One of the difficulties of teaching British English is that, well, I don't speak it. Sometimes I try to affect a British accent so the kids will understand me better (especially with the letter t in the middle of a word: thirty, Peter, etc), but it often comes off as a ridiculous mockery. For instance, I tried to fancy up the word "computer" and said something akin to "com-PUH-taah!!!" which is recognizable to none (for some reason, I feel the need to say everything more exuberantly when I speak "British"). The English teacher, Lola, was quick to assure me I could use my own accent and tried to copy me, coming out with the sound "com-puh-rur."
I had some difficulty pronouncing foods for my third-graders today. I tried "WAH-tuh!!!" then my own accent--"WAH-der"--and then just had to show them the flash-card for the kids to understand I was talking about water. I thought I was so clever to preempt confusion and say toh-MAH-toh instead of toh-MAY-doh. Then I tried poh-TAH-toh. Ubiquitous confusion. Can you believe it? Potatoes and tomatoes don't rhyme in the UK. Guess that song is lying.
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