Teach English in Longshenghe Zhen - Bayannao'er Shi — Bayan Nur

In China, when the parents help their children choose an English school, they always like to ask us whether we teach British English or American English. In fact, most of the English learned by students in mainland China tends to be American English. Of course, it is very important for some children who go to study in the UK or take IELTS test to learn British English. In fact, there are many differences between British English and American English. Mainly reflected in the pronunciation, vocabulary and spelling. British English and American English have great differences in pronunciation. British English has a large fluctuation in tone, clear and high articulation, and heavy friction. American English is more gentle and mellow, with more softer pronunciation. They are totally different in many vowels, stress and tone. For example, in American pronunciation, except for Mrs, every “r” sound in the word will be reflected (no matter where it is), especially the curly tongue sound of “r” at the end of the word, such as teacher, car, and neighbor, which is especially obvious when watching American TV. British accents don't usually read every “r”, but they are similar to tonless accents: teacha, Ca and neighba. I think this difference is the most obvious and the easiest to judge when I talk with a foreigner. Many people will tell us that they want to learn British English or American English when they are planning to start learning English, but British English and American English are not only different in pronunciation, but also in vocabulary. When students look up the dictionary, they will encounter a few words, which are special cases. The dictionary will indicate the usage of bre. or am. The former is the abbreviation of British English, and the latter is the abbreviation of American English. Now, based on the differences between British and American English in terms of vocabulary, this paper sums up the differences in the use of British and American English vocabulary as follows: Sweaters are called “sweaters” in American. However, in England they should be called “jumpers.” Imagine you are in a British shopping mall. You ask the salesclerk what floor is the bathroom, and they answer “on the first floor.” Which floor will you go to? In British English, the first floor is the second floor， and the first floor is the ground floor. What's the correct word for toilet? “Bathroom” and “restroom” are American English, while “loo”, a strange looking word, is British. Imagine your British roommate is going to the supermarket. You want him to bring you a bag of chips. What would you say? In British English, they use the word“chips” to call chips, as well as“crisps.” While in American English it they are commonly called“potato chips.” If you want to ask English students to borrow an eraser, which word do you use? “Rubber” means eraser in British English. Whereas an American may interpret that to mean rubber products. In the UK, when looking for the subway people would ask “where is the underground sign?” In American English “subway” is the only word used for subway, while the British subway is the called “underground.” For example, the London Underground. What does pavement mean in the United Kingdom and the United States? “Pavement” means sidewalk in England, but it only means pavement in American. As the Americans us the word “sidewalk”to represent sidewalk. There are not only differences in usage, but also differences in spelling. The spelling of color in America is “color,”while in Britain it is spelled “colour;” similarly, the spelling of airplane in America is “airplane”while England uses “aeroplane.” If we want to teach or learn English well, it's necessary to have a good understanding of the variances between British English and American English. Of course, these differences are very interesting. They may bring up a lot of funny conversations when communicating with our British or American friends.