In novels and articles written by Americans I’ve come across the construction to teach school, as in “I teach school” or “He teaches school”, which sounds strange and wrong to my British ears. In the UK we would say something like “I teach in a school” or just “I’m a teacher” or “I work as a teacher”. We might also say “I teach chemistry/French/quantum ironing”, but not “I teach school”.
Is this expression used only in the USA?
Is it used with other educational establishments, e.g. “I teach college” or “I teach university”?
When used in this context what do you understand by the word school?
In the UK school usually refers to a primary or secondary school, though universities do have schools within them, e.g. a School of Modern Languages, and some institutes of higher education are called schools, e.g. the London School of Economics.
We also do not use “university” in that way (it’s always “a university” or “the university.” But sure, you can say “teach college.”
And yes, “teach school” would refer to a primary or secondary school.
I might add that a number of Britishisms have been turning up in American English lately, and you might indeed hear “at university” here occasionally. But it’s not common.
Yeah, to my American ears, “he teaches school” sounds perfectly ordinary. I suppose your perceptions of this phrase are similar to mine when I hear British people say “she’s at university” or “she’s in hospital”. (In the US we’d an article or proper name before the noun: “she’s at Georgia State University” or “she’s in the hospital”.)
To answer your questions:
“Is this expression used only in the USA?”
Probably at least in Canada as well — although I’m not certain: They do most things like the US, but follow some British structures in language.
“Is it used with other educational establishments, e.g. ‘I teach college’ or ‘I teach university’?”
It’s definitely used with “I teach college”, but “I teach university” sounds wrong to me. I think the difference here is that “school” and “college” are levels, while “university” is a term for a type of higher education program comprised of more than one degree program. All of the examples I can think of where it sounds right are level-based: “I teach pre-school”, “I teach middle school”.
“When used in this context what do you understand by the word school?”
I understand it as grades 1 through 12 (the full complement of education that American students are expected to finish prior to college). In more detail, the traditional (but now uncommon) breakdown was:
Elementary school (also called grammar school) — grades 1-7
High school — grades 8-12
Now (and since the 1980s) the typical structure is:
Elementary school (also called grammar school) — grades 1-5
Middle school — grades 6-8
High school — grades 9-12
“In the UK school usually refers to a primary or secondary school, though universities do have schools within them, e.g. a School of Modern Languages, and some institutes of higher education are called schools, e.g. the London School of Economics.”
Same here. For example, I work at Emory University, which includes several degree-granting components: Emory College (the bachelor’s degree program, where the faculty would be most likely to say “I teach college”), the School of Business, the School of Law, the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, and the School of Public Health.
It sounds a little odd to my ears too. I’m American born and bred, grew up on the West Coast and have lived in New England a long time.
It sounds a little better when a level is specified, like JoeInAtlanta notes, like “I teach high school” or “I teach elementary school”. Although that still sounds a bit stilted unless it’s in response to the question “What do you do?”. It sounds much more natural to me to say “I teach at a high school/college/university” or “I’m a high school teacher”.
There are still local variations in American English, and it’s the ones peculiar to the South that sound unusual to my ears. I wonder if this is one of those.
The dropping of a preposition in this American usage is similar to the current use by many young people of “I’m going + name of town/city” without the standard preposition “to”.
“I’m going London at the weekend”. Wonder if this is an American usage now imported to the UK or is it home grown?
It doesn’t sound right to me unless the level is added, as has been mentioned: I teach elementary school, etc. I’m from New Jersey.
I have heard the expression “I teach school” if the person did not want to offer any more explanation about his/her job. I’ve lived in New York State for over 30 years.
MadFall: The dropping of a preposition in this American usage is similar to the current use by many young people of “I’m going + name of town/city” without the standard preposition “to”.
“I’m going London at the weekend”. Wonder if this is an American usage now imported to the UK or is it home grown?
@MadFall: I don’t think this is an American import at all – and it is by no means restricted to young people. It is simply a common non-standard dialect feature, in the UK and the US. In some parts of the English midlands (including North Staffordshire), the word to is done away with almost completely in some speakers. e.g. “I’m going Stoke”; “I’m going wait here.”; “I’ll tell you what do.”; “He forgot put it in.”
I don’t remember ever hearing the expression like “I am going London” without the preposition around here. The only slightly similar phrase would be “I am going broke”, however, this does not point to a place but a state of being.
Other possible school divisions:
Elementary: 1-6
Junior high school: 7-8 or 7-9 (with high school being just 10-12)
Although high school can be represented as grades, it usually uses the freshman/sophomore/junior/senior terminology, and “grade school” means any school covering no grade later than 8.
I agree with JoeInAtlanta that “school” is understood as everything before “college” (which can mean any post-secondary education even if the name of the school has “University” rather than “College” in it).