A new national anthem

Listen to this interview by Mandia Sami discussing how Switzerland is holding a competition to find a new national anthem and take notes the first time you listen.

Hundreds enter Swiss competition to find a new national anthem

Listen for a second time and answer these questions.

  1. What are the common images of Switzerland?
  2. Do most Swiss people know the lyrics of their current national anthem?
  3. When was the current national anthem composed?
  4. What do they not like about the national anthem?
  5. What percentage of the Swiss population can sing the national anthem without reading the lyrics?
  6. How many people have sent in a tune for the competition?
  7. What are the 4 official languages of Switzerland?
  8. How many people are there in the jury?
  9. How many songs do the public get to vote for?
  10. What will they do with the winning anthem?
Answers:
1. mountains, chocolates, clocks, tradition 2. no 3. 1841 4. too hymn like and old 5. 4% 6. more than 200 7. German, French, Italian, Romansch 8. 30 9. 3 10. submit it as a suggestion to the government

For more activities on National Anthems go to Unit 2 of the Teachers Course.

Swiss anthem

Do you know the national anthem from Switzerland?

Read about it here, then answer these questions.

  1. What 3 jobs did Leonard Widmer do?
  2. What job did Alberik Zwyssig do?
  3. What did they do together?
  4. Why didn’t the Swiss government declare ‘Swiss Psalm’ a national anthem immediately?
  5. Why did the government allow ‘Swiss Psalm’ to be the anthem in 1961?
  6. When was it officially declared the Swiss national anthem?
  7. What are the 4 languages of Switzerland?
  8. Read through the English version of the lyrics.
Answers:
1. music publisher, journalist and lyricist 2. music director 3. create the Swiss national anthem 4. the government wanted the public to have an opinion 5. because their original anthem sounded the same as the British anthem, they wanted something Swiss 6. 1981 7. German, French, Italian, Romansch

For more activities on National Anthems go to Unit 2 of the Teachers Course.