British English Dialect

Objective:

A 9^th grade honors class has been learning intensely about the English they speak today versus the English spoken in Britain. They must learn about the British dialect before they can go on a class trip to Canterbury.

First you should listen to this sound sample. The person speaking is a 21-year-old female from a small town in England. Pay special attention to the differences in the way she pronounces words from the way you do.

Sound Clip

Word differences

American words with an –or suffix have an –our suffix in their British counterparts

Humor Humour

Armor Armour

Favorite Favourite

British words use the letter in the sound of the word

Ie: our offense is spelled offence

American English and British English also often have different words that mean the same thing

Here is a link to show you common words that make it confusing for Americans and British to have a simple conversation.

Link one

Now, write a short letter using American English describing your surroundings. Then, transcribe it to British English to see how different it would look if you wanted to write it to a student in Britain. For the assignment, you may use the link above or one of the two following links:

Link two

Link three

*note – you should have fun with this assignment. When you translate the letter to British English it should look funny to you!

Enjoy!