Harold lives in Oslo, Norway. He is in the third grade. All the pupils
in his room are boys and the teacher is a man.
The first day of school was a busy one for Harold. When the boys were in
the room the teacher said, “Write your name on the paper which I shall
give you.” Harold wrote his name in clear letters.
After the teacher got the names of all the boys he said, “Now I shall
tell you what lessons you will have each day. You may write them down on
a time plan.”
Harold and his classmates knew what a “time plan” is. The storekeepers
in the bookstores had given them pretty picture cards with blank places
on them where the pupils could write the names of the subjects and the
time at which each would recite. So when the teacher told them the
lessons they would have each day they wrote them on their time plans.
Harold’s time plan looked like the one shown here.
Most of the subjects the Norwegian girls and boys study in the third
grade are the same as those which American pupils study in the third
grade. American girls and boys study English; but on Harold’s time plan
instead of English is _Norsk_. Norsk is the name for the language of
Norway.
In one of the reading texts which many children read the first picture
is a flag of Norway. Across the page from the picture is a poem about
Norway. The poem is in Norsk of course. Children in Norway learn that
poem so that they can say it without looking at the words.
Ja, vi elsker dette landet,
som det stiger frem,
furet, værbitt, over vannet,
med de tusen hjem;
elsker, elsker det og tenker
på vår far og mor
og den saganatt som senker
drømme på vår jord!
(Yes, we love with fond devotion
Norway’s mountain domes,
Rising stormlashed o’er the ocean,
With their thousand homes;
Love our country while we’re bending
Thoughts to fathers grand,
And to saga night that’s sending
Dreams upon our land,
And to saga night that’s sending,
Sending dreams upon our land.)
[Illustration: HAROLD’S TIME PLAN]
On the seventeenth of May each year the Norwegian girls and boys march
through the streets carrying flags and singing “Ja, vi elsker dette
landet.” The seventeenth of May to them is what the Fourth of July is to
us. It is their Independence Day.
[Illustration: NORWEGIAN CHILDREN CELEBRATING INDEPENDENCE DAY]
For many, many years Norway, Sweden, and Denmark were governed by one
king. But in 1905 Norwegians became free to govern themselves. They
chose a king for their country. On the seventeenth of May each year
school children of Oslo and towns near Oslo parade past the palace of
the King. The King watches their parade. The children stand very quietly
then while the King speaks to them about Norway, their country.
Harold’s sister is in the seventh grade. Her time plan is shown on page
137.
Many pupils in the seventh grade find English to be their hardest
subject. Only a few English words are like Norsk words which they speak.
On the time plan you see the names of the days of the week—Mandag
(Monday), Tirsdag (Tuesday), Onsdag (Wednesday), Torsdag (Thursday),
Fredag (Friday), Lørdag (Saturday), Søndag (Sunday). They are much like
English names for the days of the week.
Norwegian pupils soon learn the English word “summer,” for the Norsk
word is “sommer.” They soon can say “come,” for in Norsk they say
“komme,” and “Many thanks” which in Norsk is “Mange takke.”
The Norwegians did not get words from the English, however. The English
got words from the Norwegians. Long, long ago some people from these
northern lands went to live in the land of the English people. From them
the English learned to use some of the old Norsk words and they have
kept some of those words in their language. English settlers brought the
English language to America, so Americans too use those old Norsk words.
The Norwegian pupils have a hard time learning to pronounce words which
have the letter “w,” for “w” is not used in the Norsk language. The
English word “warm” is “varme,” “work” is “verke,” “wash” is “vaske,”
“window” is “vindue,” “west” is “vest,” and “well” is “vel.”
But, of course, many, many other English words are not at all like Norsk
words.