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British English vs American EnglishAs George Bernard Shaw said, ?england and America are two countries separated by a common language.? Whilst this can symbolise a global and general fear of creeping US cultural imperialism, what Bernard Shaw states is that despite sharing a common language, British English has always been the global and historic English, with American English seen as the ugly, lazy and deformed step-son of the English language. English native speakers from both side of ?the pond? will argue for their own version of the English language, and complaints are common place, seen in articles such as http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mind-your-language/2010/nov/26/americanisms-english-mind-your-language, with readers complaining about the upsurge in the usage of Americanisms and American slang in journalistic articles, with one reader conveying that whilst not being anti-American, ?I do not see why our language should be corrupted by sloppy writing, and why there should be so much emphasis on all things American." These complaints are nothing new, dating back to the 1950s, however in the modern age of instant telecommunication and information technology, new slang and new words are created every day which only fuels this great debate between which English language is the better and more appropriate one. Furthermore the global domination of American television and film, as well as business language is having a huge impact on the English language as a whole, as this could be the first and primary exposure that many non-native speakers have to the English language. One could explore the many intricate differences between British English and American English, as seen through websites and blogs such as http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/, delving into the differing and often misleading and untranslatable expressions and vocabulary, grammar and spelling. However this article will instead look at the ramifications of conflicting English ?versions? in teaching tesol, specifically looking at france. Despite their struggle against the hegemony of the English language, the French government have been running a somewhat successful English assistant program (run by CIEP, the National Ministry of Education), primarily drawing graduate students from America to teach for 7 months. In 2009, roughly 1500 Americans are sent to france (http://www.frenchculture.org), with UK sending a few hundred, and a grand total of 60 representing Australia. This obviously has a substantial impact on the type of English to be taught in French schools. Without bowing to bias or preference of British English, one needs to consider the location of france and the likelihood that French people will tend to go to england (for travel, study, work) more often than America, and would thus benefit more (and be ridiculed less in the UK) from learning British-English. There was no advice or guidelines given to the assistant of different nationalities in order to create some sort of consistency across the board. Furthermore due to the nature of these assistantships, assistants are replaced every year and as such students, primary and secondary could be faced with different versions of English which would only confuse them and adversely affect the overall learning process of the English language. This only goes to show that by not communicating with the organisation you are teaching for, as well as possibly your predecessor, you will not get an understanding of what type of English should be (consistently) taught to the students, and this will impact of your efficient and effective teaching of the English language. Whilst it is normal for a teacher?s context, background and native English language will always have some impact of their teaching, it is important to get the correct balance of American and British English. Both American and British-English speakers need to properly understand the core differences and nuances between the two, and to keep up to date with the slang from both nations in order to cater to the demands of students and the language that they may have been exposed to. It is also important to understand the location and context of the country that you are teaching in, as this should have an impact on what type of English is being emphasised. There are so many differences and so many petty arguments between the hierarchy and sensibility of British and American-English yet it is the duty of the tesol teacher to breach the gap, to ensure the right type of English is being taught where possible, and that there is consistency and continuity in the type of English being taught, and to accommodate differences in a subtle and accepting manner. If teachers make as much a big deal as readers and television viewers, students will only get confused and the teaching/learning process will become the murky water that separates these two headstrong English nations.
