This study interrogates the assumption that the classroom is the best place for teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). It explores postmodern pedagogies that dissolve the boundaries between classroom and community and shows how these might transform TESOL practice. Based on the extensive reflections of 15 participants, it analyses the range and properties of the places of their English acquisition and finds the classroom to be an insufficient place because its social relations limit learner agency. To overcome this it recommends that English classrooms be transformed into laboratories for critical reflection on students' social concerns, leading to participative language learning as they actively seek solutions within local English speaking communities of practice. This explorative study is situated within the critical paradigm of language education research