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British english vs American EnglishFirst of all, there is no right or wrong between British and American english: • American english is the form of english used in the united states. It includes all english dialects used within the united states (US). • British english is the form of english used in the United Kingdom. It includes all english dialects used within the United Kingdom (UK). American english is the most widespread form of english; students are more likely to encounter American english than British english due to the influence of the American culture (music, TV and cinema industry…). They would therefore tend to get more exposure to American english than British. As a teacher, and being British myself, I am more exposed to and tend to use British english over American english. However, when teaching, I will have to choose whether I am teaching students in American or British english, and make them aware of the existence of the other. This depends not only on my personal preferences, but also on the context: if I am teaching english to a multilingual class in the united states, it is more logical to teach them in American english, regardless of my nationality. The same applies for a group based in the United Kingdom: classes would have to be taught preferably in British english. Now, besides from the accent and pronounciation, what are the main differences between British and American english? Truth is, there are many subtle differences between British: vocabulary, tenses, spelling, prepositions, grammar, punctuation, expressions etc. There are also differences between spoken American/British english: Americans tend to use expressions such as “gotcha, gonna, wanna, dunno, betcha…” whereas British english tends to pronounce words identically to their written form (got to, going to, want to, don’t know, bet you…). Not all these differences can be taught to students, as some of them are too small or specific to be relevant for the classroom or for students’ ability to speak english, and might only confuse them. Which differences are most important to make students aware of? And why should these be taught? Looking at the many subtle differences between both, the first ones to point out and to teach students are the ones that may be most useful to them in day-to-day life and in practical situations: certain vocabulary or spelling differences, and words and phrases with different meanings. These differences should be taught because it can help students with understanding the english language in its complexity (it is a fact that American english differs to British english in several ways, why hide this information from students who may only be more confused when discovering it on their own, outside of the class?). By making students aware of some of these differences, the teacher is doing them a favour and saving them time learning it “the hard way” (for example, using a word which in the other language can be offensive or have a complete different meaning causing miscommunication). This list, non exhaustive, will give you an idea of what is useful to teach students: Spelling: Programme (UK) vs. Program (US) Colour (UK) vs. Color (US) Centre (UK) vs. Center US) Vocabulary: Autumn (UK) vs. Fall (US) Lift (UK) vs. Elevator (US) Lorry (UK) vs. Truck (US) Football (UK) = Soccer vs. Football (US) = American football Wicked (UK) vs. Awesome (US) Date format: day/month/year (UK) vs. month/day/year US) Titles: Mr / Mrs / Dr (UK) vs. Mr. / Mrs. / Dr. (US) Past tenses: Got (UK) vs. Gotten (US) Dreamt (UK) vs. Dreamed (US) Grammar: To play in a team (UK) vs. To play on a team (US) As a conclusion, there are many differences between American/British english, however the ones that should be taught to students are the ones that they are most likely to come across and which they should be aware of in order for them to navigate in an english-speaking environment. Being aware that they are differences between both is the first step to adapting to an english-speaking context and developing their english skills (e.g: understanding that a word doesn’t necessarily have only one meaning, the one taught in class, but can vary from on country or english dialect to another).