English language programme in Myanmar (Burma) – an under-investigated peripheral ELT (English language teaching) context. Taking a comparative ethnographic approach, it analyses how the same cohort of students behave in two English language courses taught by two teachers: one from the local non-western context and the other from the western context. The findings indicate that seemingly collaborative behaviour can mask sites of resistance and ideological struggles. The study also shows that students exploit a variety of rich-meaning making practices to give emotional, intellectual and social support to each other against the monotony of class activities and against the unequal power-relationship imposed by the IRF (Initiation-Response-Feedback) routine usually found in language classes. The study extends the notion of classroom underlife to include sites of resistance not only between but also within agents. The study shows that both teachers and students participate in oppositional or resistant behaviour against official, prescribed norms as well as against their previous norms. It also highlights the importance of understanding how students in a peripheral ELT context make secondary adjustments when what is being imported is not just language teaching materials but also teachers from a western context.

本文介绍了在缅甸（缅甸）的一个英语课程中发现的课堂生活不足，这是一个未得到充分研究的外围ELT（英语教学）环境。它采用一种比较人种学的方法，分析了同一批学生在两名教师教的两门英语课程中的表现如何：一种来自当地的非西方环境，另一种来自西方的环境。研究结果表明，表面上的协作行为可以掩盖抵抗和思想斗争的场所。该研究还表明，学生利用各种丰富的寓教于乐的方式，在课堂活动的单调乏味和IRF施加的不平等的权力关系中，相互给予情感，智力和社会支持。通常在语言课中找到的例程。之间，也可以在代理商之间。研究表明，教师和学生都参加反对官方规定的准则以及以前的准则的对立或抵制行为。它还强调了理解当导入的不仅是语言教学材料而且还包括来自西方环境的老师时，在周边ELT环境中学生如何进行二次调整的重要性。