Inside Out

e-lesson Week starting: 30th June 2008

1. British and American English

This week’s lesson looks at some of the 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 many 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:
British/American vocabulary differences: flat/apartment, mum/mom, football/soccer,
film/movie, chips/fries, at/on the weekend.
British/American spelling differences: favourite/favorite.
Grammatical difference: the possibility in American English of using the past simple
tense with ‘already’ (as well as ‘just’ and ‘yet’) where in British English only the
present perfect would be correct.
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 American words. In a
few cases they might have to take a guess. Note that some answers are the same word
but with a different spelling.
5. Check answers in open class.
Answers: 1. pants 2. sidewalk 3. gray 4. fall 5. line 6. garbage 7. math
8. gasoline 9. vacation 10. railroad 11. cell phone 12. drug store 13. airplane
14. check 15. program 16. candy 17. sneakers 18. meter 19. elevator 20. diaper
6. Tell the students that in order to tackle the next exercise they should try to
memorise as many of the differences 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 ten 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.
 Inside Out
Answers:

1. A: My mom (mum) said she’s not going to buy me new sneakers (trainers).
2. B: Summers there are quite warm, but in the autumn (fall) it starts getting cold.
3. A: Don’t eat too much candy (too many sweets) – it’s (they’re) bad for your teeth.
4. A: Gray (Grey) is such a sad color (colour) – I prefer yellow or orange.
5. AB: Eating lots of sugar isn’t good for you.
6. B: You can pay by cheque (check) or credit card.
7. A: The hotel’s up there on the left, about a hundred meters (metres) past that
drugstore (chemist’s).
8. B: The price of petrol (gasoline) is increasing.
9. A: He knows what’s happening tonight because I already spoke (I’ve already
spoken) to him.
10. B: Lots of railways (railroads) were built in the United States in the nineteenth
century.
11. AB: Paris is a smaller city than London or New York.
12. B: You shouldn’t really ride your bicycle on the pavement (sidewalk), you know.
13. B: Do you go to the theatre (theater) very often?
14. AB: I don’t know what I’d do without my computer.
15. B: I don’t know what I’d do without my mobile (cell) phone.
16. B: If you’ve got a baby you’re going to have to buy a lot of nappies (diapers).
17. A: I missed my favorite (favourite) TV program (programme) last night.
18. A: My worst subject at school was math (maths).
19. B: There was a queue (line) of about twenty people, all waiting to get in the lift
(elevator).
20. A: It’s a really dirty town, with garbage (rubbish) all over the streets.

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.