Dear Shengli,

Thank you for your email. It is actually quite uncommon for me to receive messages from former students —- especially messages that are so laden with compliments! I really do appreciate it. In fact, if you have the time and/or the inclination, I would appreciate if you could send a short message of support to those people in charge of organizing the classes at Beiwai. I fear there may have been some negative comments made about my classes —- so a message supporting my teaching performance may provide some balance.

I think the best person to send it to may be Miss *** ******: *********@fltrp

You have every reason to be proud of your abilities in the use of English, with a wonderfully distinctive “British” English accent, and an uncommon enthusiasm. If I remember correctly, you are largely “self-taught” —- which is interesting, because many of the best Chinese users of English belong to the same category i.e. self-taught. I suppose there is nothing that can replace enthusiasm and self-motivation as the most powerful of driving forces behind any endeavor.

I hope you will continue to derive satisfaction from your teaching and inspire your students with a love of learning, free of insincerity and hypocrisy.

Yes I ate some moon cakes last night; with my daughter, who is visiting me at this time.

I hope I might one day have the opportunity to visit your hometown. And thanks for the photo.

Best wishes

Colin