match am br

You say aubergine ... I say eggplant

Aim:

To raise awareness of differences between British and American English.

Resources:

list of common words in American and British English (p.2 below)

dominoes cards (pp.3–5 below)

dictionaries for further reference

(optional) interactive whiteboards or computers for the accompanying interactive activities (available for use online at www.teachitworld.com – Quick search: 9298).

Activity 1

Ask the class: o What are sneakers? (sports shoes)o Is this American English or British English? (American English)o What is the word in British English? (trainers)

Put the students in groups.

Read out a selection from the list below of common words in American and British English (or use words that you have recently covered in class or that are coming in your lesson perhaps in a reading or listening text).

Students must write the correct British English word/s for American English words. To make it more fun set it up as a competition and give points to the group that says the correct word first.

Alternatively you can read out a selection of British English words and students write the correct US equivalent.

Activity 2

Cut out the dominoes and distribute them to the students. (The number of dominoes each student is given rises the fewer the students.)

Ask one student to start by reading out the second word on his/her domino. (This will be an American English word.)

Ask the student who has the British English equivalent to read it out and then read the other word on his/her domino.

Continue this pattern around the classroom until your first word is the British English equivalent to the word the student has just read out.

Alternatively, you could spread the dominoes out on a big table and get the students to make a ‘paper trail’ by joining the equivalent terms to one another.

Discussion

How / why are we familiar with these words and terms? (TV/films/ American books/music?)

In the future will there be more or fewer words that are different?

What rules should you follow when checking that you have used British English rather than American English?

Warning: Problem with computer spelling check if on American English.

Extension

Have students look up key words that are Americanised in their spelling, e.g. colour/color; programme/program; theatre/theater; metre/meter; humour/humor; favourite/favourite; skilful/skilful; centre/center etc. and see if they can come up with ‘rules’ for the spelling changes.

If you have computer access in class, you could play the interactive memory game (Magnet), Snap game and Hexbusters quiz on www.teachitworld.com.

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 9298 of 5

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American British American British

cell phone mobile phone truck lorry

trash can bin corn maize

cookie biscuit ground beef mince

faucet tap highway motorway

hood (car) bonnet (car) diaper nappy

trunk (car) boot (car) suspenders braces

parking lot car park license plate number plate

motor home caravan gas petrol

pharmacist chemist sidewalk pavement

fries chips garbage rubbish

movie theater cinema band-aid plaster

potato chips crisps mail post

pacifier dummy zip code postal code

apartment flat stroller pram

overpass flyover line queue

soccer football stove cooker

vacation holiday eraser rubber

jelly jam napkin serviette

candy sweets eggplant aubergine

sweater jumper can tin

elevator lift flashlight torch

bathroom loo or WC pants trousers

windshield (car) windscreen vest waistcoat



waistcoat cell phone

mobile phone trash can

bin cookie

biscuit faucet

tap hood (car)

bonnet (car) trunk (car)

boot (car) parking lot

car park motor home

caravan pharmacist

chemist fries

chipsmovie theater

cinema potato chips

crisps pacifier

dummy apartment

flat overpass

flyover soccer



football vacation

holiday jelly

jam candy

sweets sweater

jumper elevator

lift bathroom

loowindshield

(car)

windscreen truck

lorry corn

maize ground beef

mince highway

motorway diaper

nappy suspenders

braces license plate

number plate gas

petrol sidewalk



pavement garbage

rubbish band-aid

plaster mail

post zip code

post code stroller

pram line

queue stove

cooker eraser

rubber napkin

serviette eggplant

aubergine can

tin flashlight

torch pants

trousers vest


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