We are at a particularly difficult historical juncture marked by uncertainty, contingency and change. Zygmunt Bauman characterises the present time as "liquid modernity" (2000, 2008, 2011b) because of the fluidity and instability that we live with. Our identities and our relations to the world are changing radically. There is an urgent need for English teaching to reconsider what it is doing so as to support students in coping with current demands. It is argued that there are five critical elements that must be acknowledged in current English curriculum: critical analysis; imagination; affect; ethics; and belief. These are all related and should be integrated so that students are able to act purposefully in what William Connolly has characterised as "a world of becoming" (2011). (Contains 2 notes.)