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Post by Sabeine on Mar 8, 2003 1:52:51 GMT -5
I need help. I have a school presentation due this Wed for my Swedish class. We found out about this yesterday. It has to be a 15 min presentation in Swedish to the class. We can choose to speak about an occupation or a topic of interest. I cannot think of something. It should something interesting so that it is easier to talk about. If one is interested in the topic it usually comes across better in the presentation.
Any ideas? I thought maybe speaking about the Gold Rush of 1849 in California. Now I am thinking though that is would take much longer than 15 minutes to talk about that.
Does anyone have an idea. I need something soon, I wanted to start forming my speech later on today (Sat) after I get home from work.
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Post by Pam on Mar 8, 2003 4:48:42 GMT -5
I don't have a specific topic idea but make it something simple. If it's something fun for you it will be easier to talk about. For me it could be a recipe or shopping or a trip.
LOL Our teacher had us do that too and we laughed and told her one sentance could take us 15 minutes if we had to say it in Swedish. ;D
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Post by Carolyn on Mar 8, 2003 11:07:26 GMT -5
A quick idea, how about a brief talk on Swedish emigrants to the US and their contributions? For instance, Walgreen's was started by a Swede. If you're interested, let me know and I can give you some other names and a capsule bio.
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Post by Natooke on Mar 8, 2003 12:29:34 GMT -5
HOw about making a presentation about Positively Sweden  |
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Post by Sabeine on Mar 8, 2003 12:29:50 GMT -5
Thanks Pam and Carolyn. I am nervous about this presentation.
That Swedish emmigrants idea is pretty good. My teacher would really like it too. She believes that anything and everything that is good was created by or pioneered by a Swede.
My question would be how would I turn that into a presentation without it sounding like me reading off a list of names?
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Post by Sabeine on Mar 8, 2003 12:38:41 GMT -5
About the P.S. idea. That would be fun and easy to talk about, however I have a feeling that many in my class might come in here just to make political statements. Some of them have a tendency to do that in class no matter what we are talking about. We are allowed to talk about a profession/hobby/ or event, but it cannot be about oneself, or one's country directly. I could talk about the Gold Rush of 1849 since that is an event, but I couldn't get up and start talking about CA, my homestate. We are supposed to use drawings, charts, and/or an overhead for this. This is a serious deal for us, it counts as one of our 4 tests this semester. The other 3 tests are written ones, this presentation is the other test. I can't believe she has given us such little time on this. She said that she meant to tell us last Wed but forgot, then she was absent on Thurs, so we found out on Fri. We were assigned times to give our presentation. I got lcuky, I have Wed. There are 3 in our class that got this Monday! Most in our class protested and said such short notice was very unfair, especially since she said that she had forgotten, but she wouldn't budge on this. It's getting down to the wire here, and I still have picked a topic.  |
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Post by Carolyn on Mar 8, 2003 16:02:23 GMT -5
Well, if they came here to make a statement, Leslie could always turf them off, since the idea behind this site is positive living in Sweden and we have an expressed policy against agitated, aggression and just downright trouble-making.
I think it's a lovely idea.
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Post by Sabeine on Mar 8, 2003 17:30:38 GMT -5
Where does one find information on emmigration from Sweden to the US? I looked on a few sites online, however I wonder if there are websites with more complete information?
Caroyln, do you know of one?
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Debbie
Regular Member
Original Member
Posts: 245
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Post by Debbie on Mar 8, 2003 18:28:42 GMT -5
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Post by Carolyn on Mar 8, 2003 19:12:52 GMT -5
Debbie put up a pretty good website, but I don't know of any on my own. I just have a book about the history of Swedish contributions to the United States. It's a book of essays about Swedes that was written in the early 1950s for a competition, something about the 100th anniversary of the start of massive Swedish immigration to the U.S. I'll dig it up and add a few names here in a little bit, since I know right where I put it and we haven't mailed that box yet.
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Post by Sabeine on Mar 12, 2003 6:31:42 GMT -5
I did my presentation today! It went very well. I ended up chosing the topic of Swedish Emmigration to the US. I used some of my information from the site that Debbie posted. Thank you Debbie! I also have a few books on Swedish history that talked about the nearly 1.3 million Swedes that moved to the US between 1850-1930.
This presentation was 15 min long. It counted as the equivalent of a test. Since we only have 4 tests each semester, this was one fourth of my grade.
After class was over, my teacher asked me if I had ever done some public speaking. I said no. She said that I was very good, and gave an informative and well researched speech. I had a lot of visual aides as well, that I pointed to in reference to what I was talking about. I was so very nervous when I was giving the speech, my heart was in my throat the whole time, and yet for some reason I managed to keep composure, and looked very calm and together. My other classmates that had to give theirs today asked me, "weren't you nervous?!" I guess I didn't show on the outside what I was very much feeling on the inside.
I feel that I got a pretty good grade on my presentation. We won't find out our grades until Friday, after everyone has given theirs.
I'm doing a happy dance of sorts right now.
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Post by Sabeine on Mar 12, 2003 6:33:15 GMT -5
I should have written a thank you to Carolyn for the idea of the Swedish Emmigration to the US.  |
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Post by Carolyn on Mar 12, 2003 11:23:12 GMT -5
All righty, Sabeine. Glad we could be of help to you here and here's hoping the grade is an A (or Swedish equivalent).
I just kind of figured you couldn't go wrong talking about Swedish contributions to the U.S., since even if they do practice lagom, they are surely not opposed to hearing foreigners talk about the contributions they've made to the world at large!
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Post by Sabeine on Mar 12, 2003 13:25:28 GMT -5
That's for sure Carolyn.
I researched through a few books that I have, as well as a couple at a nearby library. It turns out that Swedes nearly singlehandedly built Chicago. Irish immigrants were the second largest group that helped in the building process. This was around 1860-1870.
When I said that during my presentation, my teacher was beaming, and started writing little notes in her "evaluation book". I'm pretty sure it was good stuff she wrote down.
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Post by Carolyn on Mar 12, 2003 13:29:25 GMT -5
Did you know, for instance, that a Swede known as A.N. Pierson (Anders!!!!!) was the man who introduced grafting of roses onto heartier wild rose root systems, since at the time, there was some nasty weevil that was busy chomping on the root systems of the more fragile, beautiful roses and destroying them. He was like the Rose King of America, and introduced tons of new hybrids and other methods into the United States to save the rose industry.
And don't forget the definitive biographer of Abraham Lincoln, Carl Sandberg, son of Swedish immigrants, plus one of our great poets.
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