I actually fell for it. I feel so stupid. But it seemed so much more plausible than most scams. He had good English, because it was the UK it seemed more legitimate, and he also seemed to know about Chinese culture, because live in tutors are common there, and they also have a strong respect for qualifications. But he never asked for money, all he did was waste my time a bit, so I don't know what he was actually after. I actually helped the creep. I have very little experience of teaching children, so I actually rang the ESL department of my local polytechnic and asked advice about this sort of teaching. The expert there confirmed what I suspected, that it woudl be far better for the kids to go to the local school and be taught by full immersion. I still thought Mark was genuine, and that he had just not grasped the fact that he was in an English speaking country surrounded by English and that what would be good strategy in China would not work in the UK.

So in the end I told him I would prefer to take the job only for 3 months, so that both our options remained open and that if he found that immersion was a better way then he would not have any obligation to keep me on. I also told him that I did not need the health insurance because as a UK citizen I was eligible for the National Health. That was the last time I heard from him.