[Vocabulary] How are you? - (Fine) As usual.

[englishhobby]

One of the students I am tutoring in English asked me if there are other possible replies to the greeting at the beginning of the lesson besides '(I'm) fine, thanks'. I suggested 'Better than ever', but he prefers something more neutral, like 'As usual' or 'I am normal'. I explained it to him that these replies would sound odd, but he is eager to use some other clishes besides 'I'm fine/I'm good'.
So what other replies to 'How are you?' can I suggest for him to use as response at the beginning of our lessons? Is 'As usual' natural?

Could you give me a couple of positive, neutral and negative responses to 'How are you?' suitable for teacher-student communication?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

In the US:

Positive:

- Great!
- Just great!
- Wonderful!

Neutral:

- Fine. [Often followed by: And you?]
- I'm well. [Often followed by: And you?]
- Good. [Often followed by: And you?]

Negative:

- Not good. [Then explain.]
- Not so good. [Then explain.]
- I've been better. [Then explain.]

NOTE: Even though the neutral answers sounds positive, they're really just expected responses that are not taken literally.