February 2009 Please note that some links may have expired due to the ever-changing nature of the Internet. Let us know if you find anything unexpected or offensive so we can remove or change a link. Youthwork magazine and CCP ltd are not responsible for the content of external sites accessed from youthwork.co.uk Pick and mix Being a youth worker can result in a variety of interesting jobs, from the serious to the downright crazy. This month, John Allan explores the web sites that fit at both ends of the spectrum. One of the trickiest things about youth work, it seems to me, is that it's essentially the most schizophrenic job in the known universe. You have to work with adults, and come across as a serious, dependable, mature character; you also have to work with kids and be instantly zany, funny and energetic. In my case, I can be sitting in a senior staff-planning meeting at school, discussing academic targets and policy documents, and five minutes later, be throwing cake and shaving foam around with the eleven year olds. It's a bewildering life! So the websites reviewed in this month’s column are an equally bizarre mix. There are silly ones that just capture interest or provide instant fun, and there are serious ones which help you do something valuable: faster e-mail, organized planning, and effective Bible study. Just recently, I've noticed, the serious ones have dominated. Just for a change, let's begin with a quick burst of stupidity… You can't get much sillier than Physics doesn't exist, it's all about Gnomes - an entry in the Uncyclopedia (a Wikipedia look-alike full of daft stuff). Entertainingly, it explains everything that happens in the universe by positing garden gnomes who make it happen; it sounds almost scientific, and it raises lots of questions: how do we know that reality is as the scientists say? What's wrong with the reasoning here? How well would Starbucks do if they sold coffee the way churches market themselves? That's the question in a very funny what-if YouTube video, which could launch your kids into examining about how your church operates, and whether it might be shooting itself in the foot. The film is relentlessly American, but that itself allows you to ask a further question: how many of these things happen on our side of the Atlantic? Have British churches other ways of looking weird? Talking of YouTube, I've been noticing how many great little video clips there now are which re-tell parable stories using Lego characters and stop-frame animation. This morning I used one (The Treasure in the Field) in an assembly, to great acclaim. Put parable lego into the YouTube and see what comes up. (Don't miss the atmospheric Good Samaritan one, told through action and brilliantly chosen music, with no words whatever.) In a lesson last week I got people to construct a Facebook profile page for God, which led to some brilliant discussions! Great minds think alike, and now I've discovered online the first chapters of Genesis done in Facebook form. You could use this to discuss creation: what were God's motives? How well does this version represent the Bible story? What does it get wrong? Or if you need to do a talk on secrets, hidden knowledge, inaccessible information, or something similar, look at The Top Ten Fascinating Secrets Taken to the Grave, listing things we'll never ever know because nobody can come back to tell us. Enough of this levity - time for some serious stuff. If you make your own videos for YouTube, don't miss Audioswap, a new feature which lets you add to your soundtrack, good, professional music from favourite artists, with no copyright problems. Check out the many services that allow you to write e-mails now but have them sent at a later date (e.g. LetterMeLater, TimeMachiner, Futurecovery); they have many uses. For example, not only can you schedule meeting reminders to co-workers just before the meeting, you can also persuade your young people to write letters about their dreams and ambitions to their future selves, to be delivered in two years' time… Taking young people abroad? Working with churches overseas? If foreign names cause you embarrassment, HowToSayThatName is your salvation. It lists any number of tricky names, each with a little clickable audio file, which gives you the correct pronunciation from a native speaker. Simple but brilliant! There are many calendar makers on the market, but none easier than FreePhotoCalendar. Select a picture, highlight the month you want listed, and click. Working fast, you could construct a full-colour month-to-a-page youth group calendar in less than ten minutes. Maybe even five. And finally, when you have to write a poem and can't think of rhymes, Write Rhymes will give you them instantly. Composing your epic about last summer's camp, or your funny ode to the Vicar, has never been easier. And if you're muttering, ‘I've never written a poem and I never will’ – don't speak too soon. Funny things happen in youth work. Remember, you're in the most schizophrenic job in the known universe. John Allan is based at Belmont Chapel, Exeter, UK, and is a regular contributor to Youthwork magazine. Back to main page