Michael who was from Texas, USA went to school in London, England. There he met Sarah and fell in love. Michael decided to move to London when he married Sarah. Although Michael and Sarah both spoke English, there were many words that they used which meant different things. Since Michael was living in England, he had to get used to Sarah's accent and the words she used.
For example, British people eat biscuits with their coffee, but Americans eat cookies . A British person goes to the city centre , but an American goes downtown . An American waits in line while a British person waits in a queue .
Sometimes it was a problem for Michael. At first, Sarah would call “tea” from the kitchen when dinner was ready. Michael thought she had made a pot of tea and since he doesn't like tea he would not come down to get it. He had to eat a cold dinner every night for his first week of marriage
Sometimes the differences were funny such as the time that Sarah asked Michael if he would like to eat his baked potato in a jacket. Michael thought she was going to put a coat on it. Actually, Sarah was asking if Michael wanted her to leave the skin on the potato.
One day Sarah wore a new pair of trousers . Michael told her he liked her new black pants . Sarah asked how Michael he knew what colour her pants were. Michael told her he could see them. Sarah was embarrassed that her underwear was showing and she ran to the mirror to see!
Get a piece of paper. At the top, write England on the left side and USA on the right side. Each country uses different words to talk about the same things. Read the words below and write them on your paper under the country that uses them.
1. pavement sidewalk
2. zebra crossing crosswalk
3. underground subway
4. queue line
5. Santa Claus Father Christmas
6. biscuit cookie
7. garbage can dust bin
8. apartment fla
9. football soccer
10. jumper sweater
11. lift elevator
12. truck lorry
13. motorway highway
14. gas petrol
15. mail post
16. potato chips potato crisps
17. wardrobe closet
18. rubbish trash
19. dollar pound
20. shop store
England: pavement, zebra crossing, underground, queue, Father Christmas, biscuit, dust bin, flat, soccer, jumper, lift, lorry, motorway, petrol, post, potato crisps, wardrobe, rubbish, pound, shop
USA: sidewalk, crosswalk, subway, line, Santa Claus, cookie, garbage can, apartment, football, sweater, elevator, truck, highway, gas, mail, potato chips, closet, trash, dollar, store