or informal.

They can either write their results on paper or on screen if there are
presentation facilities available.
Circulate and monitor. Check that they have chosen useful idioms, not
the raining cats and dogs colourful but infrequent sort.
4 Students present their idioms. Ask them to tell the class what their idioms
are, what they mean and how to use them in a sentence. British and American English
Follow-up from Dictionary Activities by Cindy Leaney, 2007,
You may want to play an idioms bingo game, using items selected from each
Cambridge University Press 2007
group. (See 2.8 Word building 2 for the procedure.)

7.3 British and American English

Aim To increase awareness of British/American vocabulary; to introduce
searches using regional labels
Focus Lexical differences in British and American English
Level Intermediate and above
Time 1520 minutes
Preparation Either prepare a list of differences in British and American English or
use the one in Box 52. (This activity uses the terminology used in
CALD. The search facility and the terminology will vary depending
on which dictionary you are using.)

Procedure
1 Ask students what an elevator is. (Elicit that it is the American English
word for lift.) Ask them if they know of any other British/American pairs.
(They may know tap/faucet, underground/subway, etc.)
2 Show students how to access the search facility on the dictionary. Explain
that they can set different filters to refine their searches.
3 Click on the Advanced search button.
4 Select the category headwords and the region British English only.
Type flat in the word window. The following
CD-ROM screen will
and electronic appear: activities
dictionary

122

5 Give out, or email, the students the word list.

6 Explain that they will need to switch back and forth between American
and British English in order to find all the matches.

Box 52
Match the British English words on the left with their American
English equivalents on the right.

British English American English

flat sidewalk
mark review
note homely
pavement grade
petrol gas
plaster bill
 British and American English
5 Give out, or email, the students the word list. from Dictionary Activities by Cindy Leaney, 2007,
Cambridge University Press 2007
6 Explain that they will need to switch back and forth between American
and British English in order to find all the matches.

Box 52
Match the British English words on the left with their American
English equivalents on the right.

British English American English

flat sidewalk
mark review
note homely
pavement grade
petrol gas
plaster bill
pram band-aid
revise bachelor party
stag night baby buggy
ugly apartment

Cambridge University Press 2007

Dictionary Activities

Follow-up
Give students film titles to translate from British English to American 123
English or vice versa, e.g. The Apartment, Summer Holiday, My Beautiful
Launderette, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Platoon, High School.

Answers (Box 52)

flat apartment mark grade note bill pavement sidewalk
petrol gas plaster band-aid pram baby buggy revise review
stag night bachelor party ugly homely

7.4 Pictures
Aim To activate and/or extend vocabulary on a given topic and encourage
use of the picture screens
Focus Topic vocabulary
Level Any
Time 15 minutes
Preparation Choose a screen from the picture database (the example is from
CALD).

toaster