Teach English in Shuyuan Zhen - Shanghai Shi

British vs American EnglishWhen teaching english one of the most common problems stems from the teacher's natively spoken "version" of english compared to the "version" of english that needs to be taught. American and British english differ a lot in spelling but not so much in grammar. Subtle differences such as "half an hour" compared to "a half hour" occur but are easy to understand. In spelling, there are the omittance of "u" such as "colour/color" and "honour/honor", the reversal of -re in words such as "centre/center" and "theatre/theater" and the -ise/-ize endings such as "realise/realize" and "organise/organize". In terms of vocabulary, there are times when the same word or phrase can hold different meanings, such as the "first floor" in British english would refer to the second floor in American. There are other times when the same meaning has two completely different words. A beginner of english would probably only know either "Autumn" or "fall" but not both, and the same for "pavement" and "sidewalk". Whilst pronunciation between different dialects within both countries varies greatly, the general differences between British and America english are very noticeable. "T" sounds, especially in the center or end, can often be omitted in British pronunciation, for example "Mad Hatter" would be "Mad Ha'er" but also contains what is called a Glottal Stop, a voiceless pause (for example when saying "uh-oh"). In American english, the "T" sound can often become more of a soft "D", so the above example will become "Mad Madder". American english is used as an almost international standard for most english tests. In japan, both Eiken and Toeic tests focus on American english. All elementary and junior high school english books are also written in American english. Whilst no definite numbers of American or British english speakers in the world, the actual population of the British Commonwealth outnumbers that of America by nearly 6 times. What a lot of teachers get too focused on is whether to teach students their native "version", a different "version", or both. The fact is that there is no right or wrong english to teach, unless students are taking strict examinations. However, most if not all international english exams will except both forms of english as well as listening exams being conducted using several different accents, as is the case in IELTS exams. The likelihood is that a teacher should make the students aware of the differences, however it is vital for their learning, especially at the beginning, to not overcomplicate matters and always inform them of the various pronunciations and spellings. The students should be taught just one method and the teacher should stick with it. However, for listening it is recommended for students to be exposed to as many accents as possible. Whilst native speakers are very much adapt at reading various different spellings it is more likely the students will encounter a native english speaker who has an accent the student is unfamiliar with. Therefore, a lot of teachers like to use recordings of native speakers from all over the world in order to expose students to them. Media in both American english and British english is in abundance, from American Hollywood movies to British Harry Potter books, which all make excellent engage and study stage materials.