Class Exercise: Mind your Language

Character Study: "Mind your Language"


1. Write the 1-sentence pitch/summary for the pilot episode

"A group of adult students of various nationalities and cultures enrolled in an English language class, and along with a new English teacher, misunderstandings and hilarity ensue.


2. Do a quick character list

• Jeremy Brown - English teacher
  
• (Ms) Dolores Courtney - Principle
  
• Ali Nadeem - from Pakistan
  
• Giovanni Capello - from Italy
  
• Maximillian Andrea Archimedes Papandrious - from Athens, Greece
  
• Taro Nagazumi - from Japan
  
• Anna Schmidt - from Germany
  
• Ranjeet Singh - from India
  
• Jamila Ranjha - from India
  
• Juan Cervantes - from Spain
  
• Chung Su-Lee - from China
  
• Danielle Favre - from from France
  

3. Choose 2 characters and write up their character bio

Chung Su Lee is a Chinese lady from China, and holds a job as a secretary in the Chinese Embassy. She is shown in episode 1 as someone fiercely loyal and patriotic to China and Chairman Mao. She appears to always be holding a red book titled "Quotations from Chairman Mao". Su Lee carries a straight and serious expression throughout her appearance in episode 1.



Jeremy Brown is the new teacher boasting a credential of B.A. Hons from the University of Oxford. He is put in charge of the new English class and is later seen at the end of the episode to be nearly driven insane by the students' antics. Seemingly ordinary personality.



4. Plot out the 3 act structure


- Setup:
Introduce the students' occupation and nationality briefly to the viewers. Most of the students have minimal to no level of proficiency with the English language.



- Confrontation:
The inclusion of Danielle, the attractive young woman from France, attracts the attention of a few of the male students, especially Max and Giovanni. Their rivalry to compete for Danielle creates a sense of conflict. Other smaller conflicts involve disputes and hatred of a national level, between Ranjeet and Ali, as well as Su-Lee and Taro.



- Resolution:
Jeremy attempts to control the mayhem in class, but without avail. He quickly wraps up the first lesson and escapes the classroom after dumping a homework assignment onto his students. The first episode then ends leaving the viewers in suspense on whether Jeremy can continue to cope as their teacher while maintaining his sanity.