Australian Slang

The more you know, the less you need.

Australian Aboriginal saying

This sheet is a simple word matching exercise. Students match words in a grid with slang from the box. Here's the text from the introduction:

Australian slang is known as strine. Some words can be found in British English, others are unique to Australia. A key feature of strine is the way words are often shortened.

See if you can match the words in the box with the list of words in the table. The word that's left is the smallest room in the house.

Suggested Procedure:

Start by asking what the class knows about Australia. Ask if anyone knows any Australian sayings or expressions and write them up on the board. Then hand out the sheet and read through the introduction together. Then fill the sheet in. With a small group students can take turns suggesting answers and offer an explanation for their choices. With a large class have the students divide into pairs and fill the sheet out together. Then have the pairs form fours so they can compare answers and come to an agreement about differences. Finally go through the sheet together so everyone can make sure they have got the right answers:

afternoon	arvo
barbeque	barbie
candy	lollies
complain	whinge
dinner	tea
dodgy	iffy
expensive	exy
friend	mate
great	ripper
hello	G'Day
idiot box	TV
mosquito	mozzie
an English person	limey
sunglasses	sunnies
sweater	jumper
swim suit	togs
thank you	ta
trash	rubbish
vegetables	veggies
very full	chocker

Dunny, the remaining word, means toilet and refers to an outhouse. "Going to the dunny" means a visit to the toilet.

Last revision June 2018

getfile: Australian Slang

B5 Size, 1 page (1.88 mb)

Australian Slang

Suggested Procedure:

getfile: Australian Slang

Post A Comment