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Canadian English teacher filmed hitting 2-year-old child at daycare facility

38 Comments
By Oona McGee, SoraNews24

In recent years, we’ve heard a number of disturbing accounts involving teachers hitting students at Japanese schools, and this week, another disturbing case came to light, when a foreign English-language instructor was seen slapping a two-year-old child during a class at a child daycare facility.

The incident occurred in March this year, at an unlicensed daycare facility in the city of Kitakyushu, in Fukuoka Prefecture. According to reports, the male language instructor, originally from Canada, was teaching an English lesson to a group of young students when he reached down and smacked a boy who appeared to be rolling around and tugging on another child’s shirt on the floor.

The incident was captured on video, and submitted to a closed group on social media, where it’s since been leaked online.

The video shows the instructor hitting the child, who was two years old at the time, on the lower half of his body. After hitting him, the teacher can be seen lifting him up and forcibly sitting him on the floor, as the boy begins to cry.

Immediately afterwards, the teacher can be heard saying, “Why did you do that?” and then “Are you okay?” which seems to be directed at the child next to the boy, whose shirt had been tugged on by the boy before he was hit.

While the video has been making headlines around Japan for the past week, city officials say they were first alerted to the case when they received a phone call from a local resident complaining about the teacher’s behavior in April. However at that time, the childcare facility, which looks after children aged between the ages of 18 months and six years, denied any claims of inappropriate behavior. On May 13, however, after the video appeared on social media, another resident contacted the municipal government to inform them of the video, which clearly showed the teacher hitting a child in his care.

This prompted another inquiry from the city, which led to the daycare center acknowledging that the abuse had occurred. The center, which offers English conversation lessons with native-speaking instructors, suspended the Canadian instructor on May 14. The instructor, said to be in his 40s, had worked at the daycare center on a full-time basis for five years.

Fukuoka’s Nishinippon Shimbun newspaper reports that the video is one of a number that were secretly filmed on different days during February and March this year. The person who took the videos is said to have witnessed the teacher’s violent behavior on a daily basis, and besides smacking children on their bottoms, it’s claimed that the teacher also dragged children off play equipment by their collars and thrust books into children’s mouths.

The daycare facility held a briefing for parents and guardians on the evening of May 14, after which a spokesperson for the facility told the press that they will be seeking advice from lawyers regarding correct disciplinary measures. City officials say they will now provide continual guidance to the facility to ensure an incident like this doesn’t occur again.

Source: TBS News

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

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© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

38 Comments
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I have no tolerance for anyone abusing children, absolutely outrageous conduct.Grabbing and moving those kids around as though they were bags of garbage.I hope that the Japanese authorities impose the maximum punishment upon this thing for there no way he could be human.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

This is horrible to watch I actually feel physically sick... Those poor children, not only is he a pitiful excuse of a person, those innocent children are likely going to be scarred from these interactions. Abuse is not okay, especially in young children because it affects them when they become as their minds are delicate and still growing, which can affect them negatively in the future. What a monster, I'm embarrassed by his behaviour, I'm embarrassed by his behavior as a Canadian, this is not excuseable by any means.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

This guy was doing for money and not for passion.

The childcare worker must patience, tolerate and passion for the their job.

What did he expect 2 years old children to behave and doing in the child care center without a mother?

If he can't tolerate the children and then he should change the job.

All childcare workers must have minimum certificate (III) in Early Childhood and Care and/or Children’s Services qualification. If someone who doesn't have a minimum childcare certificate (III) and then he can't work at a child day care facility in Australia.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

the slap worked. The kitten behaved

But we don't usually want our kids to grow up to be no better than domestic animals.

....do we?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

There was obviously an agender by the video maker. He didn't intervene just filmed. There were personal issues involved. One "teacher" vs 30 odd children where are the assistants? Teaching children requires a lot of patience and to be honest at 40 that's wearing pretty thin. Not condoning his obvious frustration but I do understand. He actions were not abuse at all then consider what will happen to disruptive children at a "normal" school. It's nothing. Just a personal vindictive attack on co worker who was so upset he made a video instead of stepping in to mentor a co worker. In saying that the dude needs a career change he is burnt out.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

What are you saying? You would hit him? I would be angry too, but it's not bad enough to warrant further violence.

It really is a simple equation: lay your hands upon my child and I'll lay my hands upon you in-kind.

Why all the outrage all of a sudden?

It's not all of a sudden. Use your own link and read the comments on that thread.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Slapping infants is not just confined to humans.

I remember years ago my riends cat had kittens. One particular kitten eas very naughty, swinging from curtains, and annoying the others. One day when the mother was trying to sleep, the kitten kept pawing her. Mother kitten was very patient, but when it continued, she gave an angry meow and slapped her sibbing with her paw.

She had her claws well tucked away so as not to hurt her kitten, but the slap worked. The kitten behaved

It seems to tell me that this is a normal method of disaplining unruly infants within the animal kingdom.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Makes perfect sense. Agreed.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The teacher didn't hit the boy because the boy was misbehaving. He hit him because he (the teacher) was unable to properly hold the attention of what looks like a dozen or more very young children. That would be partly because of his own lack of teaching skills (in that kind of situation, you cannot just sit passively and talk to one child and expect the rest of the class to listen attentively). It's also partly because it is unfair of the daycare to set up that kind of class in the first place. If you're handling toddlers, it needs one adult to handle no ore than three or four kids, not over a dozen.

You cannot 'discipline' a two-year-old with slaps. This whole situation was a failure of management, not a discipline problem.

The teacher should be prevented from interacting with small children again, and the daycare should be instructed to clean up its act and stop offering mass English 'lessons'.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

There were 2 other adults there. Why didn't they do something beside sipping their drinks or walking away?

Rewatched a few times it to see the boys actions.

Call it a cultural difference to discipline. The swat did seem a little harder than needed. I wouldn't have any issue with my boy, at that age, getting a smack like that for the same reasons. I'd want to be asked before and I'd like to know after, what happened. That way we could address the behavior at home too - combined front - home and school.

I'm fairly certain I was more than a handful at that age too.

I'm with Jonathan!

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

What a piece of crap! This guy should be arrested, have his visa canceled and deported or at the very least blocked from teaching little kids. Makes me sick to my stomach watching this. Glad it wasn’t my kids, I would definitely be in the news.

The main one to blame is the operator of the school for allowing this guy to continue teaching here after knowing full well the abuse was happening on a daily basis. From what I understand, an American former co-worker put the video on social media after numerous complaints he made about the abuse to the school's boss. 

I want to know as this was brought to the operators attention why still nothing was done and why the complaints fell on deaf ears.

I am sure many people here have or had students in their classes that were disruptive and never seemed to improve as the Japanese teachers or parents let their child steamroll over them. The Japanese teachers are supposed to be giving the discipline while the English teacher teaches. This guy should have been gone after the first smack. He took advantage of no one doing anything.

Exactly.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

The person filming is a loser not intervening and staying out of the record.

I see excessive behaviour and heavy slaps. The boy will remember. And now the teacher too not to slap on face which is dangerous at that age (not the slap on his bum with diaper anyway).

The day care is main fesponsible for not providing proper training to its staff whike knowing well the situation.

The gaijin the scapegoat.

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

By all means, punish the guy to the full extent of the law. But the fact is, it is one of hundreds if not THOUSANDS of UNLICENSED daycares the government depends on to avoid paying for education, and when it's a Japanese engaging in the abuse you don't hear about it until there are a few dead kids. This is only sensational because it is a foreigner doling out the abuse. If it's the abuse people are upset about, I need only direct you to the thread about the little girl who was murdered by her father while her mother did nothing, after social services several times, despite complaints and records of abuse, sent the kid home to die.

https://japantoday.com/category/crime/Child-fatally-assaulted-by-father-was-earlier-released-from-custody-despite-his-sexual-abuse-of-her

Why all the outrage all of a sudden?

3 ( +7 / -4 )

The main one to blame is the operator of the school for allowing this guy to continue teaching here after knowing full well the abuse was happening on a daily basis. From what I understand, an American former co-worker put the video on social media after numerous complaints he made about the abuse to the school's boss.

I am sure many people here have or had students in their classes that were disruptive and never seemed to improve as the Japanese teachers or parents let their child steamroll over them. The Japanese teachers are supposed to be giving the discipline while the English teacher teaches. This guy should have been gone after the first smack. He took advantage of no one doing anything.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Having been a teacher in S. Korea, the 40 year olds were always the questionable ones--obvious signs on why they couldn't get jobs back home like anger problems. Had a co-worker while in Korea with a law degree from America and was working at an English school...a LAW DEGREE and no prospects of a job back home and needed an English academy job?! Very suspicious.

I'll bet that this 40 year old is from B.C. and probably just thinks he fits into the culture despite foreign teachers being told that they can't use local punishment practices...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

come in mind ...

hey teacher leave those kids alone

4 ( +7 / -3 )

That poor toddler was the recipient of deflected anger. The man was really angry at the world for the fact that he's in his 40's and stuck making minimum wage dancing around with puppets at some daycare in Japan.

What a loser.

0 ( +10 / -10 )

If I am not mistaken ntv channel ran a detailed report and interviewed parents having kids in the said daycare and more than 80% of the parents don't think bad about the guys behaviour as bad and want the guys suspension lifted so that he could continue to teach their kids.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

Dang, he slapped that boy pretty hard and then set him down pretty hard.

The person who took the videos is said to have witnessed the teacher’s violent behavior on a daily basis, and besides smacking children on their bottoms, it’s claimed that the teacher also dragged children off play equipment by their collars and thrust books into children’s mouths.

Dang! If this is true he should not be allowed to teach kids classes or be a parent, that's for sure.

40 year old man teaching ABC's to 2 year olds is all you really need to know.* 

Hey! Two of my elementary school teachers were men and they were way better than the women.

10 ( +13 / -3 )

City needs to clamp down on "unlicensed" day care.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

As every parent knows, give a child an inch, and they can try to take a mile. The child in question here will now know that it is unacceptable behaviour to tug at another childs clothing.

As for the teacher in question, perhaps a warning would suffice. But at the end of the day, a good teacher will not allow one disruptive child in the class, hold down the rest of the non disruptive children.

An appaulin peice of parenting I have seen was actually in a Church, when in front of me a mother was with her two children. One child was very well behaved while the other was being utterly disruptive. The mother gave a sweet to the naughty child to keep him quiet.

Message sent out : bad behaviour gets rewarded.

-4 ( +7 / -11 )

Gawd help anybody that hit one of my kids like that.

What are you saying? You would hit him? I would be angry too, but it's not bad enough to warrant further violence.

4 ( +9 / -5 )

What an askhole! Gawd help anybody that hit one of my kids like that. Let’s hope he is charged with assault and received just punishment for it.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

My son attended summer school here 2yes ago and I know the instructor.

There were staff that were supposed to support him but they were lazy and he alone had to day care and teach.

Yes, he was very wrong in his actions then and in the past.

My son had no troubles with him.

This is a problem at many schools,not only private day cares .

The majority of the blame is on him, then o the stress that the school places on the instructors, and finally the parents of children that give 0 discipline.

I will not defend him, but I do not fully blame him.

This is an issue that needs to be addressed in multiple levels.

The good point is that it is not as bad as several years ago when a baby dies from being thrown to the floor by a staff member of a certified daycare center.

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

I saw the videos he posted on YouTube, and they were a bit frightening. Crazy intensity and forced joy while he talks about his great passion for teaching kids. I think he needs psychological help, or at the very least, a long break.

Mental health issues go untreated in Japan so often, and it's even a worse situation for foreigners here. For those who go off the rails, the best thing is to recognize it and get out of the country to someplace more familiar.

I also saw the videos of him with the students. I didn't see sadistic intent or anything that would warrant jail time. It was inappropriate, certainly. But in addition to losing his job (which he should have) he is now a media celebrity of the worst kind. His life in Japan, if he had one, is pretty much finished now. Another reason to head elsewhere.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

Is that really child abuse? A slap to the butt of a young boy who is rolling around on the floor disrupting the class? If that was my son acting like that I would thank the teacher for showing discipline. I must be old school (I am 78.) When I was a kid in the U.S., teachers used to hit us all the time for bad behavior, and the parents approved of it. No wonder kids are so wild these days.

@scap. I temember the days when board dusters would come flying across the classroom aimed at a disruptive child. Certainly, if a pupil was tugging at another pupils shirt, that would br considered disruptive.

It was never really regarded as hitting years ago, but seen as a slap.

Perhaps I'm old school as well.

There was a case in my home city in the 1930's. A child was taking a tantrum on the street, and anybody who approached the child soothingly, the child would lash out at. (even the childs own mother was lashed at). This went on for a while until a man walked briskly up to the child and whispered something in the childs ear. Immediatly, the tantrum stopped, and the child went away sulking holding mothers hand.

Another person asked the man "what did you say to that child". The man repied, "I said - if you don't shut up in 5 seconds, I'll give you one big slap".

3 ( +8 / -5 )

Getting on a plane and then getting off and into a job does not a teacher make...

8 ( +11 / -3 )

Some kindergartens in Japan do not have licenses and use an English teacher set up as a money making machine. I applied for a job at one in Kyoto and after I signed up, I was shocked to see the Japanese female boss screaming at the small children. I resigned on the same day that I started. Horrible place. Canadian English teachers are notorious for abusing students as is the case in Thailand.

-10 ( +10 / -20 )

It's obvious this guy has been doing the job too long and hates the job. What middle aged man wants to be teaching 2-4 years old on a daily basis? He's lost his cool, lashed out in quite a forceful way at a child who seems to be naughty. Doesn't excuse the adults actions though. In fact lashing out at 2 years old is beyond acceptable.

As for him hitting the kids often, I'd say the kindergarten may tolerate this behaviour, otherwise how could he continue to get away with it?

15 ( +20 / -5 )

Is that really child abuse? A slap to the butt of a young boy who is rolling around on the floor disrupting the class? If that was my son acting like that I would thank the teacher for showing discipline. I must be old school (I am 78.) When I was a kid in the U.S., teachers used to hit us all the time for bad behavior, and the parents approved of it. No wonder kids are so wild these days.

-1 ( +22 / -23 )

When foreigners with useless degrees become 'teachers'.

4 ( +24 / -20 )

Several things come to mind:

The teacher seems to continue to calmly speak to the girl who is standing while violently overreacting to the boy. This 'split personality' is, in itself, scary.

The Japanese 認可外 means non-authorized kindergarten. At an authorized kindergarten licenced and experienced staff would have been present and, presumably, prevented this sort of behavior. So, one conclusion is that we need more authorized kindergarten facilities. This should be a priority.

Language teachers for small children require a different set of skills and mind set than those who teach adults. This creep should not be anywhere near children, ever.
11 ( +14 / -3 )

This makes me sick. Give him some jail time and then Deport him with no return.

4 ( +20 / -16 )

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