British Council InterLink project - "yo, what's the word?"

- INFORMAL LANGUAGE & SLANG -

YO, WHAT'S THE WORD?

We share a common language....... or do we? What informal expressions do you use amongst yourselves for:-

greetings

parents

expressions of surprise

cool phrases for something "good"

for your friends/mates

code words?

Share the phrases with your pair school - but don't tell them what they mean! See if they can figure out which words mean what.

Did you have words and phrases in common or were they completely different? How do you think slang words get "invented" and how do they get passed on? If you found you had some words in common with your partner school, how do you suppose they managed to travel halfway across the world?

Rewrite the following paragraph in the street slang or dialect of your local area:

Hello Mother. My friends and I are going into town to watch a film and play at the arcades. We might stop off and get something to eat and drink. After that Jason has invited us to his house to play on the computer until we go to sports practice in the afternoon. I have got some money from my account to pay for the bus fare into town and Jason's sister will drive me home at about 6.30.
P.S. My school uniform, trousers and T-shirt are in the washing basket, I'll wash them when I get home.

Compare your "translation" with your friends' translations and then with those from your partner school. How similar/different were they?

Now write your own paragraphs in your local dialect or slang and send them off to your partner school for them to try and translate.

The english language is an amazing mixture of words from many cultures. Can you think of words that you use in everyday life that originally came from another language? For example, in New Zealand there are lots of Maori words which everyone uses. In Wales, Scotland and Ireland there are words used which came from the Welsh and Gaelic languages hundreds of years ago. In England lots of French and Latin words are still used.

Our societies are becoming far more multicultural these days. Many people speak more than one language. How many people in your class speak one language/more than one? How many speak a language other than English at home? How many languages can your class speak altogether? Compare your results with that of your partner school.

You might like to teach each other a few words in some of the languages your class can speak. Or make a tape of people in your class talking. Send it to your partner school so that they can hear your accents.

National Curriculum areas covered:
New Zealand - Level 4
English	Social Studies
Listening 1,2,3,4,5 Speaking 1,2,3,4,5 Writing 2,5 Presenting 1,2,3,4	Strand B1
Britain - Stage 3
English
Speaking and Listening 1abcd 2ab, 3ab Writing 1ab, 2ab, 3ac