Vaughan Rapatahana was born in Patea, Aotearoa-New Zealand. He has a doctorate from the University of Auckland and he has worked as a teacher in the Republic of Nauru, Brunei Darussalam, the United Arab Emirates, China and Hong Kong. He has written widely in a variety of genres, and is the author of several books, collections of poems and poetry teaching resources.Pauline Bunce is an Australian teacher who has worked in Sri Lanka, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Her doctoral research with Charles Darwin University in Australia and her regular feature articles in the South China Morning Post have had a major influence on English teaching practices in Hong Kong.

English Language as Hydra is both poignant and honest in its reasoned and passionate evocation of this language's entrenched link with some of the ills of the world and its impact on speakers' subjectivities.

• ContributorsAcknowledgementsSeries Editor’s Note - Tove Skutnabb-KangasThe Genesis of this Book - Vaughan Rapatahana and Pauline BunceForeword - Robert PhillipsonIntroduction: English Language as Thief - Vaughan Rapatahana1. The Challenge – Ndaraca ya Thiomi: Languages as Bridges - Ng˜ug˜ı wa Thiong’o2. English Language as Bully in the Republic of Nauru - Xavier Barker3. Out of Sight, Out of Mind… and Out of Line: Language Education in the Australian Indian Ocean Territory of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands - Pauline Bunce4. English Language as Juggernaut – Aboriginal English and Indigenous Languages in Australia - Robyn Ober and Jeanie Bell5. English Language as Nemesis for Māori - Graham Hingangaroa Smith and Vaughan Rapatahana6. A Personal Reflection: New Zealand Māori and English - Tamati Cairns7. The Malchemy of English in Sri Lanka: Reinforcing Inequality through Imposing Extra-Linguistic Value - Arjuna Parakrama8. English Language as Governess: Expatriate English Teaching Schemes in Hong Kong - Eugene Chen Eoyang, Pauline Bunce and Vaughan Rapatahana9. English Language as Auntie: Of ‘Good Intentions’ and a Pedagogy of Possibilities – ELT in the Philippines and its Effects on Children’s Literacy Development - Lalaine F. Yanilla Aquino10. It’s Not Always English: ‘Duelling Aunties’ in Brunei Darussalam - Noor Azam Haji-Othman11. English Language as Siren Song: Hope and Hazard in Post-Apartheid South Africa - Sandra Land12. English Language as Border-Crossing: Longing and Belonging in the South Korean Experience - Joseph Sung-Yul Park13. English and Mandarin in Singapore: Partners in Crime? - Rani Rubdy14. English Language as Intruder: The Effects of English Language Education in Colombia and South America – a Critical Perspective - Anne-Marie de MejíaAfterword: Could Heracles Have Gone About Things Differently? - Alastair PennycookCoda: One Colonial Language: One Great Tragic Epic. English in Malaysia and Beyond - Muhammad Haji Salleh