The name is absent

pencils over the dustbin.

Classroom 5 : The Anglo-Indian group (13 + ) of four students
sat at the rear of the classroom. They were all
"repeaters" and assumed the air of knowing it all. The
teacher referred to them as "goondahs" (thugs) in a good-
natured way. They were otherwise ignored by the teacher
and the non Anglo-Indian students, as long as they kept
quiet. They were not encouraged to read, recite poems or
sing songs in an Indian language.

The teacher's expectation for both these groups of Hindi
learners was very low. This created an environment in
which their language skills were non-existent. Their body
language was expressive. They nodded, winked, sneezed,
coughed, dropped books, stared out of the window and
generally drew attention to themselves.

The evidence from these classroom observations of primary
and secondary students supported the fact that
Anglo-Indians do not acquire an adequate second language
skill through classroom exposure. Such children required
language instruction which was different from that given to
mother tongue children, and they are aware that they would
not be successful speakers in an Indian language. An
Anglo-Indian student said,

... my friends speak Hindi at home, and knew
it before I ever started learning to read or
write Hindi. I suppose I know English. But,
now he speaks English as well as I do, because
he hears English so much more than I hear
Hindi in the school. (7)

A non Anglo-Indian student summed it up succinctly:

I get more opportunities to speak English than
Anglo-Indians get to speak Hindi. I already

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