Have you got any biscuits?

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The Americans vs. the British; Round one

 

One month ago I came to Spain to teach English, however I wasn't aware of the lack of American English spoken in Spain.  It actually makes sense that the Spanish speak like the British because of the proximity of the two countries.  I guess this is the same reason that I struggle with the Spanish accents because I am used to the accents in Central America or Mexico.  There are also a large number of British teachers here doing this program.  The only difference is that all of the North Americans have graduated college and the British are 20 or 21.  The students study abroad for a year, which is a thing called Erasmus.  So there are many British that will return to school once this program is over.  From my understanding, they also get financial support while doing this ON TOP of getting paid from the Spanish Government, pretty nice set up. 

 

Now that we (North Americans) have experience in the classrooms, we come home and laugh about all of silly British sayings these Spaniards say.  For example, the biggest issue I have is with the teachers teaching the children to say "I have got".  It may sound better and more proper coming out of the mouths of the British but you would sound very strange saying that in the United States.  Any time a student asks me if "I've got a pet, boyfriend, etc..I repeat the question.  "DO I HAVE a dog?" why yes! "I have a dog". I suppose at the end of the day, the focus is for them to learn English whether or not it is what I'm use to.

 

Last week I made a comparison chart for the students so they could understand the differences between our vocabulary and spelling, for example...

 

 Americans: eraser                                                              Americans: cookies

 British: rubber                                                                   British: biscuits

 

 Americans: French Fries                                                  Americans: mall

 British: Chips                                                                  British: shopping center

 

 Americans: movies                                                            Americans: garbage

 British: films/cinemas                                                         British: rubbish

 

 You get the picture! They also get confused with the spelling differences (favourite, colour, organisation)  and the pronunciation of words such as; I am 22 years old.  (I am twenny-two) A Brit would pronounce the second T in twenty whereas I don't. 

 

And P.S. 7:30 is read, SEVEN THIRTY right?! ---nope not here, half past seven :)

 

My time in Spain has been great so far, not only am I learning things about the Spanish culture and language but I've been learning a lot about my own language, British culture and I haven't even mentioned my Irish roommate yet!  His accent could be another post in my blog.  Sometimes we cannot understand him but its been great getting to learn about the Irish and their culture as well.

 

Here's to another week in the class room! Topics this week include; the digestive system, how to go grocery shopping, Halloween, and who knows what else I will be thrown into but I can't complain because this job is one of the easiest things I've ever done.  The tricky part is to separate myself from all of this English speaking and dive into more Spanish, my main reason of coming here :)