Description in Japanese and English
With the third-largest English-speaking population in the world and extremely low wage levels, the Philippines has become a magnet for offshore software development, call centres for global consumer businesses, and ESL (English as a Second Language) services. For ESL firms, the majority of their customers are non-natives in Asia, such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. The low tuition fees and the small time difference attract many students. In the same way, the growing demand for English communication in the global corporate and tourism industries has led to the emergence of service providers, particularly in East Asia. In Japan, for example, RareJob has become a leading platform for online teaching after launching in 2007, followed by DMM and Nativecamp. Those companies hired Filipino, mostly college students or new graduates, and registered their profiles on their website, where Japanese students can search and find online teachers and start lessons.
After the global pandemic hit the Philippines in early 2020 and most of the ESL schools closed their doors, jobless students flocked to the job post of online English teachers offered by ESL companies. Fortunately, the pandemic has led to an increase in demand as more and more people are using their spare time to take online lessons, but this has also led to fierce competition among Filipino teachers.
『オンライン・ティーチャー（原題：Online Teacher）』は、フィリピンにおいて大規模産業となっているオンライン英会話サービスに従事するフィリピン人講師とその生徒たちに対するデジタルエスノグラフィおよびそれを元にした人類学的分析のプロジェクト。
日本、中国、韓国からの資本が流入し多数の英会話サービスが乱立する中、厳しい採用条件、決して良いとは言えない給与水準、画面の向こうの生徒とのトラブル、オンライン空間における「優秀で優しい先生」という自己表象へのプレッシャー、さらには「優しいフィリピン人女性」というステレオタイプとの葛藤など、講師たちに対するインタビューを元に分析していく。さらにはScreen Walkと呼ばれるでジタルエスノグラフィのいち手法を用いて講師たちと英会話サービスとのインタラクションを追うことで、プラットフォームと講師個人のパワーバランス、その中でルールに抗おうとする取り組みを明らかにしていく。
The short film "ONLINE TEACHER" illustrates the online world where youth in the Philippines represent their own identities as online English teachers. Drawing on interviews and screen walks with two Filipino teachers and two Japanese students, I trace the discourses about Filipino and their character and the tension between capitalist logic and humanities as a teacher.
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Location: The Philippines
Research, Camera, and Editing: Masato Ushimaru (MSc in Anthropology, Aarhus University)
