Introducing American

and

British EnglishSubject : English

Group Members :

Fung Pauline Po Lam 98638612

Lee Wai Kit, Mark 98570874

Ng Hoi Yan, Wendy 98647944

Tang Lam Chi, Alice 98613373

IntroductionTarget audience: Form 4 to Form 5 students

Format: Classwork, self-learning with teacher guidance

Aims:

Introducing the differences between British and American English

Arousing students’ interests and awareness towards these differences

Learning new vocabulary and pronunciation

Let’s start with a joke!

See if you can follow...

Excuse me, where’s

the restroom?

Oh! If you want to take a rest, you can

go to the park!

WHAT!!!

Do you understand why the lady was so angry?

If you don’t understand, don’t worry!

Their misunderstanding was due to the differences of American and British English.

Let’s learn their differences through the following games.

Game one

What are the differences?Introduction :

There are two versions of article in the game, listen carefully and try to distinguish the differences between the two articles.

Version 1

Mom, that’s Angie’s apartment located at downtown. Last time, Angie had candy, chips, cookies and dessert at her birthday party. I think they’re good. On the sidewalk, you see, it’s the mailbox full of mails. Her gray trashcan is full of trash. Mm, may be they’re on their vacation. Anyway, let’s go to McDonald’s and get a burger.

Version 2

Mom, that’s Angie’s flat located at city centre. Last time, Angie had sweets, crisps, biscuits and pudding at her birthday party. I think they’re good. On the pavement, you see, it’s the postbox full of posts and her grey bin is full of rubbish. Mm, maybe they’re on their holiday. Anyway, let’s go to McDonald’s and get a burger.

The word choice of the two articles is different but the meanings of the two articles are the same.

The words choice in the two articles is different; thus the meanings of the two articles are different.

What are the differences between the two articles?

Although the word choice of the two articles are different, the meanings of the two articles are the same. This is because of the use of American English in article one and British English in article two.

One of the differences between American English and British English is that

‘Some words are different in spelling in these two English but their meanings are the same.’

American British

apartment flat

downtown city centre

candy sweets

chips crisps

cookies biscuits

pudding dessert

American British

sidewalk pavement

mailbox postbox

mails posts

gray grey

trashcan bin

trash rubbish

vacation holiday

Let’s have a look at the following examples

extracted from the two articles.

Besides the difference in word choice, can you discover the other differences between American and British English? Now click on the icons and listen to the previous two articles to find out the differences!

Version 1

American English

Version 1

British English

The pronunciation of American English and British English are different only.

The accent of American English and British English are different only.

All of the above.

What is/ are the difference/s between the speech of the two English?

Now try another game to see the differences of pronunciation between American and British English!

Game Two

What are the differences?

Introduction :

There is an article in the game, listen carefully to the two versions of this article and distinguish the differences between these two versions.

Susan and John were attending a lesson in a laboratory. Their teacher showed them a sample of calcium chloride and stirred it with a rod. Then the solution became very clear. John and Susan did not watch clearly and ate tomatoes. Their teacher stopped them and punished them.They blamed that their teacher is very demanding and insincere.

American English

British English

Click!

What can you discover from

the two versions of the article?

The pronunciation of the words in

the two versions are the same.

The pronunciation of the words in

the two versions are different.

American British

laboratory l ’bDr tri læbr t :ri

sample `sa:mp l `sæmp l

rod rDd ra:d

clear klI klIr

clearly `klI li `klIrli

tomato t `ma:t u t ` meItou

stop stDp sta:p

demand dI`ma:nd dI`mænde

e e

e

e

e e e

e ce

In American English and British English, words shared same meanings and spellings may have different pronunciation. It means that a word have one pronunciation in American English but may have another pronunciation in British English.

Summary:

There are two types of English which are American English and British English. Two of the differences between American English and British English are:

Words have same meanings but have different spellings.

Words have same meanings and spellings but have different pronunciation.

That’s the end of the programme.

Thank you for using!

See you later!

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Bingo!

You are right!

Sorry,you’ve got it wrong.

You’re right!

Sorry, you’ve got it wrong!

Version 1 (American English)

Mom, that’s Angie’s apartment located at downtown. Last time, Angie had candy, chips, cookies and dessert at her birthday party. I think they’re good. On the sidewalk, you see, it’s the mailbox full of mails. Her gray trashcan is full of trash. Mm, may be they’re on their vacation. Anyway, let’s go to McDonald’s and get a burger.

Version 2 (British English)

Mom, that’s Angie’s flat located at city centre. Last time, Angie had sweets, crisps, biscuits and pudding at her birthday party. I think they’re good. On the pavement, you see, it’s the postbox full of posts and her grey bin is full of rubbish. Mm, maybe they’re on their holiday. Anyway, let’s go to McDonald’s and get a burger.

Good!

You’re right!

Sorry, you’ve got it wrong!

That’s the end of the programme.

Thank you for using!

See you later!

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