Bitte um Korrektur

[panasync]

Ich soll demnächst einen Vortrag über Australien halten. An sich kein Problem, doch der Haken (für mich jedenfalls) ist: der Vortrag muss auf Englisch sein. Er soll etwa 3-5 Minuten in Anspruch nehmen.
Da ich nicht besonders gut, eigentlich ziemlich schlecht in Englisch bin, würde es mir sehr helfen, wenn jemand meinen zurechtgebastelten “englischen“ Text korrigiert.
Danke im Voraus!

I want to give you a short presentation about Australia.
Australia is the world’s smallest continent and largest island of the world. It is as big as the United States, but has only 18 million inhabitants. The people in Australia are called “Aussies”.
Australia includes a vast amount of land, it has six States - five of which are on the mainland, and one which is an island. The five mainland States are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia. The island State is Tasmania.
The history of Australia records that the first settlers were Aboriginals from Southeast Asia who arrived about 40,000 years ago. The first European explorations did not begin until the 17th century. The first territorial claim was made in 1770, by Captain James Cook, who took possession in the name of the British Empire.
Australia is the flattest and driest continent. The highest mountain, Mount Kosciusko, is only 2,228m high. Australia is so flat because there was no episode of mountain building and the land has been eroded by wind and weather through millions of years. You can divide Australia into three parts:
the Eastern Highlands which are from Cape York to Melbourne, the Central Basin which used to be flooded by ancient seas and even today contains several big lakes with some just getting filled in wet seasons, and the last part the Western Shield which is a plateau of ancient rock. These rocks are the oldest we know. Many mineral deposits are found there. Because there is so little rain, many people chose to live where most of the rain is, on the coast.
Canberra is the capital city of Australia.Today Sydney, which is a business and cultural centre, is sometimes called the real capital of Australia.
The flag is modeled on the British flag, next to the GB flag it′s blue, it has 5 stars. These stars are a constellation of the "Cross of the South". Why a constellation of the "Cross of the South"?
Because Australia, a name from Latin meaning "southern".
That was my presentation on Australia.

[Delfino]

Show you teacher that you take this task seriously. No laughter on your part!  
Choose only one of the options separated by /

Hello everyone!
First of all, let me thank you all for coming here.
I'm delighted that so many of you could make it today.
For those of you who don't know me, my name is ...
I'm here on behalf of our teacher Mrs. Y who asked me to give a short presentation about Australia.
As you all know our schedule for today's lesson is full / pretty tight.
So I have to ask you to refrain from interrupting me in any kind of way / So please do not interrupt me in any kind of way
and keeping this in mind I'm afraid you will have to hold your questions too.
But I'll be available for all your question during the break after this lesson/period/class.

I'll begin with some general facts on Australia and go into more details where necessary.
Australia is located in the Southern Hemisphere between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean.
It is the world’s smallest continent and more than three times the size of Greenland, the largest island.
Although, Australia is sometimes called 'The Island Continent', but it's not an island.

Australia is the flattest continent because its history doesn't contain episodes of mountain building.
The current shape of the dry land has been created through millions of years of erosion by wind and weather.
The highest mountain, Mount Kosciusko, is only 2,228 metres high.

Australia is usually divided into these three parts:
+the Eastern Highlands which reach from Cape York to Melbourne,
+the Central Basin which used to be flooded by ancient seas and even today contains several big lakes with some just getting filled in wet seasons,
+and the last part the Western Shield which is a plateau of ancient rock.
These rocks are the oldest we know.
Many mineral deposits are found there.

The first humans, who are estimated to have arrived between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago, were from Southeast Asia.
These first inhabitants may have been ancestors of the Aboriginals, the modern Indigenous Australians.
The European explorations did not begin until the 17th century.
The first territorial claim was made in 1770 by Captain James Cook in the name of the British Empire.
Many people chose to live on the coast where most of the rain falls because it doesn't rain very often in Australia.

As mentioned before Australia includes a vast amount of land.
It is about twice as big as India, but it has only 22 million inhabitants.
The people of/in Australia are colloquially called “Aussies”.
The Commonwealth of Australia is structured in six states.
The five states on the mainland are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia.
The sixth (state) is the island Tasmania.
Canberra is the official capital city of this federation.
Today Sydney, which is an important economic and cultural centre, is sometimes called the real capital of Australia.

The flag of Australia has a blue background and contains
+ in the upper left corner the Union Jack (the British flag),
+ below a large white seven-pointed star known as the Commonwealth Star and
+ on the right side a representation of the Southern Cross constellation,
(made up of five white stars - one small five-pointed star and four, larger, seven-pointed stars).
Why is this constellation used?
Because stars of this constellation are used to mark south for navigational purposes since the early days of settlement.
The Southern Cross is one of the most distinctive constellations visible in the Southern Hemisphere and
the name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern".

OK, I think that covers about everything I wanted to say about Australia.
Thank you all for your attention.
I'll now give the floor to the next presenter Mr. X / back to Mrs. Y.

The audience needs to be informed about the structure of your presentation.
You can put it on a visual aid (e.g. on the blackboard, on a whiteboard or on a Powerpoint slide).

Don't forget to mention the references of your information
or should I say source of quotation (yes, I noticed them)?

http://www.referate10.com/referate/Engl ... t-reon.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Australia

[Delfino]

Try to maintain eye-contact with your whole audience (not only the teacher).
Try to speak freely and avoid to read this text like a book.
...

Good luck.

[panasync]

Danke, danke, danke! So kann ja nichts mehr schief gehen
Ach ja und