This is a funny look at Norway and the Norwegians. Watch this short video about the Northern European country and answer the questions.
The activity is suitable to intermediate 2 students.
1 What food has Norway survived since ancient time?
2 What did the Norwegians invent in 1960?
3 What are Norwegian babies born with?
4 What do Norwegian children learn to love during their ski trips?
5 Why are Norwegian children afraid of the dark?
6 Why do Norwegians find it difficult to socialise?
7 What age does school start?
8 What do Norwegian students put on two weeks before graduation?
9 What do Norwegians celebrate on 17th May?
10 What do Norwegians do two days a week?
You can read the transcript below to check your answers.
This is Planet Earth and this, this is Norway. Many people think that Norway is the capital of Sweden. So, if you think so right now, you are wrong. Since ancient time, Norway has survived on fish, potatoes, rocks and plundering. And then in the 1960s, we invented the oil. We gave up rocks and plundering, but we still like fish and potatoes. The invention of oil has in many ways laid the foundation of today’s society, where we are born with skis on our feet. Even before we learned how to walk or even stand, we got dragged into a big ski called a pulk.
But as soon as they learn how to stand on their own feet, they are forced to love skiing. During these ski trips, they also learn how to love the lunch packet. The lunch packet’s most popular contentment is a frozen piece of bread with a slice of yellow cheese on it. But soon enough, we learn how easy it is to get something else. Bedtime stories are a big thing in Norway. They mainly evolve around scary creatures like trolls and a guy called Askeladden. And these stories are the main reason why the children are afraid of the dark.
Even though we know Norwegians got extremely wealthy from inventing the oil, we keep forgetting to buy more kindergartens. So socializing is a rare expense for some kids. But what we do by a lot of our schools. We start school at the age of six and graduate, after we learned that Norway is not the capital of Sweden, and the Norwegian special atlas and lunch packet with a frozen bread and the cheese is still popular here.
Two weeks before the final exams and graduation, the grad students put on red and blue overalls. Then we drink and drive red and blue cars, sometimes also buses, while not doing our homework. The 17th of May is the last day of celebration and this also happens to be our day of independence. On this day, we celebrate our liberty, our fish and potatoes and oil. We have the flags and eat Norwegian traditional food like hotdog. Kids and grown-ups also wear a traditional dress made from wool, called a bunad. It itches terribly, it’s way too warm and makes you look fat. But that doesn’t stop us from smiling and dancing and kicking hats off sticks, doing traditional folk dances.
After graduation from high school, we leave our Moms and her dinners. We migrate to bigger cities and discover dinners that are much more enjoyable than mom’s fish and potatoes, but we still like fish and potatoes. After moving to bigger cities, we find a job or a book to read and go out two days per week. We mingle and have sex. Actually statistically speaking, we are at the top of the scale when it comes to one-night stands, in Norway also referred to as simple, easy, enjoyment.
Then we have babies and start a family. Our children are born with skis under their feet and then put them in pulks and make them go skiing, make them lunch packets, scare them with stories about trolls, make them wear clothes that itches and tell them to kick hats, give them money, so they can drink and drive and not read, so that they can repeat their cycles over and again, and they say now hey, welcome to Norway.
