UK and US English

Although English in the UK and the US is very similar, there are a lot of differences in vocabulary, spelling, grammar and pronunciation.

Vocabulary
Many common words for items we see or use every day are different in UK and US English.
The words on the left are UK English. Match each one with a US from the list on the right.
1. Aubergine a. elevator
2. Wardrobe b. truck
3. Lift c. windshield
4. Windscreen d. eggplant
5. Queue e. closet
6. Lorry f. line

Spelling
1. Look at these pairs of words. Which is the UK spelling and which is the US spelling?
1. labour/labor
2. centre/center
3. offence/offense
4. color/colour
5. metre/meter
6. traveler/traveller

Pronunciation
in some dictionaries, words which are pronounced very differently in UK and US English have both pronunciations shown at the word
1. Which of these words have different pronunciations in UK and US English?
1. peach
2. schedule
3. colour
4. ballet
5. zebra
6. bicycle

Reference: Cambridge Learner's Dictionary

English Vocabulary

It is difficult to learn new vocabulary, harder to store or retain them in your mind and even harder to recall them and use them.

There are certainly many ways and techniques to help you improve your learning and acquisition of vocabulary. A way that I think is useful is through learning words in groups according to topics and keeping a small dictionary to build upon. teachers can train their students to keep such mini dictionaries and to revise them regularly.

Examples:
Colours: red, blue, green, yellow, brown, black, grey, white, purple, pink, orange, navy blue, lime green, beige, maroon, khaki etc.
You can have the words along with the illustrating colours.

Sports: football, soccer, rugby, golf, basketball, baseball, tennis, volleyball, cycling, swimming, mountaineering, diving, rally driving, skiing, boxing, ice hockey, snowboarding, ice skating, skateboarding, rollerblading, horse riding, etc.
Here you can have pictures or photos for each picture to show what it means.

Family: grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, uncle, aunt, father-in-law, mother-in-law, cousin, sister-in-law, brother, sister, husband, brother-in-law, niece, nephew, son, daughter, granddaughter, grandson.
Here you could have a family tree or the meaning in your mother tongue.

You can make groups of vocabulary for lots of topics like food, fruit, vegetables, body parts, computer parts, car parts,what's in an office, what's in the kitchen, what's in the bedroom, what's in the living room, cloths, classroom , animals, insects, flowers, quantities, to name but few.

Tongue Twisters

A nice and funny way to learn sounds is through tongue twisters. What is a tongue

twister?

A tongue-twister is a phrase that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly.

Tongue-twisters may rely on similar but distinct phonemes (e.g., s and sh ), unfamiliar constructs in loanwords, or other features of a language. the challenge is

to say the tongue twister mistake free as quick as possible.

A big black bug bit a big black bear,made the big black bear bleed blood.

The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Betty Botter had some butter,"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.If I bake this bitter butter,it would make my batter bitter.But a bit of better butter--that would make my batter better."So she bought a bit of butter,better than her bitter butter,and she baked it in her batter,and the batter was not bitter.So 'twas better Betty Botterbought a bit of better butter.

She sells sea shells by the sea shore.The shells she sells are surely seashells.So if she sells shells on the seashore,I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

"Surely Sylvia swims!" shrieked Sammy, surprised."Someone should show Sylvia some strokes so she shall not sink."

A flea and a fly flew up in a flue.Said the flea, "Let us fly!"Said the fly, "Let us flee!"So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

Mr. See owned a saw.And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw.Now See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw before Soar saw See,Which made Soar sore.Had Soar seen See's sawBefore See sawed Soar's seesaw,See's saw would not have sawedSoar's seesaw.So See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw.But it was sad to see Soar so soreJust because See's saw sawedSoar's seesaw!

How much wood would a woodchuck chuckif a woodchuck could chuck wood?He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck wouldif a woodchuck could chuck wood.

A tree toad loved a she-toadWho lived up in a tree.He was a two-toed tree toadBut a three-toed toad was she.The two-toed tree toad tried to winThe three-toed she-toad's heart,For the two-toed tree toad loved the groundThat the three-toed tree toad trod.But the two-toed tree toad tried in vain.He couldn't please her whim.From her tree toad bowerWith her three-toed powerThe she-toad vetoed him.

You've no need to light a night-lightOn a light night like tonight,For a night-light's light's a slight light,And tonight's a night that's light.When a night's light, like tonight's light,It is really not quite rightTo light night-lights with their slight lightsOn a light night like tonight.

www.geocities.com/Athens/8136/tonguetwisters.html
http://www.klamaraby.com/

You can check the WWW for more tongue twisters either for yourself or for your students if you are a teacher.