Dealt with surveillance cameras in classrooms when I was working in Korea and had minor students. Parents, mainly housewives with nothing else better to do, could watch your class anytime and throw a bitch fit afterwards if there was something that they disliked to the slightest extent. Avoid that situation if you can.
So what they have now is cameras in classrooms and then a few times year the school will save and edit them as a presentation to the parents, but they don’t want to spend so much time editing anymore hence this new idea…
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that whoever came up with this idea has never done videography before.
I would bet good money that in a normal kids lesson, the overwhelming majority of your video is not just unusable, but nauseatingly shakey to watch. Bonus points if your eikaiwa is the song and dance type.
Walk around the classroom a lot, using a very bouncy walk.
It's win-win.
You are going to get a lot of exercise. Whoever is tasked with watching your video will get motion-sickness.
While that is better than constant micromanaging via surveillance footage that mothers could check on at any moment, any recording still sets you up to deal with potential nitpicking and passive aggression from parents. Some parents will find something “wrong,” whether edited and only a few times a year or not. Avoid it.
They love telling teachers in general how to do their jobs, even outside of English teaching, while having zero training or experience in much of anything. Many of them would not last a whole week if passed the baton.
No if you like it and find it fulfilling. If you’re teaching eikaiwa in Japan though to Japanese people it’s unlikely you’re actually teaching. Most of those jobs are just babysitting or counseling services for venting adults.
Not getting paid enough to deal with the extra bullshit?
I know how to do my job and do it well. But I'm not perfect, I make mistakes sometimes, have less than optimal lessons sometimes, happens to everyone, I don't need some parent who has no experience actually doing the job telling me how to do my job. And I don't need crappy management deciding that the parental feedback needs to be taken seriously and blame me when it's not possible to implement.
You want to pay me quadruple what I make now maybe I'll deal with it. Otherwise you want me to wear a GoPro, I resign, go work at a Conbini or McDonald's instead and make roughly the same amount with less stress and less bullshit.
I doubt any of that will really happen though. Parents just want cheap daycare with the added benefit that their kid might learn a word or two. Standards are extremely low! Don’t worry. No one cares about your mistakes. The GoPro is just for the owner to write off and keep.
How does switching to head-cam save them time? Actually a dumb idea. Also, like the other guy mentioned, shaky videography. If anything, be extra genki and move your head more, making the video unwatchable.
Oh, and you already have surveillance in classrooms? What eikaiwa is this? I worked at ECC (4 years ago) and we definitely didn’t have that. What in tarnation?
The cameras are legally mandated.
Allowing parents to live stream the cameras seems ridiculously stupid at best, a major legal liability at worse. My work never allowed parents access to the cameras or any recordings. They only ever used the recording to review major incidents (injuries) and defend themselves.
Cameras being legally mandated, yes, especially with the youngest students, but there is no way in hell I would even want the staff to have any recordings or images of me. Been there, done that and just prefer somewhere that allows me to work with minimal interference and go home.
Good old "customer is god" bullshit.
"Stop making my son speak so much he's clearly shy and uncomfortable!"
"Okay."
"Why is my son not improving his English?"
"Well you told me not to make him speak so much..."
“Why is the video so shaky?”
”Sorry, I can’t maintain perfect stillness while being genki, making sure students are participating, checking their work, doing activities, etc.”
Tell him the proper idea is called a 三脚 (さんきゃく), or tripod.
Wearing cameras is not a legitimate part of a dress code in Japan, unless you’re making movies, reality TV shows or porn.
Tell your boss NO.
If he insists, then bring it up at the next union meeting and issue a demand that teachers aren’t required to wear cameras. He can’t possibly have a legal leg to stand on to force the issue. He will back off.
The better idea is to record parts of the class with a normal webcam/smartphone cam. Edit the video so they only see the good parts. Re-shoot if something goes wrong. Add subtitles in Japanese so parents can follow along. A bit more work with the editing, but a much higher quality end product and you can avoid a lot of the complaints. $.02
That’s actually the current system (with a webcam) but my boss doesn’t like the quality and also he doesn’t want the staff in charge of editing spending so much time
So its not technically legal in Japan to video your students without all of the parents consent. Our school tried this and I made them aware of the legal ramifications we could face. My brother in law is a lawyer here so that helped a lot.
So instead of asking you to prepare some extra fun lessons a year and getting someone to record some nice footage of the kids...
They want to spend money on headcams... so someone can stay until 11 pm to store all the data somewhere. Then someone is expected to spend countless hours sifting through useless footage...
and you say this is to "save time"?
I don’t like the idea, but it may be necessary in cases of bad behaviour.
Perhaps if the Eikaiwa had in their contract with parents that “video may be recorded in cases of bad behavior from your child. It won’t be shared online but will be used to decide whether the child is excluded from the school” it may be different.
Making teachers wear a GoPro on their head? No chance.
Ughh, that sounds awful. You're not crazy for feeling uncomfortable.
Wonder why they'd want a headcam instead of just placing a video camera somewhere in the room. Personally, I wouldn't want to watch a video where the camera keeps shaking because it's being moved around.
So they have been using room cameras that were hung up on the wall, but my boss thinks it’s too distant from the kids, and too much effort to edit the videos…
Also I brought up the shaking possibility, and all I got was a shrug and maybe they will look at “neck” cameras instead 😅
Ahh, okay. That makes sense. Just curious, do they wanna take videos of every class session?
The "neck" comment almost had me laughing, sorry!
Perhaps they'll change their minds about the headcam after trying it out... I hope they come up with a better idea and not stress you guys out too much. I would feel stressed being recorded at all.
It’s video feedback so all classes 3 times a year. I’m hoping they will change it 😅 they will test it soon on one teacher but yeah it’s good to know
I’m not the only one you thought this all sounds a bit nuts
Sounds like a dumb idea. Do they not realize how much you’ll be moving around while that video is taken? It’s going to be terrible. Having a fixed camera mounted somewhere (or on a tripod) will give way better results.
Give it a try, shake your head lots so the video isn't clear and spend lots of time with the camera at an a strange angle so that they have to do lots of editing anyway.
Malicious compliance may be the way....
Can't record people without their consent, especially minors...or rather you can't display people's likeness without their consent. You could point out this is a potential legal minefield, a health and safety issue and more than anything would lose them customers..it will at the very least be a distraction in class and be an opportunity for kids to disrupt the lesson and make the company look stupid (that would be mt opener)
I don't know what to tell you, other than get qualifications so that you don't have to work at these terrible jobs with stupid management who make dumb decisions based on their total lack of understanding of teaching.
2/3 years ago, I quit teaching because it became not only dangerous to me but also emotionally and mentally overwhelming. I wanted cameras in the classroom (pointing towards the whiteboard) to show everyone the abuse from the students. But they refused that but also refused to pay the average teacher salary too so I quit.
I live in Japan now, sports instructing, but I digress. That head camera sounds to me like something really nice since some students might think twice before pulling a stunt on you. If you really feel insecure still, maybe ask if it's possible to have the camera fixed on your lectern and pointing towards the whiteboard. I would use that video material to look at my own classes and give feedback to myself so to improve my teaching even further.
In any way, I hope you find a nice solution to your situation.
Sure, besides the use of sexual harassment and verbal abuse, it mostly involved tossing different sort of items like pencils, paper balls, pencil cases and the occasional chair
I'm not a teacher anymore. I am able to do sports instructing thanks to my experience working a second job as a ski/snowboard instructor back before I entered Japan. However, you should look into applying for engaging in other activities. It was a headache so I used a how-to that I found on Patreon but if you have time, it's entirely doable to navigate it yourself.
Basically, I used google maps to spot out sporting fields (ski resorts in my case) and check if those sport fields have clubs. Some of these clubs are linked to international schools and that is where you have the highest chances to become a sports instructor. From there, you reach out, get them to sign a contract, etc. There are many steps and I can't write it all down here or put a link to the guide. The guide on patreon that I used was called "moving2japan"
Ridiculous. If they want to see that badly they should just come down in person. Have a parents allowed to sit in and join day once or twice a year. No to all this recording crap, enough is enough.
Previous job had cameras installed in the classrooms to “rewatch if there are specific circumstances, and will ask teachers permission to watch”. We were spied on by our boss. Avoid the situation at all costs, the only kind of person that would want a camera in an Eikaiwa class are control freaks
A head cam would be a hard pass for me. Just set the camera on the damn desk. They can't make you wear something like that. Or tell them you're unable to due to medical or religious reasons. (Knew religion was useful for something!)
Having recorded sessions for various situations, headcams are a BAD IDEA. First is parents don't need to see things from the teacher's POV. Second, a head mounted camera is distracting to the students.
You should instead offer alternative ideas that accomplish the same goal.
Option One: Place camera at a desk from where a child's POV would be. (If using 3D 180 cameras for playback in VR headsets, put the text book open to the lesson). Now do the lesson normally, treating the camera as one of the students.
Option Two: Put camera above the heads of one of the students.
Option Three: Put camera and screen at the desk (make sure at child's POV height), and connect it to zoom where one of the students is remote. Record the class session, interact normally with the student, and encourage back and forth.
Option Four: Place camera where an adult observer would sit. This is probably the best option as it allows a recording to review by supervisor or to show parents, but doesn't create the crazy idea of recording every class lesson to sell as a product later.
Holy shit this is hilarious
Came here to say as much. Self-surveillance to a new extreme.
Dealt with surveillance cameras in classrooms when I was working in Korea and had minor students. Parents, mainly housewives with nothing else better to do, could watch your class anytime and throw a bitch fit afterwards if there was something that they disliked to the slightest extent. Avoid that situation if you can.
So what they have now is cameras in classrooms and then a few times year the school will save and edit them as a presentation to the parents, but they don’t want to spend so much time editing anymore hence this new idea…
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that whoever came up with this idea has never done videography before. I would bet good money that in a normal kids lesson, the overwhelming majority of your video is not just unusable, but nauseatingly shakey to watch. Bonus points if your eikaiwa is the song and dance type.
Walk around the classroom a lot, using a very bouncy walk. It's win-win. You are going to get a lot of exercise. Whoever is tasked with watching your video will get motion-sickness.
While that is better than constant micromanaging via surveillance footage that mothers could check on at any moment, any recording still sets you up to deal with potential nitpicking and passive aggression from parents. Some parents will find something “wrong,” whether edited and only a few times a year or not. Avoid it.
Who cares if you’re getting paid the same.
Because dealing with bored housewives telling you how to do your job is probably the worst part of the job you could imagine?
They love telling teachers in general how to do their jobs, even outside of English teaching, while having zero training or experience in much of anything. Many of them would not last a whole week if passed the baton.
And what exactly is your job? Please don’t say “teaching English.”
I teach migrants English in my native country. Nothing wrong with that.
No if you like it and find it fulfilling. If you’re teaching eikaiwa in Japan though to Japanese people it’s unlikely you’re actually teaching. Most of those jobs are just babysitting or counseling services for venting adults.
People will care when they get tired of it over time and can make the same or more somewhere else that doesn’t require that.
Not getting paid enough to deal with the extra bullshit? I know how to do my job and do it well. But I'm not perfect, I make mistakes sometimes, have less than optimal lessons sometimes, happens to everyone, I don't need some parent who has no experience actually doing the job telling me how to do my job. And I don't need crappy management deciding that the parental feedback needs to be taken seriously and blame me when it's not possible to implement. You want to pay me quadruple what I make now maybe I'll deal with it. Otherwise you want me to wear a GoPro, I resign, go work at a Conbini or McDonald's instead and make roughly the same amount with less stress and less bullshit.
I doubt any of that will really happen though. Parents just want cheap daycare with the added benefit that their kid might learn a word or two. Standards are extremely low! Don’t worry. No one cares about your mistakes. The GoPro is just for the owner to write off and keep.
How does switching to head-cam save them time? Actually a dumb idea. Also, like the other guy mentioned, shaky videography. If anything, be extra genki and move your head more, making the video unwatchable. Oh, and you already have surveillance in classrooms? What eikaiwa is this? I worked at ECC (4 years ago) and we definitely didn’t have that. What in tarnation?
The cameras are legally mandated. Allowing parents to live stream the cameras seems ridiculously stupid at best, a major legal liability at worse. My work never allowed parents access to the cameras or any recordings. They only ever used the recording to review major incidents (injuries) and defend themselves.
Cameras being legally mandated, yes, especially with the youngest students, but there is no way in hell I would even want the staff to have any recordings or images of me. Been there, done that and just prefer somewhere that allows me to work with minimal interference and go home.
Good old "customer is god" bullshit. "Stop making my son speak so much he's clearly shy and uncomfortable!" "Okay." "Why is my son not improving his English?" "Well you told me not to make him speak so much..."
Meanwhile… “Hey Taro, how are you?” “英語いやだ!”
Ahh! The old GoPro Eikaiwa scam! I wouldn't worry about it. This is just so the owner can expense a couple cameras for their personal use.
Owner should have done some better research so they could have expensed a PTZ camera.
PTZ cameras are a lot harder to hide in the bathroom and completely useless on the train/escalator.
.. says the apprentice.
_always two there are. A master, and an apprentice. But which was this, the master or the apprentice?_
Are we master debating again?
Is this a joke? If not, “sorry, I forgot to turn it on” seems like a valid excuse.
“Why is the video so shaky?” ”Sorry, I can’t maintain perfect stillness while being genki, making sure students are participating, checking their work, doing activities, etc.”
Or it falls and now you have a 50-minute video of the carpet.
National chain eikaiwa or mom & pop?
Not a national chain, although I wouldn’t say Mom and pop, has a couple of locations
So mom & pop & siblings? Lol
Headcams? Surely this isn't real. 😂
New youtube niche. Esl airsoft lol.
I was told by my boss if I have a better idea to let him know otherwise to give it a try 🥲
Tell him the proper idea is called a 三脚 (さんきゃく), or tripod. Wearing cameras is not a legitimate part of a dress code in Japan, unless you’re making movies, reality TV shows or porn. Tell your boss NO. If he insists, then bring it up at the next union meeting and issue a demand that teachers aren’t required to wear cameras. He can’t possibly have a legal leg to stand on to force the issue. He will back off.
The better idea is to record parts of the class with a normal webcam/smartphone cam. Edit the video so they only see the good parts. Re-shoot if something goes wrong. Add subtitles in Japanese so parents can follow along. A bit more work with the editing, but a much higher quality end product and you can avoid a lot of the complaints. $.02
That’s actually the current system (with a webcam) but my boss doesn’t like the quality and also he doesn’t want the staff in charge of editing spending so much time
"Forget" to turn it off when you go take a shit. Maybe they'll stop
make sure to grunt extra loud. XD
If you're uncomfortable, tell them to fuck off.
So its not technically legal in Japan to video your students without all of the parents consent. Our school tried this and I made them aware of the legal ramifications we could face. My brother in law is a lawyer here so that helped a lot.
I run my own school. And that is the stupidest idea I have ever heard lol
So instead of asking you to prepare some extra fun lessons a year and getting someone to record some nice footage of the kids... They want to spend money on headcams... so someone can stay until 11 pm to store all the data somewhere. Then someone is expected to spend countless hours sifting through useless footage... and you say this is to "save time"?
Only upside i see to this is if you got a little shitty kid that the parents get to see how shitty their kid is.
I don’t like the idea, but it may be necessary in cases of bad behaviour. Perhaps if the Eikaiwa had in their contract with parents that “video may be recorded in cases of bad behavior from your child. It won’t be shared online but will be used to decide whether the child is excluded from the school” it may be different. Making teachers wear a GoPro on their head? No chance.
Peep Show
😂😂😂
Ughh, that sounds awful. You're not crazy for feeling uncomfortable. Wonder why they'd want a headcam instead of just placing a video camera somewhere in the room. Personally, I wouldn't want to watch a video where the camera keeps shaking because it's being moved around.
So they have been using room cameras that were hung up on the wall, but my boss thinks it’s too distant from the kids, and too much effort to edit the videos… Also I brought up the shaking possibility, and all I got was a shrug and maybe they will look at “neck” cameras instead 😅
Ahh, okay. That makes sense. Just curious, do they wanna take videos of every class session? The "neck" comment almost had me laughing, sorry! Perhaps they'll change their minds about the headcam after trying it out... I hope they come up with a better idea and not stress you guys out too much. I would feel stressed being recorded at all.
It’s video feedback so all classes 3 times a year. I’m hoping they will change it 😅 they will test it soon on one teacher but yeah it’s good to know I’m not the only one you thought this all sounds a bit nuts
Sounds like a dumb idea. Do they not realize how much you’ll be moving around while that video is taken? It’s going to be terrible. Having a fixed camera mounted somewhere (or on a tripod) will give way better results.
I wouldn’t normally suggest the classic dancing monkey bit, but let him try and make videos of that. “I can’t see anything!” Ridiculous boss.
Actually I brought up the dancing how it could make it so blurry and the suggestion was to look into “neck” cams.. no joke
Give it a try, shake your head lots so the video isn't clear and spend lots of time with the camera at an a strange angle so that they have to do lots of editing anyway. Malicious compliance may be the way....
Honestly this was what I was thinking, lots of sharp head turns and odd angles 😅
Can't record people without their consent, especially minors...or rather you can't display people's likeness without their consent. You could point out this is a potential legal minefield, a health and safety issue and more than anything would lose them customers..it will at the very least be a distraction in class and be an opportunity for kids to disrupt the lesson and make the company look stupid (that would be mt opener)
I don't know what to tell you, other than get qualifications so that you don't have to work at these terrible jobs with stupid management who make dumb decisions based on their total lack of understanding of teaching.
Why a head cam? why not a classroom security camera?
They actually have been using that for many years, they just don’t want to edit those videos anymore and don’t like the quality
Turn it backwards so it's several hours of footage of your face from a weird perspective like that guy with the trains.
Lmao what a stupid fucking idea
2/3 years ago, I quit teaching because it became not only dangerous to me but also emotionally and mentally overwhelming. I wanted cameras in the classroom (pointing towards the whiteboard) to show everyone the abuse from the students. But they refused that but also refused to pay the average teacher salary too so I quit. I live in Japan now, sports instructing, but I digress. That head camera sounds to me like something really nice since some students might think twice before pulling a stunt on you. If you really feel insecure still, maybe ask if it's possible to have the camera fixed on your lectern and pointing towards the whiteboard. I would use that video material to look at my own classes and give feedback to myself so to improve my teaching even further. In any way, I hope you find a nice solution to your situation.
Abuse from students? Can you elaborate? I’m genuinely curious
Sure, besides the use of sexual harassment and verbal abuse, it mostly involved tossing different sort of items like pencils, paper balls, pencil cases and the occasional chair
Wow… are these adult students too? I’m sorry you have to go through that. That’s insane.
Where employs teachers to do specifically sports instructing?
I'm not a teacher anymore. I am able to do sports instructing thanks to my experience working a second job as a ski/snowboard instructor back before I entered Japan. However, you should look into applying for engaging in other activities. It was a headache so I used a how-to that I found on Patreon but if you have time, it's entirely doable to navigate it yourself. Basically, I used google maps to spot out sporting fields (ski resorts in my case) and check if those sport fields have clubs. Some of these clubs are linked to international schools and that is where you have the highest chances to become a sports instructor. From there, you reach out, get them to sign a contract, etc. There are many steps and I can't write it all down here or put a link to the guide. The guide on patreon that I used was called "moving2japan"
I'm interested in hearing your experience in the transition from English teaching to ski instruction. Sent a DM.
What tf is this bs lmao
Ridiculous. If they want to see that badly they should just come down in person. Have a parents allowed to sit in and join day once or twice a year. No to all this recording crap, enough is enough.
I know some Eikawas have cameras in the classroom as well and I can't imagine working for something like that
Previous job had cameras installed in the classrooms to “rewatch if there are specific circumstances, and will ask teachers permission to watch”. We were spied on by our boss. Avoid the situation at all costs, the only kind of person that would want a camera in an Eikaiwa class are control freaks
Every place I worked with cameras in thr classroom. The bosses just used them to bitch at the staff over stupid and pointless things.
A head cam would be a hard pass for me. Just set the camera on the damn desk. They can't make you wear something like that. Or tell them you're unable to due to medical or religious reasons. (Knew religion was useful for something!)
Sounds kinda fun. If it's a kids eikaiwa just sit on the floor and the problem will take care of itself. ;)
Having recorded sessions for various situations, headcams are a BAD IDEA. First is parents don't need to see things from the teacher's POV. Second, a head mounted camera is distracting to the students. You should instead offer alternative ideas that accomplish the same goal. Option One: Place camera at a desk from where a child's POV would be. (If using 3D 180 cameras for playback in VR headsets, put the text book open to the lesson). Now do the lesson normally, treating the camera as one of the students. Option Two: Put camera above the heads of one of the students. Option Three: Put camera and screen at the desk (make sure at child's POV height), and connect it to zoom where one of the students is remote. Record the class session, interact normally with the student, and encourage back and forth. Option Four: Place camera where an adult observer would sit. This is probably the best option as it allows a recording to review by supervisor or to show parents, but doesn't create the crazy idea of recording every class lesson to sell as a product later.
And which eikaiwa is this ?
So body cams, like the police in the US?