At the start of October,I started working in France.This is the first time I’ve worked at a school large enough to need not one,but two English language assistants①. My hometown is Stirling in Scotland.The other assistant is from New Delhi in India.We come from countries that are 700 miles away from each other and our backgrounds could not be more different,but we speak the same language!  These first two weeks have been very interesting for both of us and our students.For example,I’ve discovered that,while Indian English is based on British English,my Indian roommate uses some American words like chips instead of crisps. When she phones home,she speaks Hinglish — a mixture of Hindi and English,the two official languages in India.