As teachers, most of us would agree that our attitudes and expectations do somehow influence the academic goals of our pupils and of ourselves. Research findings indicate that the self-fulfilling prophecy operates in all realms of education and that it results in the kind of behaviour that is expected. The significance of this, especially for teachers in cross-cultural classes, is now well established and generally accepted. However, the ways in which we actually transmit our attitudes and expectations to our pupils are still not clear.