Presentations

Part of being here on exchange is about being an ambassador for Canada and telling the Swedes a little bit about Canada so I have been giving presentations to English classes and a French class about Canada and to history classes about WWI and WWII and to Rotary clubs. I started at the end of October having one or two presentations every 2 weeks but now that it's getting close to Christmas, the teachers want me to present before the new year so I have had 2 or 3 presentations a week. But that's ok because I like giving presentations and have been seeking out classes and Rotary clubs to give presentations to. **********On December 3rd, I gave a presentation to the Thursday Rotary Club about an introduction about me and Canada. It was the first presentation I gave all in Swedish!! It was about 20 minutes long and I talked mainly about me and my hobbies and where I live and I had lots of pictures and I talked very slowly. But the main thing is that it was all in Swedish and everyone thought I sounded very cute with my beginner's Swedish! ***********Since November, I have been giving WWI and WWII presentations to the middle school down the street, to share what I learned during the Vimy Foundation Scholarship that I won in 2008. It was a very interesting challenge because Swedish grade 8 and 9 students learn about the wars from a very neutral and detached angle because Sweden wasn't involved in the wars. They don't know anything about Canadian history, they aren't fluent in English and so I had to use simple words and explanations to express my passion for the subject and make them understand my Canadian point of view without being too patriotic because to keep their interest I had to try to explain the big picture of how the wars changed the world whether your country was involved or not. So giving these presentations to Canadians is easier but giving them to Swedes is more interesting. ************December 7th, I had two presentations to give but previously that day at school, I was working on my power points and left my USB stick in the computer so when I got to my Rotary Club, I didn't have my presentation! Luckily, Hakan had a car and drove me home because I knew the computer room would be locked at school. I ran in the house and grabbed my computer and an other stick and in the car I was able to make a copy of my presentations. We got back to the club in time to give my WWI presentation there, then 2 hours later I was able to give a WWII presentation to the middle school. Now I carry both USB sticks with me everywhere in my purse just in case. ************That "just in case" happened on December 17th, even though it was a Thurseday, it was the last day of school before the Christmas break because Friday was an optional school day. I had just walked in the door and was going up the stairs when my cell phone rang; it was Tommy and history teacher at the middle school and he was wondering when I was coming. I said "right away", turned around, put my boots back on and was at the school in two minutes! I had completely forgotten about this presentation but because I had my purse, I was all ready! ************I got a 150 poppies that my parents mailed me from the Canadian Legions to talk about Remembrance Day with. I've given all but a few a way now during my WWI presentations and at school for Remembrance Day. It's been quite popular because Sweden doesn't have a Remembrance Day and it's a pretty flower.