Readers’ Corner: American and British English
Last year, I was teaching English with a British teacher at an elementary school. At the beginning of each lesson, we had a small talk. The students liked it. We tried to use easy words and spoke with gestures and rather exaggerated facial expressions so that they could guess the meaning. One of the topics made them laugh a lot. After we said ”Hi,” I praised his pants (American English), but for him pants means underpants. Using gestures, he asked me if his underpants were showing. Then he said, “You mean my trousers (British English)?“ and I said yes. I explained the difference between British English and American English to the students with some pictures, and they learned that they should use “trousers” when they talk with British people. (129 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com