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Blog Idea: Language as a Teaching Medium — Baseworks and Language

Created 2026-03-25
Status idea
Tags bloglanguagejapanmontrealbilingualpending-patrick-review

Blog Idea: Language as a Teaching Medium

Section titled “Blog Idea: Language as a Teaching Medium”

Proposed author: Asia — she has the most direct connection to language as a practitioner and teacher

Status: idea stage — pending Patrick’s input on whether to pursue

Core premise

Section titled “Core premise”

Baseworks has always operated across languages. This blog post would trace that history honestly — from Japan through South America to Quebec — and make the case that language, for us, is an adaptive medium rather than a policy.

Points to cover

Section titled “Points to cover”

1. The Japan origin — English/Japanese bilingual by emergence

Section titled “1. The Japan origin — English/Japanese bilingual by emergence”
  • Baseworks originated in Japan as an English/Japanese operation. Japanese was the local language; English was the international one, serving practitioners who spoke both and others.
  • The bilingual feature was not mandated — it emerged organically from the teaching body. No language rules at the studio.
  • Teachers taught in the language they were most comfortable in: some classes in Japanese, some in English, some bilingual line-by-line.
  • The schedule didn’t specify the teaching language. Students came to practice the movement system and chose how to relate to the verbal instructions.
  • This produced all kinds of cases: students who wanted full comprehension, students who worked with partial comprehension, students fluent in one language who used bilingual classes to better understand the instructions, and students who specifically preferred a class in a language they didn’t speak because it gave them a different quality of movement experience.
  • One concrete example (Asia’s): after a class, a first-time student (from a Southeast Asian background, English not their mother tongue) came up and asked: “What is a spine?“

2. Language as a medium, not a barrier

Section titled “2. Language as a medium, not a barrier”
  • Language is something we adapt to circumstances and to the best of our abilities — not something that defines who the teaching is for.
  • We have worked with interpreters across different countries for years.

3. South America — bilingual slides, Spanish content

Section titled “3. South America — bilingual slides, Spanish content”
  • When we taught in South America, we prepared bilingual slides and taught parts of the content directly in Spanish.
  • This is what being a responsive, international operation looks like in practice.

4. Quebec — the politically charged context

Section titled “4. Quebec — the politically charged context”
  • We are temporarily based in Montreal and are aware of the complex, politically and emotionally charged interplay between English and French in Quebec.
  • We want to share what we do with people in Quebec and Canada. We recognize that teaching in English in Quebec can appear politically charged to some people.
  • We have had concrete experience with this: negative comments on Facebook suggesting we are disrespectful of the French language, partly based on errors in our copy that came from voice recognition software.
  • Reality check: if we had French-speaking staff during our residence in Quebec, we would absolutely task them with ensuring all French copy is correct. We don’t.

5. English as international language, not as “not French”

Section titled “5. English as international language, not as “not French””
  • When we use English in Quebec, we’re not using it as “not French.” We’re using it as an international language — the same way we’ve always used it.
  • English is also the international language of science, and in some ways it is easier to communicate Baseworks concepts in English because much of the language maps directly onto research vocabulary.
  • The most striking example: there is no separate word for “awareness” vs. “consciousness” in French (or Japanese, or Spanish, or many other languages). This sometimes makes English more precise when communicating about practice — we’re mapping existing scientific distinctions onto how we describe the work.

6. What we’re doing about accessibility

Section titled “6. What we’re doing about accessibility”
  • The Primer is offered with French subtitles.
  • We are exploring a workflow for French dubbing — not only for Quebecers but for anyone from a French-language background.
  • We implement accessibility expansions as we are capable within our small team.
  • The goal is not to impose a language but to progressively reduce friction for people who want to access the work.

Tone and framing notes

Section titled “Tone and framing notes”
  • This is a personal piece — should be written as Asia’s first-person perspective
  • Not defensive; not apologetic; honest and grounded
  • The Quebec section is sensitive — approach it as a factual description of our situation, not a political statement
  • The Japan examples are warm and specific — use them
  • The spine anecdote is good; use it
  • Avoid framing English as “better” — frame it as “the medium we have and that we’re extending”

Questions for Patrick before developing

Section titled “Questions for Patrick before developing”
  • Is this the right format (blog post vs. something else — About page section, separate page)?
  • Are you comfortable with the Quebec section as described?
  • Any points you’d add, cut, or reframe?
  • Do you see this as a piece for the main site blog or a separate audience?
Section titled “Related”