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rogerwilco · Joined: 10 Jun 2010 Posts: 1549

I will give a lesson next week regarding the differences between
American and British English.
I can find many examples online of the differences in grammar, spelling, pronunciation, and vocabulary that I can present in class.
But, it is a 90 minute class, and I am having trouble thinking of an activity for the students. Any suggestions ?

Thanks

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

How about slang?

TexasHighway · Joined: 03 Dec 2005 Posts: 779

You could make up an amusing story about an American tourist in London (or a British tourist in New York) and how he becomes confused and perplexed because of cultural and language differences, also using some slang and idioms unique to each culture. The students could analyze the story and maybe even act it out.

Laurence · Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 401

After you have presented your language points,

Put them into groups to make mini-presentations to the rest of the class.

Tell half of the groups to use UK English, the other half USA, and have observing students guess which type of English they are using, and have them say what they are basing the distinction upon.

If I were doing this, I would get them to do travel guide presentations, either using their existing knowledge or supplying them with information packs (or wikitravel/wikipedia articles).
It's an open topic that can probably accommodate the language points that you present in your lesson with a little imagination.

I would also make a worksheet for observing students to record their thoughts, this improves focus in the class and facilitates oral feedback.

And staying on the topic of travel and tourism, you could conclude the lesson by looking at which countries are more likely to use which from of English, and revise your language points again as you talk about each place.