Differences Upper

Opportunities Upper-Intermediate Supplementary Activity – Differences between American and British English Materials: Text A Text B Handout 1 Handout 2 Instructions Divide your class into two groups: A and B – tell them they are going to read a story about a foreigner’s trip to the Czech Republic - give each student a copy of text A or B depending on which group they are in and ask them to read through quickly to see whether he had a good time or not. Next put the class into pairs (one student with A text and one student with B text). Ask them to find as many differences between the two texts as possible (you can tell them that there are 30 differences to find). Then ask them why there are differences between text A and text B (answer A is written in American English and B is written in British English). Distribute Handout 1 to each student and get them to complete it in pairs. Reinforce the differences during the feedback stage. Finally distribute Handout 2 to each student and get them to complete the text in either American or British English.

Text A

It happened when I was on vacation in the Czech Republic, I was traveling down the highway when the cops stopped me and asked for my driving license. They noticed that my windshield had a crack in it and I needed new tires. Luckily I was only a few hundred meters from an old medieval town, so I drove to the center and looked for a parking lot, I didn’t find one but I managed to park my car in a small space near a hotel, it was a skillful maneuver but I did it without hitting the sidewalk. Then I took my luggage out of the trunk and booked into the hotel. The room was really big, almost the size of a small apartment but it was on the 5th floor and there wasn’t an elevator. There was an aging Television in the corner and I turned it on to see if there were any English programs, but there were only Czech channels, so I sat down on the bed, got into my pajamas and tried to relax, but the people in the next room were having an argument and it was so loud that I couldn’t. Eventually I had to listen to some of my favorite music on my portable mp3 player to get to sleep. The next day I went to the gas station and asked the mechanic to pick up my car and fix it, I gave him the keys and told him the license plate and then went back to the hotel. It took three days to fix the car, and although the town was beautiful there wasn’t much to see and it rained every day, so I spent most of my time listening to the couple quarreling next door, they had a baby but no pacifier and the hall smelt of dirty diapers, they had no baby carriage to take the baby out, so with the crying and the arguments you can imagine how happy I was to pay the check and go home!

Text B It happened when I was on holiday in the Czech Republic, I was travelling down the motorway when the police stopped me and asked for my driving licence. They noticed that my windscreen had a crack in it and I needed new tyres. Luckily I was only a few hundred metres from an old mediaeval town, so I drove to the centre and looked for a car park, I didn’t find one but I managed to park my car in a small space near a hotel, it was a skilful manoeuver but I did it without hitting the pavement. Then I took my luggage out of the boot and booked into the hotel. The room was really big, almost the size of a small apartment but it was on the 5th floor and there wasn’t an elevator. There was an ageing Television in the corner and I turned it on to see if there were any English programmes, but there were only Czech channels, so I sat down on the bed, got into my pyjamas and tried to relax, but the people in the next room were having a row and their quarrelling was so loud that I couldn’t. Eventually I had to listen to some of my favourite music on my portable mp3 player to get to sleep. The next day I went to the petrol station and asked the mechanic to pick up my car and fix it, I gave him the keys and told him the number plate and then went back to the hotel. It took three days to fix the car, and although the town was beautiful there wasn’t much to see and it rained every day, so I spent most of my time listening to the couple quarrelling next door, they had a baby but no dummy and the hall smelt of dirty nappies, they had no pram to take the baby out, so with the crying and the arguements you can imagine how happy I was to pay the cheque and go home!

Differences between American and British English Some key words are different – try to complete the table below American English British English American English British English Vacation Apartment Motorway Lift Windshield Gas station Car Park Have a row Sidewalk Pacifier Boot Number Plate Diaper Baby Carriage Plaster Torch Cookie Fries Crisps Trousers There are some key spelling differences between American and British English – can you find some examples from the text? AE - or BE - our AE - er BE - re Honor, Color Honour, Colour Theater,_______ Theatre,______ _______ _________ ________ ________ AE - e BE – ae/oe AE - ll BE - l Encyclopedia Encyclopaedia Fulfill Fulfil _______ ________ Enrollment Enrolment _______ ________ _______ _______ AE – only one L BE – adding L AE - se BE - ce after a vowel after a vowel Defense Defence when making +ing when making +ing ______ _________ Modeling Modelling AE - ze BE - se Signaling Signalling Memorize Memorise _______ _______ Criticize Criticize ________ ________ Analyze Analyse Other Spelling Differences AE BE AE BE AE BE Jewelry Jewellery _______ Cheque Aging _______ _______ Pyjamas _______ Arguement Tire ______ Plow Plough _______ Programme Judgment Judgement

Handout 1

It happened when I was on _______1 in the Czech Republic, I was _______2 down the _______3 when the _______4 stopped me and asked for my driving _______5. They noticed that my _______6 had a crack in it and I needed new ______7. Luckily I was only a few hundred ______8 from an old ________9 town, so I drove to the ______10 and looked for a _______11, I didn’t find one but I managed to park my car in a small space near a hotel, it was a _______12 ________13 but I did it without hitting the _______14. Then I took my luggage out of the _______15 and booked into the hotel. The room was really big, almost the size of a small ________16 but it was on the 5th floor and there wasn’t an _______17. There was an ______18Television in the corner and I turned it on to see if there were any English ________ 19, but there were only Czech channels, so I sat down on the bed, got into my _______20 and tried to relax, but the people in the next room were having an _______21 and it was so loud that I couldn’t. Eventually I had to listen to some of my _______22 music on my portable mp3 player to get to sleep. The next day I went to the ______23 station and asked the mechanic to pick up my car and fix it, I gave him the keys and told him the ______24 plate and then went back to the hotel. It took three days to fix the car, and although the town was beautiful there wasn’t much to see and it rained every day, so I spent most of my time listening to the couple _______25 next door, they had a baby but no ______26 and the hall smelt of dirty ________27 , they had no baby ______28 to take the baby out, so with the crying and the ______29 you can imagine how happy I was to pay the ______30 and go home!

Handout 2