Service learning--sometimes known as community engagement--is a well-documented pedagogical approach with a long history, a strong theoretical basis, a specific ethos, and many passionate advocates. Yet it is conspicuously underused as a teaching method in the worldwide field of English language teaching. In this article, I argue that English teachers could gain significant benefits from using service learning more extensively, whatever their operational context may be: online, face-to-face, secondary school, college, language school, rural school, evening class, and so on.