Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Which variety of English do you speak/teach?

I teach in Japan, where a standard American dialect (which one I don't really know) is strongly encouraged, unless you teach in places like the British council (which many of my friends have). I have been living in this pseudo English environment (American dialect, international friends and teacher talk) so long that it has started to affect my own use and pronunciation of English. Every time I go back to Australia, my friends and family always comment on the things I say and how I say them... I am often confused about which to use, so I try my hardest to expose Ss to both. Spelling is the one of the indicators for me about which dialect a book/website favors, along with many contextual cues such as references to places and cultural norms... Also my Ss seem to find British English difficult to listen to. I like the website ELLLO because it tries to expose Ss (listening) to many world Englishes...
So, when in doubt, I say try to do what you know...but endeavor to expose Ss to many varieties...ciao Steve

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