Teach English in Chengbeiwuliuyuanqu - Taizhou Shi

My husband and I are from the United States. We visited Spain recently, exploring the possibility of buying a home there. During our home search, our realtor, who was from South Africa, kept using the word “scheme” to describe different purchasing packages and it was then that I really began to think about the differences in British English versus American English. That simple word carries a vastly different, negative connotation in American usage than it does British usage and serves as a great example of how language is a living thing that grows and changes constantly. My husband has been transferred to Spain for work and when I found out about this opportunity, I wanted to be able to take advantage of it myself, which is why I began this TESOL course. Indeed, during the first unit I was confronted with the word “learnt” which is not used at all by most Americans. During these past weeks I again began to think about our confusion and miscommunication, and indeed, lack of trust in our realtor just from the use of the word “scheme” and how British usage and meaning were much more common in Spain. Not only vocabulary but pronunciation, spelling, and inflection, even how numbers and dates are written and spoken. It made me wonder if it were necessary for me to be able to speak a second version of English in order to better equip my students for life in Europe. Much has been written in the ESL world about the differences in teaching British versus American English and the consensus is that neither form is better or worse than the other. Areas where I see this being the most problematic in my own teaching journey are with pronunciation and spelling. As it is teacher’s primary job to teach the prop forms, there is quite an argument to be made that a word is being spelled or pronounced incorrectly. Because I hail from America it is what I am most familiar, but I have also been exposed to most British spellings and pronunciation through my travels. There should also be some consideration paid to the level of the student, their primary goals for learning English and the environment in which it that language will be used. In areas such as technology, vocabulary seems to be evolving daily and quite a bit appears to originate from the west coast of America. Take the word “transparent” as an example. In the past, this word has been used to describe a physical property of a substance. Now, that word has evolved to mean being open, honest and straightforward and is used in many business settings. Students that are learning English to advance their business or technology careers, therefore, may choose to learn American English. Teens English students may want to learn more current language trends and be interested in the acquisition or meanings of slang terms that they hear in popular music or on the internet. These, too, vary vastly from American to Britain. I am of the opinion that there is too much opportunity for inappropriate content in the discussion and explanation of slang and that it should probably be avoided with persons with whom you are not familiar. Having said that, there is a certain amount of colloquial or slang terms we all use in everyday speaking so some discussion of slang terms may be unavoidable. Very young students or very beginning students may not need to differentiate at all in the spelling and pronunciation of in any but the most common of words. In summation, a good foundation of proper English, an explanation of the difference in pronunciation of common words and the possession of two good dictionaries should be a good platform to begin building my teaching confidence and allow me to be successful in acquiring the skills needed to become the best teacher that I can be.