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e-lesson Week starting: 24th November 2008
1. British and American English 2
This week s lesson looks at some more differences between British and American
English.
Level
Intermediate and above (equivalent to CEF level B1 and above)
How to use the lesson
1. Ask the students what differences they are aware of between British and American
English. Which form are they more familiar with? Do they prefer one to the other, and
if so, why?
2. Divide the students into pairs and hand out Worksheet A. Give the students enough
time to complete Exercise 1, in which they have to spot the differences between
British and American English that appear in the two short texts. Note that some of the
answers to Exercises 1 and 2 are in the glossary, so you may wish to ask students not
to refer to it at first.
3. Check answers in open class.
Answers:
garden/yard, shop/store, High Street/Main Street, cinema/movie theatre, mate/buddy,
football/soccer, (potato) crisp/chip
4. Keeping the students in their pairs, give them five to ten minutes to complete
Exercise 2, in which they have to fill in the gaps to compete the words. In a few cases
they might have to take a guess.
5. Check answers in open class.
Answers: 1. cookie 2. lorry 3. flat 4. trash can 5. first 6. caretaker 7. tin
8. zipper 9. windscreen 10. subway 11. flashlight 12. payrise 13. drapes
14. bill 15. check 16. trunk 17. cooker 18. round trip 19. one-way 20. postbox
(Note that some American English words such as can and cookie are now also
commonly used in British English.)
6. Tell the students that in order to tackle the next exercise they should try to
memorise as many of the words in Exercise 2 as possible. Ask them to turn over
Worksheet A, or temporarily hand it back to you, then hand out Worksheet B. Give
the students at least fifteen minutes to complete Exercise 3, in which their first task is
to recognise those sentences that are written in British English (B), those that are
written in American English (A), and those that would be the same in both (AB).
They then have to make the alterations necessary to turn the British English sentences
into American English, and vice versa.
7. Check answers in open class.
This page has been downloaded from www.insideout.net.
It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2008.
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Answers:
1. B: Did you get a single (one way) or a return (round trip)?
2. A: It s a really busy, noisy road  there are trucks (lorries) going past all the time.
3. A: She lives on the first (ground) floor, so you won t have to go up any stairs.
4. A: Shall I just put this stuff in the trash can (rubbish bin)?
5. B: I got a puncture (flat) when I was cycling to work yesterday.
6. A: My dad works as a janitor (caretaker) at the local school.
7. B: I went to the shop (store) to buy five tins (cans) of peaches and some biscuits
(cookies).
8. AB
9. A: Excuse me, could we have the check (bill) please?
10. AB
11. B: It s dark out there, so take a torch (flashlight).
12. A: I m going to have to clean this windshield (windscreen)  I can hardly see out
of it. If you could just bring me some water, I ll use the cloth I ve got in the trunk
(boot).
13. AB
14. B: I need to get this bag repaired because the zip s (zipper s) broken.
15. A: It s about twenty minutes on the subway (underground / Tube).
16. B: I d like a new cooker (stove), but we can t really afford it.
17. A: I hate my job  my boss is an idiot and I haven t had a raise (payrise) for four
years.
18. A: Their new carpet s a weird colour and it doesn t match the drapes (curtains)
at all.
19. A: I m sure I had a twenty-dollar bill (note) in this pocket, so where is it now?
20. A: Honey, can you go and put this in the mailbox (postbox) for me?
2. Related Websites
Send your students to these websites, or just take a look yourself.
http://eleaston.com/brit-eng.html#diff
The  Great Britain section of the E. L. Easton EFL website, which contains links to
numerous sites on the subject of the differences between American and British
English.
http://www.effingpot.com/index.shtml
Describing itself as  The American s Guide to Speaking British , this website
provides explanations of numerous British words and expressions with which
Americans might be unfamiliar. Note that the vocabulary lists include some
swearwords.
http://esl.about.com/library/vocabulary/blbritam.htm
From About.com, a tool for converting American English words into their British
English equivalents, and vice versa.
This page has been downloaded from www.insideout.net.
It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2008.