In this classroom narrative article I discuss some of my experiences as a teacher in an Australian government-funded English language development aid project during the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). The program formed part of an emergency response to the devastating violence that accompanied the Indonesian withdrawal from the country after 24 years of occupation. Using journal extracts based on my ethnographic research in East Timor, I outline some telling pedagogical and social disconnections that arose between the development community and the community it purported to serve. I note aspects of my experience that might be relevant to other language development aid projects in a post-colonial, globalising world.