British, American, & Australian Vocabulary Lesson

OBJECTIVE & OVERVIEW

This free ESL lesson plan on American, British, and Australian English vocabulary contains activities, PDF worksheets, and digital materials for B1 intermediate students. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to understand some of the basic differences between all three types of English, such as differences in accents and spelling, as well as learn and use some basic vocabulary words that are different in each American, British, and Australian English.

PREVIEW & DISCUSSION

This lesson on American, British, and Australian English vocabulary starts out by having students compare each type of English and what they already know about the differences. There are some discussion questions about the different kinds of English in addition to vocabulary activities featuring some words that are not only spelled differently amongst each kind of English, but also words that are entirely different in each one. Students also engage in one more type of discussion in which they talk about any English-speaking countries they’ve been to and what the communication was like with the locals there.

VIDEO & LISTENING COMPREHENSION

Students watch a video from Cambridge English that features the different types of English and focuses on some of their key differences. Students do listening activities in which they must identify where accents are from, differences in spelling of vocabulary, and also words that are completely different in each type of English.

DISCUSSION & VOCABULARY

To follow up the video, students do some additional discussion questions and talk about some English language exams and their benefits. They then proceed to learn some vocabulary words that are different in each type of English such as:

• British: chips American: French fries Australian: hot chips
• British: sweets American: candy Australian: lollies
• British: trainers American: sneakers Australian: runners

…amongst a few others. Students then fill in the gaps in a short story using one kind of English, and their classmate/teacher should guess which kind of English it is. This acts as a kind of demonstration for students to be able to effectively carry out the creative writing activity that follows.

CREATIVE WRITING TASK

In this creative writing activation, students write an imaginary story using some of the words they learned in British, American, and Australian English. After writing their stories, students read them out loud and take turns guessing the type of English their classmates/teacher used in their stories.

BONUS GRAMMAR ACTIVITY

There is a bonus grammar activity in this lesson with activities for students to learn and practice the usage of the conjunction even though for expressing surprising information and expressing contrast in sentences.

Benefits of using this British, American, and Australian vocabulary lesson:

• Students can interpret and use the proper vocabulary when traveling or living in these countries.
• This lesson can prepare students for cross-cultural communication and appreciation.
• It helps students understand the diverse cultures and linguistic nuances of English-speaking countries.