British and American English- Engineering Vocabulary

British and American engineering vocabulary games

Instructions for teachers

The games below can be played in any order, with the written activities at the bottom below being done at the end, for homework, or between games. The jigsaw and reversi games use the same worksheet but cut into cards in different ways, so if you want to play both games you will need to make two different sets of cards for each group. See below for instructions on how to cut the cards up.

 

UK and US technical English drawing game

The instructions for students are at the top of the worksheet. The game can be played with the worksheet cut into cards or just given as it is with students choosing any words they want to draw. Note that some of the vocabulary has been left out of this game because not all the words are easily drawable.

 

UK and US Engineering vocabulary miming game

The instructions for students are at the top of the sheet. The game can be played with the worksheet cut into cards or just given as it is with students choosing what they want to mime. Note that about half of the cards have been left out of this version because not all things are possible to act out.

 

UK and US technical English jigsaw game

Make one copy per group of two to four students. Cut down the middle vertically to make two columns, with British in one column and American in the other. Cut up each column so that each card has at least two British words or two American words on it, e.g. “paraffin” and “petrol(eum)” on one card. For classes who are likely to find matching the words difficult, you can make bigger cards of three, four or even five boxes each. Don’t cut the cards up into individual boxes. As much as possible, try to make the places where you cut the cards different for each column, e.g. two cards on the left and three cards on the right each time.

Give out the cards and ask students to put them together so that each row has a British word on the left and American for the same thing on the right. They can do this even if they don’t know all the words, because if they find one match then the words above or below must also be a correct match. It can also help if you tell them that the finished jigsaw will form a nice rectangle shape.

If they get stuck you can:

• Tell them that the words are grouped by topic, with similar words above and below each other
• Tell them the topics in order (fossil fuels, transport – starting with cars, things connected to buildings, electricity and electronics, maths, people and things they use)
• Tell them which words are British and which words are American (i.e. which cards should be on the right and which cards should be on the left)
• Give them a few key matches
• Read out the answers in order while they listen without touching the cards, then let them try again

Let them check by reading the answers out or giving out the worksheet, then they can test each other in pairs by:

• Reading out a pair of boxes from anywhere on the worksheet and seeing if their partner can spot if they have the same meaning or not (i.e. if they are a British or American pair or not)
• Reading out a pair of boxes and seeing if their partner can repeat back the British one
• Reading out a pair of boxes and seeing if their partner can repeat back the American one
• Reading out words from one column until their partner is sure if they are (all) British or (all) American
• Reading out one card and seeing if their partner can say a synonym of it
• Explaining, drawing and/ or miming a word without saying either form of the word until their partner says one or both forms

 

US and UK technical English reversi games

Cut along the worksheet horizontally (only), so that the cards are joined in British and American English pairs, e.g. with “hard hat” and “bump cap” next to each other on the same card. Don’t cut vertically between the two columns. Students spread the cards across the table and then fold them so that British is on one side and American on the other. It doesn’t matter which side is top when they start the game.

One student says what they think is one the other side of a card, e.g. “fire engine” if the side that they can see says “fire truck”, then turns that card over to check. If they correctly guessed (exactly) what is on the other side of the card, they leave it turned over (so that in future people have to do the transformation the other way round) and can try the next card. Whenever they make a mistake, play passes to the next person.

You can let students choose which cards they want to do each time or, for more challenge, get them to put the cards in a column and start from the bottom of the column each time. The winner could be the first person to reach a certain number in a row without making a mistake (e.g. reaching the top of the column or ten in a row), the person with the highest number of correct guesses throughout the game, or the person who manages the longest string of correct guesses in a row during the whole game (without needing to keep a total score, i.e. not adding up the correct guesses throughout the game). 

If students find the game difficult, you could let them look at both sides of all the cards for two minutes to try to memorise them before they try again, and/ or let them work together instead of competing.

After the game, they can test each other in pairs.

 

UK and US technical English dominoes

Although it is possible to play actual dominoes with these cards, it is usually better to get them to work together to arrange the cards in a big circle. They can then test each other, e.g. reading out halves of collocations or reading out one version of the collocation.

 

British and American engineering vocabulary drawing game

British	American
petrol(eum)	gas(oline)
bonnet	hood
bumper	fender
windscreen	windshield
tyre	tire
exhaust pipe/ silencer	tailpipe/ muffler
accelerator (pedal)	gas pedal
handbrake	parking brake
gearbox	transmission
lorry	truck*
fire engine	fire truck
dustcart	garbage truck
skip	Dumpster
bin	trashcan/ garbage can
tap	faucet
lift	elevator*
hoover	vacuum cleaner*
(electrical) socket	(electrical) outlet
(electricity) pylon	transmission tower/ mast
aerial	antenna*
(electric) torch	flashlight
mobile (phone)	cellphone
hash (sign)	pound (sign)
maths	math
anti-clockwise	counter-clockwise
nought point oh five	zero point zero five*
three thousand two hundred*	thirty two hundred
a hundred and thirty	a hundred thirty
a thousand million	a billion*
(service) engineer	(service) technician
hard hat	bump cap
spanner	wrench

 

 

British and American English for engineers miming game

British	American
accelerator (pedal)	gas pedal
handbrake	parking brake
gearbox	transmission
bin	trashcan/ garbage can
tap	faucet
lift	elevator*
hoover	vacuum cleaner*
(electrical) socket	(electrical) outlet
(electric) torch	flashlight
mobile (phone)	cellphone
anti-clockwise	counter-clockwise
nought point oh five	zero point zero five*
three thousand two hundred*	thirty two hundred
a hundred and thirty	a hundred thirty
hard hat	bump cap
spanner	wrench

British and American engineering vocabulary jigsaw and reversi games

paraffin	kerosene
petrol(eum)	gas(oline)
bonnet	hood
bumper	fender
windscreen	windshield
tyre	tire
(car) silencer	muffler
exhaust pipe	tailpipe
accelerator (pedal)	gas pedal
handbrake	parking brake
gearbox	transmission
lorry	truck*
fire engine	fire truck
dustcart	garbage truck
skip	Dumpster
bin	trashcan/ garbage can
tap	faucet
lift	elevator*
hoover	vacuum cleaner*
(electrical) socket	(electrical) outlet
(electricity) pylon	transmission tower/ mast
aerial	antenna*
(electric) torch	flashlight
mobile (phone)	cellphone
hash (sign)	pound (sign)
maths	math
anti-clockwise	counter-clockwise
nought point oh five	zero point zero five*
three thousand two hundred*	thirty two hundred
a hundred and thirty	a hundred thirty
a thousand million	a billion*
(service) engineer	(service) technician
hard hat	bump cap
spanner	wrench

 

British and American technical English collocations dominoes

hoover (e.g. Roomba) vacuum cleaner (e.g. Roomba)	paraffin kerosene
stove heater	petrol gas
station station	front/ rear/ back front/ rear/ back
bumper fender	windscreen windshield
wipers wipers	snow snow
tyres tires	exhaust tail-
pipe pipe	accelerator gas
pedal pedal	hand- parking
brake brake	automatic/ manual automatic/ manual
gearbox transmission	lorry truck*
driver driver	fire fire
engine truck	(rubbish) trash-/ garbage
bin can	hot/ cold (water) hot/ cold (water)
tap faucet	(electrical) (electrical)
socket outlet	TV TV
aerial antenna	pocket pocket
torch flashlight	hash pound
sign sign	maths math
teacher teacher	turn turn
anti-clockwise counter-clockwise	nought point zero point
oh five zero five	mobile cell-
phone phone	hard bump
hat cap	adjustable adjustable
spanner wrench	service (service)
engineer technician	a hundred a hundred
and thirty thirty	dustcart garbage truck
driver driver	bonnet hood
ornament ornament	rental rental/ hire
skip Dumpster	lift elevator
to the 12th floor to the 12th floor	robot robot

 

British and American English for engineers written practice

Matching British and American English

Match up the British and American words below:

accelerator (pedal)                                                                                             Dumpster

bin                                                                                                                         fender

bonnet                                                                                                    fire truck

bumper                                                                                                   garbage truck

dustcart                                                                                                                gas pedal

exhaust pipe                                                                                                       gas(oline)

fire engine                                                                                                           hood

gearbox                                                                                                                kerosene

handbrake                                                                                                           muffler

lorry                                                                                                                      parking brake

paraffin                                                                                                   tailpipe

petrol(eum)                                                                                                          tire

(car) silencer                                                                                                       transmission

skip                                                                                                                       trashcan/ garbage can

tap                                                                                                                         truck*

tyre                                                                                                                        windshield

windscreen                                                                                                          faucet

 

(electric) torch                                                                                       (electrical) outlet

(electricity) pylon                                                                                                technician

(service) engineer                                                                                              a billion

a hundred and thirty                                                                             a hundred thirty

a thousand million                                                                                             antenna

aerial                                                                                                                    bump cap

anti-clockwise                                                                                       cellphone

hard hat                                                                                                                counter-clockwise

hash (sign)                                                                                                          elevator

hoover                                                                                                    flashlight

lift                                                                                                                          math

maths                                                                                                                   pound (sign)

mobile (phone)                                                                                      thirty two hundred

nought point oh five                                                                                           transmission tower/ mast

socket                                                                                                                   vacuum cleaner*

spanner                                                                                                                wrench

three thousand two hundred*                                                            zero point zero five*

 

Identifying British and American English

Write “UK” and “US” next to the words on each side of the pairs below. Then look at the cards to check, the first time pens down and remembering them to try this task again. As on the cards, the ones which can be both British or American have a star (*) next to them.

kerosene/ paraffin

gas(oline)/ petrol(eum)

bonnet/ hood

bumper/ fender

windscreen/ windshield

tire/ tyre

muffler/ (car) silencer

exhaust pipe/ tailpipe

accelerator (pedal)/ gas pedal

handbrake/ parking brake

gearbox/ transmission

lorry/ truck

fire engine/ fire truck

dustcart/ garbage truck

Dumpster/ skip

bin/ trashcan or garbage can

faucet/ tap

elevator*/ lift

hoover/ vacuum cleaner*

(electrical) outlet/ socket

(electricity) pylon/ transmission tower or mast

aerial/ antenna

flashlight/ (electric) torch

cellphone/ mobile (phone)

hash (sign)/ pound (sign)

math/ maths

anti-clockwise/ counter-clockwise

nought point oh five/ zero point zero five*

thirty two hundred/ three thousand two hundred*

a hundred and thirty/ a hundred thirty

a billion*/ a thousand million

(service) engineer/ (service) technician

bump cap/ hard hat

spanner/ wrench

Changing between British and American English

Write the other form of the words below:

British	American
paraffin
petrol(eum)
	hood
	fender
	windshield
tyre
	muffler
	tailpipe
	gas pedal
	parking brake
	transmission
lorry	*
fire engine
dustcart
skip
bin
	faucet
lift
hoover
socket
(electricity) pylon
aerial	*
(electric) torch
	cellphone
	pound (sign)
maths
	counter-clockwise
nought point oh five
*	thirty two hundred
	a hundred thirty
a thousand million	*
	(service) technician
	bump cap
spanner

Check above.