Documentary idea

The entire time I was over there, I thought about how fun it would be to make a documentary about teaching English in Japan. There is an entire expatriate sub-culture crawling around the streets of Tokyo and Osaka in suits eager to teach the English language for a few thousand Yen. Daily, I would be reminded of how strange this really was. Some beautiful scenes from my own experience that I would love to have on film were the Christmas party where I dressed up like Santa Clause and had little kids climbing all over me like squirrels and the time I made peanut butter cookies as a lesson-flour and p.b. everywhere.

My students were constantly saying things that coming through the language barrier ended up being hilarious or as often as not, extraordinarily profound.

I suppose the intended message would be the humor that is generated across language and cultural barriers. The documentary would also focus on how much we can communicate with each other outside of a shared, spoken language.

I would interview the American staff about their experiences with Japanese culture both in and out of the classroom. I would also interview the students to add their take on the proceedings. Most of the movie or show would be filmed in the classroom or following the American teacher outside of school.

The difficulties that I anticipate in a project like this are mainly capturing authentic exchanges on film. I also would have to be careful to maintain student dignity. If the documentary is intended for an American audience, mistakes in spoken English could result in the Japanese students being objects of ridicule. The documentary would have to be very sensitive in this regard.