In at least one respect, I m not a typical expatriate teacher of English. Many-perhaps most-of us make our careers teaching overseas. I came out here after many years of teaching and teacher training in England only three years ago, so I m still relatively a newcomer. And of course I make comparisons. Of course former colleagues ask me what it is like to teach Chinese students? In what ways do they differ from native speakers of English? How do they compare with the students in English schools who are of Asian parentage, but who hardly remember a home elsewhere than in an English city? To these questioners my answer is that Chinese students differ from one another just as do those of any other nationality. The longer I stay, the less I am willing to generalize.