Even though I've long since made a rule that Chinese teachers are not allowed to sit in in my classes, I still get told what a lousy teacher I am from time to time; however, that's all grist for the mill for me, and anyway they are most probably half right, I'm not very good. The only back-handed compliment I am given is that I sound like a BBC news reporter when I speak English. I'm regarded as dour and uninteresting, even though 75% of my lessons are conducted in Mandarin. I mean, I think the siege of Colchester is gripping stuff.