This article reports on an ethnographic study which investigated the implementation of the Kenyan language-in-education policy in a school in rural Western Kenya. The study reveals the complexity of policy implementation in a multilingual and multiethnic context where language shift and civil unrest are occurring, and where there is pressure to move learners to Kiswahili and English despite the policy's support for mother tongue (MT) education in the early grades. In such a setting teachers are caught in the middle of conflicting aspirations and are left having to balance their ideals for language teaching with the complex reality of their teaching context. In order to manage the tensions which arise in this situation, teachers employ classroom practices such as code-switching and choral teaching, and endeavour to move learners as quickly as possible from the MT, in this case Sabaot, to the languages of wider communication. Included in the article is a conceptual framework which illustrates the most significant areas of tension for Sabaot teachers. This framework could serve as a guide for other groups to identify potential tensions in the fact-finding stage of language planning. (Contains 1 figure, 2 tables, and 2 notes.)