Words, Accents and Misunderstandings

In working on the workshop for teachers, I was struck by how people
can speak the same language but yet it is so different in the
pronunciation, speaking, and even spelling.
• At one point, Patrick, who was planning with us, corrected my
spelling of honor, saying it should be honour – they use English
spelling
• For weeks Susan and I both thought that Patrick was saying "Insert"
which we took to be a variation of inservice. However, he was saying
"Inset"!
• A "student" here is a person in college or university. Children in
school are "pupils."
• They don't have principals. They have "head teachers."
• For her phonics workshop, Susan became very aware of how vowels are
pronounced very differently here than in the US.
• As some of us went out to dinner on Friday night, some of those with
us from the US were surprised that I really meant that fillet is
pronounced "Fill it" here.
• I can't even write how they say "successes" (Ask Susan if you know
her and live near her. She does a good imitation.), and many other
words. It makes for lots of fun and laughter.