Its that time of year again when the TV cameras are rolling, the national English speaking talent competition is in full swing and they want the perfect "laowai" (foreigner) . And so I stepped up to the plate for the third year in a row as the "distinguished foreign expert" for the CCTV Outlook English Speaking Competition for 2013.

They had me judging for four full days this year and it felt like I had run a marathon by the time we finished on the last day. I have seen and listened to thousands of students from primary school through to university level. We have had prepared speeches, impromptu speeches, group story telling and show time. We have seen tears and laughter.....from students, parents and the judges!!

I know that if the letter "Z" comes up then there is a 99% chance the student will only say zebra......I give extra points if they use another word!!

I have listened to so many variations of the speech "Talk with the world, share my dream".

The competition is so fierce we had parents trying to cheat. The worst part was that when they were caught they could not see a problem with what they had done even after it was carefully explained by the CCTV officials who had to be called in to mediate!!! Such a poor example some parents set for their children and it gives one an idea of why corruption is so endemic in China.

BUT we did not let this overshadow the fantastic performances from the thousands of students who obviously had prepared so hard for the competition.

This will be my last time judging this competition and despite it being hard work it is also very rewarding to see the progress made by the students.