Presentation to Girl Scouts, for your review.

[Paul Henry]

It seems very long for young children to keep their attention. I can understand wanting to do a good history/story/account, but there is a lot of information for young minds.
There are things that I don't completely agree with, or feel that they could be related differently at least, the first one being.... Scotland isn't an island, part of one of course, but no one could find Scotland on an atlas by looking for an island!

I know that it must have taken a lot of work to get all this together, but with a bit of careful editing I'm sure it would go down very well.

[MacBean]

I love that you're doing this...sounds like fun. I've not read it all yet, but right off the bat, I'd say that the section on Picts and Celts is probably not factual. I've seen several Pictish or earlier memorials, some with such detail, that it's hard not to consider them pictorial if not actual writing. I'm also not sure that the Picts went south and the Celts north, as the Pictish burial grounds are abundant just SE of Inverness. I know the reality is always more complicated... Might the Scots coming from Ireland be worth including?

[EagleJCS]

Pretty good overall. Probably a bit long for 7-to-8-year-olds. I know most of the Scouts I work with (11-18) would get bored after about 10 minutes. The presentation you've outlined would probably work better with Girl Scout Seniors.

In the past couple of years I've given a brief 10 minute talk to a couple of Cub Scout dens - about the same age as you're expecting - and just covered the basics of what I was wearing and how the pipes worked.

If you continue with what you have, coupla small points to consider:

• The island is Britain. The northern part is Scotland, south of Scotland lies England and Wales.
  
  
• The history of Scotland basically starts with the Romans' encounters with the Pict(i) - there hasn't been much found written before then. Along with the Picts of Northern Scotland (north of the Firth of Clyde) were the Britons, forming several Roman-influenced 'kingdoms' from the Clyde down to the Tweed. Three invasions brought: the Scots (or Scot(t)i, more specifically the Dal Riatans) from Ireland - eventually supplanting the Picts; the Anglo-Saxons from the Low Countries of northern Europe - eventually moving into the Borders area; and the Vikings from Scandinavia (modern Norway, Sweden and Denmark) - settling in the Orkneys, Shetlands and the northern coast of the island of Britain. (I checked a variety of sources for Scottish history to dertermine this info, and they all agreed with this generalization.)
  
  
• Modern usage of the term 'Gael' usually refers to anyone speaking one of the Gaelic languages. 'Celt' or 'Celtic' is usually a cultural descriptor referring to a much larger group of people from across Europe - it depends on what source you're using as to how broad a descriptor it becomes.By that token, all Gaels are Celts, but not all Celts are Gaels. Not everyone agrees with how to use the term 'Celt' these days.
  
  
• The Gaelic language comes in (mainly) three forms - Irish, Manx and Scottish. To differentiate, most people refer to Irish as Gaelic or 'Gaeilge', Manx as Manx or 'Gaelg', and Scottish as Scots Gaelic or 'Gàidhlig' (and sometimes 'Erse', though that's sometimes taken as a pejorative). 'Scots' is a different language altogether, more closely related to English, and is often referred to as 'Lallans' or 'Broad Scots'.
  
  
• The United Kingdom does not have any official languages.

[MacSaorsa]

Heresy!

Agreed.

That said, it could be true if you look at the big picture. For instance, Irn-Bru is a lot more like Orange Crush than it is like an elephant, a job interview, or Norway.

[Lallans]

Agreed.

That said, it could be true if you look at the big picture. For instance, Irn-Bru is a lot more like Orange Crush than it is like an elephant, a job interview, or Norway.

IrnBru is... is... is... OK perhaps a bit like Orange Crush if it's mixed with liberal amounts of Pepsi and Dr Pepper. And of course, iron.

But seriously, that is quite a good presentation. Clearly a lot of work went into it and I want to point out that writing for children is often said to be one of the hardest things to do of all.

[Tobus]

The island is Britain. The northern part is Scotland, south of Scotland lies England and Wales.

Actually, I would prefer to hear it the way he had it originally written. The island is Scotland, and then there's a vague southern part that nobody need concern themselves with.

[ohiopiper]

Thanks for the corrections and catches.

I clearly didn't pay attention in geography class, I was sure Scotland was an island unto itself, right off the coast of England. After double checking an actual atlas, I was sure I was wrong.

As for Bannockburn/Stirling, I had both in the original draft and apparently deleted portions of both and came up with the wrong person at the wrong place.

I'll re-write the language section to say that the languages aren't official languages.

And the history part may well be improved with brevity. Much of the "research" I did was online, but I tried to stick with seemingly reputable sources. Even then I came up with sometimes conflicting accouts. Since I don't have time to read and distill any really authoratiative work on it, I'll probably go with the basic outline of what EagleJCS posted in his correction of my hodge-podge of stuff.

As for Irn-Bru, I must claim complete ignorance. I've never actually drank it, merely read others opinions.

Corrections will be made. Brevity will be strictly enforced and my explanation of Irn-Bru will be ammended.

Thank you all for your (further) contributions.

[Lallans]

If you get the Irn Bru right, everything else will follow! Break a leg!

EDIT: On a second reading, I will throw out that Sir Walter Scott is best known for his historical fiction, and girls might be interested in the fact that ghillie brogues are made full of big holes, originally to allow the plentiful Scottish ground water to run out with a minimum of 'squishing'.

[Tony]

All you need to know about Irn Bru is it's Made in Scotland.
From girders.



If you see the weans flagging, blast em with the pipes.
Good luck!

[ohiopiper]

I won't re-post the whole thing, here's the re-write of the history section:

Just off the western coast of Europe are some islands. One of these islands is called Britain. There are three countries on this island, England, Wales and Scotland. We’re going to learn about Scotland today. Scotland is divided into two main parts, the Highlands in the north and the Lowlands in the south

A long time ago, two groups of people lived in Scotland, but it wasn’t called Scotland then. They were called the Picts and the Britons. The next group of people to come were the Scots. They originally came from Ireland, an island close by. The next people who came after that were the Anglo-Saxons from Europe.

The rest of Europe was ruled by people called the Romans. Their leader, Julius Caesar, decide to invade Scotland. The Romans came first to the south, called the Lowlands. They took it over and built a wall called Hadrians Wall to keep the people in the north out of their new place. Then the Romans tried to take over the Highlands, where everybody else lived. The different people agreed to fight together against the Romans. The Romans weren’t able to beat them and built a wall called Hadrian’s’ Wall to keep them out of the lowlands they had taken.
The people from the Highlands eventually beat the Romans and had all of Scotland to themselves. The people who live in Scotland today are descendant from these people.

Everything following is the same, with the exception of correcting the Stirling/Bannockburn goof I made earlier.

I also edited my description of Irn Bru.

Thanks again, guys.