Linguistic research on the classroom behavior of school children has often shown that there is a tension between the development of an anti-authoritarian peer culture and the pressure to do well academically and behave in ways that meet adult approval. This tension is particularly strong for boys. In this context, violating the linguistic norms of the classroom is one way of rebelling and constructing a masculine identity which can gain peer approval. The rebellious and playful identities of the boys in this study are at times in conflict with their desire to be productive and high-achieving. In this study of an English Mother Tongue classroom in a German-American bilingual school in Berlin, Germany, five boys are faced with this dilemma. One tactic used by some of the boys to resolve the conflict is the use of Mock NSE. The use of Mock NSE by these boys is a salient socio-pragmatic device for indicating how they wish to be identified. These boys thus make use of the classroom norm of speaking Standard English by flouting it, creating new and multiple identities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)