Dialects & Language Awareness

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 4-6

Starting assignment
Think about & discuss:
What is a language?

Dialect & 

Language Awareness

V5, 19 May 2026, 11.30 am

Content

• What is a language?
• Slang, Accents, Dialects
• Varieties of English

We combine: listening & reading (your tests this period) & learn about languages.

Watch the videos and compare.

Two almost identical scenes of a television series.

1) from UK

2) from US

• What is different?
• What is the same?
• Write it down, then discuss.

Reading

Read the text on the handout. 

Use a marker to highlight the important bits 

and answer these questions:

1) What is (according to this article) the difference between a dialect and a language?

2) What is the difference between a dialect and an accent? (not in the article, but your own opinion)

3) Why does the writer compare language varieties with a rainbow?

Language 

'a system of communication used by a particular country or a community’ (Lexico.com, 2021)

Language awareness

is knowing how to learn and use these systems of communication effectively, so that they do what you want them to do, and purposefully, so that they help you reach your goals. 

Compare languages

Look at the English words in the first column. 

Compare those to the translations in other languages.

Mark the ones that are similar.

Can you guess why these are similar?

Dialect

'A particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group'.

Lexico.com (2021).

Accent

'a distinctive way of pronouncing a language', especially one associated with a particular country, area, or social class.'

Lexico.com (2021).

Standard language 

'The official language of a country'.

Lexico.com (2021).

Language status

The relative position of a language in relation to other languages

Language status

tells you something about the value people attach to a (certain form of) a language. It often ties in with how they, consciously or subconsciously, judge and rank other people. 

'A language is a dialect with an army and a navy'

Max Weinreich (1894 -1969)

Think & discuss in pairs:

How many countries in the world have English as an official language?

How come?

Major varieties of English

RP (Received Pronunciation)

Scottish Standard English

General American

General Australian English

Canadian, South-African, Indian etc.

Slang

'a type of language that is typically thought of as informal and more used in speech than in writing'

Lexico.com (2021).

Think about & discuss:

Would you expect a difference in status between different accents or varieties of English? 

Which would be high or low in status? And why?

Scottish variety of English

What is typical for the Scottish variety of English?

Is Scottish an accent or a dialect?

Learn Scottish here or 

Listen to Scottish here (Brave).

We do this together or individually on your Chromebook.

Listen to these three varieties

1. South-African
2. Southern (USA)
3. Scottish

Fill in the handout about your expectations and reality comparing:

• Grammar Aspects
• Vocabulary
• Pronunciation
• Other things that catch your ey/ear (intonation, exprression etc.)

Homework: Study British Accents

Watch the videos (in document on language in Classroom) about different accents.

Make a note of which accent:

• is the most difficult to understand?
• is the easiest to understand?
• you would like to study or use yourself?

Would you expect a difference in status between these accents? Which would be high or low in status? And why?

Please fill out the 

Exit ticket in Classroom

At 2 pm: Listening test practice

Bring a charged Chromebook & ear phones!

I might be a bit later, due to exams. But this is a long test!

So start woots test as soon as you are in room 161.

Practice test = 

Afterwards: fill in the Exit Ticket in Classroom to reflect on it.

CNN10

1) pre-watching? What do you think is on the news today?

2) watch the news without sound: make a mind map of the different items. Use your own vocabulary.

Do you want to watch/listen again to see if you were right?