[Snoopy]

Hello there - I know that Sandy, Callum and many others of you have been teachers or are/have worked with Youth Clubs or in Social Science areas, and you may be able to help me.

I have to write an "Instructed" essay - criteria as follows:-

I have been asked to become a leader of a Youth Club which has 40 members.  The club is situated in the inner city with members from different ethnic backgrounds between the ages of 16  -20.

My task is to devise a programme of activities for the members that will help promote
Tolerance, Acceptance, and Respect for people from all backgrounds and promote an awareness of discrimination, stereotyping and prejudice.

I can handle the social science aspects of prejudice, racism etc.  the thing that I have never had the experience of and need help with is the  Programme for the youth club, which should include  Three activities, and state my reason for including the three activities ( I assume benefits of these).

Any help - advice - opinions on what activities should be included will be gratefully received 

Thanks in advance - Julie 

[sandy]

I have done loads of this sort of stuff but I may need to stretch my brain a bit more.

One idea is to indroduce the different cultures to each others culture, ignorance =prejudice....make it all fun. An idea is to do some brainstorming,to get an idea of the different cultures, then the leader can divide the group into 5 groups of 4 for example, write on some cards things that have been identified from the brainstorming such as religion eg, Muslim, festivals, such as Easter, Food, such as Jerk Chicken, Music, say Spanish etc etc. get the young people to pick out a card for each group and then plan and research to do demonstate what is on the card.THey can choose to cook something, perform a short role play piece, make some music and perform a dance, make something with craft, masks, divali lamps, poster etc etc or just do a display with articals from that culture such as flags, story's etc. The young people can ask people from that ethnic group, find information on the internet and also from any information in the club (the youth leader should be prepared for that and have plenty of stuff on hand)  THe young people can plan what they want to do and perform it the next session and also move around to each others display, this can be made to last several sessions cumulating in a multi cultural "party" with food provided from different cultures, music from different cultures and art from different cultures or done quickly to capture and not loose too many young people!! anyone...MUST go...Steve wants his pudding and the dog is looking at me toooooooo!!

[little blue]

And incorporate lots of team games and stuff where the leaders deliberately (on the quiet!) mix up groups, they have to share something about themselves (eg fave food, time of year, family members, what they do on a weekend etc etc) before they can move to the next 'level' of the game and if its something they're not familiar with, they need to ask! (eg whats Eid?!)
So that you're not making a big thing of differences, but instead sharing what might in fact turn out to be the same! And increasing 'exposure' to each other with out it being "today we're focusing on Islam"
You'd need some boundaries on what topic to share (appropriateness!) and guidance on asking skills (ie ask for explanations in a tolerent and supportive way)

You know those "Executive Team-building" things, like making a canoe out of three straws and a pair of pants?!! No, seriously though, activities that involve lots of team work in a (gentle) competitive way is a way to make people mix, even if they hate the thought! And youth will likely prefer the more practical stuff like raft building, design and build stuff, problem solving etc.

[doganjo]

Just a thought - most of the kids these days are into electronic games - all of which have levels - each level has a prize of some sort, whether by eliminating things or by collecting things.  They can't move onto the next level till they have achieved all the targets.  You could incorporate the general idea of this by creating a game using all types of strengths.

[sandy]

If you just have any type of competition without learning something or becoming more aware of  others cultures etc, 1 you will not be achieving anything just creating winners and 2 be counterproductive to those in the club that are not so talented/competitive . 3 you will not be adhering to your brief and youth work ethos.

[Snoopy]

Just a thought - most of the kids these days are into electronic games - all of which have levels - each level has a prize of some sort, whether by eliminating things or by collecting things.  They can't move onto the next level till they have achieved all the targets.  You could incorporate the general idea of this by creating a game using all types of strengths.

This idea could work, especially if the prize was points to have their team win to the next level.  I can see this working if they had to go home and research for the next week items of cultural relativity - like symbols (irish have harp and shamrock - english have the queen - Canada have their maple leaf - Scotland have their Tartan and bagpipes)  - other cultures must have symbols too.  Then theres the material culture, and language, and traditional dress, recipes that they could collect.

Thanks Annie a great start for one activity already done.

[Snoopy]

I have done loads of this sort of stuff but I may need to stretch my brain a bit more.

One idea is to indroduce the different cultures to each others culture, ignorance =prejudice....make it all fun. An idea is to do some brainstorming,to get an idea of the different cultures, then the leader can divide the group into 5 groups of 4 for example, write on some cards things that have been identified from the brainstorming such as religion eg, Muslim, festivals, such as Easter, Food, such as Jerk Chicken, Music, say Spanish etc etc. get the young people to pick out a card for each group and then plan and research to do demonstate what is on the card.THey can choose to cook something, perform a short role play piece, make some music and perform a dance, make something with craft, masks, divali lamps, poster etc etc or just do a display with articals from that culture such as flags, story's etc. The young people can ask people from that ethnic group, find information on the internet and also from any information in the club (the youth leader should be prepared for that and have plenty of stuff on hand)  THe young people can plan what they want to do and perform it the next session and also move around to each others display, this can be made to last several sessions cumulating in a multi cultural "party" with food provided from different cultures, music from different cultures and art from different cultures or done quickly to capture and not loose too many young people!! anyone...MUST go...Steve wants his pudding and the dog is looking at me toooooooo!!

Love the Party idea - could aim for a Multi Culture Christmas party theme - a great idea Sandy - thanks so much

[Snoopy]

If you just have any type of competition without learning something or becoming more aware of  others cultures etc, 1 you will not be achieving anything just creating winners and 2 be counterproductive to those in the club that are not so talented/competitive . 3 you will not be adhering to your brief and youth work ethos.

Thanks for that - do have to stick to my brief or will lose points.

Sandy, can you think of any sport or normal youth club games that could be made into a cultural team effort or work with my brief??

It would be good to have the third one based on whatever they usually do on a weekly basis and sport would appeal to the boys more
and get them involved with the issues.

Julie 

[sandy]

I have done youth work in all forms for years but cannot think of particular games, other than youth work board games...young people love to main basic ones, football, rounders, pool, cards, etc etc but, as I said, people split into groups naturaly, usualy those with similar interests, cultures so, any team would have be carefuly organized and mixed up to prevent the re inforcement of competition. I remember doing loads on cultures and one addtion was to fill the youth club with posters, information etc on positive role models from different cultures, and simple bits about religiouse belliefs. I worked in Leicester, VERY multicultural and some of the boys in a school for otherwise excluded pupils realy enjoyed lessons on other religions and were impressed when they found Siks could carry swords A good idea is to get an organised party/disco/music event going and embrace others cultres and have fun...FOrgot to add that Little Blue's team stuff is the best, then people Can utalise thier skills, they can even make a "rap" or song to perform and et them to include feelings of racisum etc and they can perform as a group!!!! I have also done loads of team building and have always enjoyed it.....split them up using the old number system 1-5..all the 1's go together, all the 2's etc, hopefully the friendship groups will be next to each other so not get the same numbers. I shall rack my brain!!!!!! NOW I MUST CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN

[doganjo]

Julie, how about some of these huge floor games - I'm thinking of the Glasgow Science centre where they have giant floor draughts and chess, but you could have say snakes and ladders or Ludo.  It could be turned into a relay race as well.  It would be quite easy to use a double sized flat sheet and paint on the squares and  symbols with fabric paints - in fact that could be another project for the group.  You could have all sorts of things for tokens - an old boot, an old kettle - etc

[Snoopy]

And incorporate lots of team games

So that you're not making a big thing of differences, but instead sharing what might in fact turn out to be the same! And increasing 'exposure' to each other with out it being "today we're focusing on Islam"

You'd need some boundaries on what topic to share (appropriateness!) and guidance on asking skills (ie ask for explanations in a tolerent and supportive way)

You know those "Executive Team-building" things, like making a canoe out of three straws and a pair of pants?!! No, seriously though, activities that involve lots of team work in a (gentle) competitive way is a way to make people mix, even if they hate the thought! And youth will likely prefer the more practical stuff like raft building, design and build stuff, problem solving etc.

Little Blue you never fail to amaze me with your skills and your sense of humour - thanks for your help here 

p.s. still giggling about the sat nav not finding your house yet 

[little blue]

Love the Party idea - could aim for a Multi Culture Christmas party theme - a great idea Sandy - thanks so much

Not to rain on the parade... but a multicultural Christmas party will only suit the Christians and possibly Pagans (!)
So make it a Winter party, Solstice party or even just a "welcome" party
 Is the essay purely fiction, only a youth club of 40 young people sounds a bit unmanageable unless they are grouped somehow? (dont have much experience of youth work, more education and special needs)

[sandy]

I used to run BIG clubs of course with LOADS of help, the best nights were when they had food and music involved, one youth club I worked in used to enable the YP's to organise Disco's, Youth workers to oversee and staff the building and older YP trained as "bouncers" got the certificates etc, other YP DJayed, some live music and of course food!!!!! I agree about the Christmas bit, I worked in a predominately Muslim town and although most cultures enjoy festive stuff, it's best not to give it a Christian angle. The key to youth work is 1 not to leave people out, youth work is about enabling and inclusive, so don't forget some people find it hard to "be heard" some disabled in some way and some culturally marginalised. 2There has to be an aim/focus on the session, not just a party, or just a football match but a reason for the session and an outcome....So a Party, with FOod from different cultures, prepared by people from all cultures, Music form other cultures, and decorations from other cultures. THe sad thing is, when people from other countries move in they soon loose thier "nice" bit's of thier culture and adopt "bad" bit's of others culture.....get all the young people to take home the good bit's