Assemblies Online Secondary

Play one of the following songs as students and staff enter the assembly hall:

• World In Motion by England/New Order. This was the official England single of the 1990 World Cup, which is the focus of the film clip in this assembly.
• Three Lions by Skinner, Baddiel and the Lightning Seeds. Please note there were two separate versions of this song, with different lyrics for the verses. We suggest using the original Euro 96 version, although you may prefer the version released to coincide with the 1998 World Cup. The link here is to a disc with both versions.
  
• Anything from a football song compilation album, such as The Best Unofficial Footie Anthems... Ever! (Virgin TV, 2000) which, incidentally, includes both World In Motion and the original version of Three Lions. Beware when buying other football song compilations, as there are many such albums which don't feature the original artists and do not state as much on the cover.

[Use the World Cup Food PowerPoint with this activity]

Ask the students to help you decide the world champion cuisine. Explain that you want them to vote on a series of head-to-head challenges between different national foodstuffs representing eight of the countries taking part in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

For each pair, ask the students to vote to choose their favourite. Click on the background of the PowerPoint to make the first pair of foodstuffs appear. Once the students have voted, click on the losing photograph to make it disappear. Click again on the background to make the next pair appear, then on the losing photograph from that 'match'. Continue in this way until you are left with four winning foodstuffs that have made it into the semi-final.

Continue the tournament by pitting the winners of match 1 and match 2 against each other, with the winners of matches 3 and 4 contesting the other semi-final, clicking the losing photograph in each case. Once you are left with only two photographs, you are ready for a titanic contest as they fight it out to be voted the World Champion Cuisine of 2010.

Important note: once all eight photographs have appeared on the PowerPoint, do not click on the background until the whole tournament has been completed. Doing so will end the PowerPoint. From the semi-finals onwards, only click on the photos. The photos do not move between rounds, so you will have to make it clear which pair of foods are up against each other verbally.

The competing foodstuffs are as follows:

Match 1: Hamburger (USA) vs Pizza (Italy)
Match 2: Chilli con carne (Mexico) vs Paella (Spain)
Match 3: Fish and chips (England) vs Bratwurst and Sauerkraut (Germany)
Match 4: Sushi (Japan) vs Snails (France)

[Use the World Cup Woe PowerPoint with this activity]

Ask the students whether or not they are looking forward to the World Cup. Ask who thinks England are going to win. If anyone says they are expecting victory, warn them that history shows that the World Cup often has little but disappointment for the English, and explain that you are going to show a brief history of England's World Cup misadventures.

The PowerPoint will automatically transition between screens. Once you start it, you do not need to do anything (although clicking the mouse will automatically trigger the next transition). We suggest that you accompany the PowerPoint with appropriate music. One suggestion that would work well is The Show Must Go On by Queen (1991), which is available on Queen's Greatest Hits volume 2 (Parlophone, 1993).

After showing the PowerPoint, you may like to point out the frequency with which the words 'quarter-final', 'sent off', 'penalty shoot-out', 'Germany' and 'Argentina' appear in England's World Cup history. Pick any two or three of those and you've probably got the story of the 2010 World Cup even before it happens.

[Use the World Cup Quiz PowerPoint with this activity]

[PowerPoint slide 1]
Explain to the students that you want them to take part in a multiple choice quiz to determine which England footballer they are most like. Ask the students to vote A, B, C or D for each question by raising their hands when asked. Please note that the questions and answers on the PowerPoint are summarised versions of the ones given below. We suggest that you work from a script, rather than simply reading from the PowerPoint. Please also note that this fun activity involved accepting gross over-simplifications of public perception of certain individuals from the England squad.

[PowerPoint slide 2]
Question 1:
Walking to the bus stop, you see your bus about to pull away without you. What do you do?

[click] A - Seizing the opportunity to fulfil the hopes of a nation by catching the bus, you break into a sprint. Your mesmerising solo run is brought to a crashing halt when you turn your ankle on a loose flagstone and end up in A&E.

[click] B - You try to catch the bus, but are hampered by the ranks of photographers calling your name and taking photos. You try to find out when the next bus is due, but the timetable is too hard for you to understand.

[click] C - Leaping effortlessly onto the bus, you go to take the last seat only to find that your mate Frank wants to sit there as well. There isn't room for both of you, but nobody knows how to sort it out.

[click] D - Nobody appreciates how much hard work goes into catching a bus. You sprinted past the bus and stood in front of it in the middle of the road, forcing it to stop. Because of you, everyone caught the bus. Shame that as soon as you stepped out of the way, the bus roared off without you.

[PowerPoint slide 3]
Question 2:
Your teacher springs a surprise test on you at school. What do you do?

[click] A - Eagerly pick up your pen. The hopes of the class are resting on your ability to conjure a top mark out of nothing. Sadly, removing the lid of your pen you sprain your wrist and spend the rest of the day watching from the sidelines, unable to write a single word.

[click] B - Tests aren't really your thing. You skip out of the lesson to go and film a commercial.

[click] C - You work really hard and hand in your test paper. The next day the teacher accuses you of cheating - your answers were exactly the same as your mate Frank's.

[click] D - Nobody appreciates the hard work needed for taking a test. Someone has to give out the papers, someone has to give out the pens. Someone has to do the hard physical work so that others get the glory of good marks. That's what you did. Shame you only managed about 14% yourself.

[PowerPoint slide 4]
Question 3:
You get to the front of the queue in the cafeteria, and the server asks you what you want to eat.

[click] A - You audaciously go for the most ambitious dish on the menu. You look set to demonstrate that you are a world-beater of an eater when, sadly, you impale your cheek on your fork. You go hungry while the school nurse stitches your face together again. At least it won't damage your looks.

[click] B - Sadly, you have to go hungry. One of your sponsors is a fast food company, and you couldn't possibly be seen eating anybody else's products.

[click] C - You order the last plate of pasta salad, only to find your mate Frank asking for the same thing at the same time. While the pair of you wrestle for the food, someone else nips in and takes it.

[click] D - Nobody appreciates the hard work needed at lunchtime. Someone has to fetch trays, someone has to clear tables, someone has to refill water jugs. That's what you did. Shame that you kept missing your mouth with the food when you tried to eat yours.

[PowerPoint slide 5]
Question 4:
Your favourite book is:

[click] A - A dazzling thriller guaranteed to keep readers on the edge of their seats. It's a compulsive page-turner. Unfortunately, whenever you try to read it you get paper-cuts on your fingertips

[click] B - Written in crayon

[click] C - The same as your mate Frank's

[click] D - Something where the hard-working, unappreciated sidesman gets a bit of credit.

[PowerPoint slide 6]
Question 5:
Your mates are planning a night out. What do you want to do?

[click] A - You toy with going to see a film, going dancing at a nightclub, or even playing football at the local sports centre. In the end you just book yourself into hospital at the start of the night. It'll save time, since you're bound to end up there sooner or later.

[click] B - You don't mind what you do, just as long as there are going to be plenty of photographers to see you doing it.

[click] C - Whatever your mate Frank is doing

[click] D - An exciting evening of trying to hit a barn door from close range. You need the practice.

Once you have gone through all five questions, ask the students to decide which letter they have answered most frequently.

[PowerPoint slide 7]
Mostly A - You are Wayne Rooney

The hopes of the nation rest on your shoulders. It's just a shame that you can't walk down the street without injuring yourself.

[PowerPoint slide 8]
Mostly B - You are David Beckham

Global superstar with a cultured right foot, an unerring nose for publicity and - allegedly - an intellect that's two players short of a defensive wall.

[PowerPoint slide 9]
Mostly C - You are Steven Gerrard

You're a world class player and an asset to any side in the world… except for one that's already got Frank Lampard.

[PowerPoint slide 10]
Mostly D - You are Emile Heskey

Much maligned, hugely unappreciated, but they'd all miss you if you weren't there. Not as much as you miss the goal though.

Play the clip from One Night in Turin:

Start time:    0.00.00 (beginning of chapter 1 of the DVD)
End time:    0.01.21
Clip length:    One minute and 21 seconds

The clip starts with the caption, 'Somewhere on a foreign field', followed by a close-up image of a penalty spot, intercut with camera flashbulbs and a white-shirted footballer (Chris Waddle) walking forwards. The first line - spoken in voiceover by Gary Oldman - is 'In everyone's life there are rare moments when the world seems to stand still.' It ends after the line, 'and then, all of a sudden, we're back to square one.'

The clip shows footage of Chris Waddle preparing to take - and miss - the decisive penalty of England's 1990 World Cup semi-final against West Germany. A voiceover muses on the rarity of moments that unite a whole nation, and of the experience of hope being dashed and having to start from scratch.

[Use the World Events One Night in Turin Talk PowerPoint with this presentation]

I'm going to show you a film clip now, it's from a documentary called One Night in Turin, which tells the story of England's attempt to win the football World Cup in 1990 - the tournament of Bobby Robson, Gazza's tears,  and the first of many heartbreaking penalty shoot-outs. Pay attention to the way the narrator describes the crucial moments.

[Play the clip from One Night in Turin:

Start time:    0.00.00 (beginning of chapter 1 of the DVD)
End time:    0.01.21
Clip length:    One minute and 21 seconds

The clip starts with the caption, 'Somewhere on a foreign field', followed by a close-up image of a penalty spot, intercut with camera flashbulbs and a white-shirted footballer (Chris Waddle) walking forwards. The first line - spoken in voiceover by Gary Oldman - is 'In everyone's life there are rare moments when the world seems to stand still.' It ends after the line, 'and then, all of a sudden, we're back to square one.'

If you are unable to play the clip, say the following instead: 'The 1990 World Cup was a turning point for English football. Despite low expectations at the start of the tournament, England gathered momentum and played out a thrilling semi-final against West Germany. Either team could have won the game in normal time, and again in extra time. Eventually, it came down to penalties. England lost, Gazza cried and a nation took football to its heart.']

[PowerPoint Slide 1]
It's the same old story. Every four years, as the World Cup rolls around again, the English media get very excited about the prospect of an England win. Maybe one day it will happen again, but normally [refer to the World Cup Woe activity if you used that] some or all of the words 'quarter-final', 'penalties', 'Germany/Argentina' and 'glorious failure' can be used to sum up four years of shattered hopes and dreams.

[PowerPoint Slide 2]
Did you listen to the way the narrator in the film clip described the moments of the 1990 penalty shoot out? He talked about 'a decisive moment when everything could change.' As we've already seen, although England's dreams were shattered when Chris Waddle fired over, this was the moment when everything changed for English football. Although it was no consolation for players and fans at the time, even in defeat, English football was transformed.

It's hard to believe, but before 1990, football wasn't the media-devouring beast that we know today. There was no such thing as the Premier League, Sky television had no hold on the game, supporters didn't pay a fortune for replica shirts, or even for seats at the stadium. The transformation in English football flows fairly directly from the way the England team in 1990 captured the public imagination and affection.

[PowerPoint Slide 3]
So defeat was a springboard for something revolutionary. And that's the key to what I want to talk about today: [click] when we are faced with moments of great change, what counts isn't what happens in the moment, [click] it's how we react to it. What really counts is what happens next. Here's a reading from the Bible, telling us about a man who was faced with a pivotal moment.

[PowerPoint Slide 4]
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

Acts 9:1-2
Today's New International Version

So this man Saul is one of the leading opponents of the early Christian church - described here as 'the Way'. He grew up in privilege and became a Pharisee, a well-respected member of the religious establishment. He saw the Christians as a dangerous bunch of fanatics that had to be stamped out. He stirred up opposition and encouraged persecution, even assisting in at least one instance of a crowd stoning a Christian to death. He's about to have a world-changing encounter.

[PowerPoint Slide 5]
As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."

Acts 9:3-6
Today's New International Version

I'd love to have heard how Saul answered the question 'How was your trip?' Saul had experienced something extraordinary, but he still had to decide how he was going to respond to it, whether he was going to shrug it off and carry on as before, or whether he was going to let it change the direction of his life. The Bible tells us that God then told a man called Ananias, an ordinary Christian living in Damascas, to go to Saul and to pray with him. Ananias did so, and this is what the Bible says Saul did once he had recovered from his journey:

[PowerPoint Slide 6]
At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, "Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?" Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

Acts 9:20-22
Today's New International Version

Saul, of course, became the Apostle Paul. He devoted the rest of his life to the task of extending the Christian church, of telling people the Christian message, teaching them about Jesus and helping new Christians to understand more about their faith. He wrote much of the New Testament and is undoubtedly one of the great figures of the history of the early Church. Not just because of his experience on the Damascus Road, but because he chose to trust God and do what he believed God was telling him, even though it meant letting go of everything that he thought he knew.

[PowerPoint Slide 7]
I don't know what is going to happen to England in the World Cup this summer. I don't know if there is going to be a moment like 1990 when time seems to stand still, and we move on, either to glory or glorious failure. [click] What I do know is that, as the narrator in the film clip said, there are moments in all of our lives when everything changes. Sometimes we can recognise those moments as they happen, other times it's only when we look back. [click] Either way, the moment isn't the important thing, the important thing is the decision we make, and what happens next.

[Use the World Events One Night in Turin Talk PowerPoint with this presentation]

Introduce film clip

• One Night in Turin
• 1990 World Cup
• Pay attention to narrator's description of crucial moments
  

Play the clip from One Night in Turin

[PowerPoint Slide 1]
Media hype about winning the World Cup
Same old story: quarter-finals, penalties, Germany/Argentina, glorious failure'

[PowerPoint Slide 2]
'Decisive moment when everything could change'
English dreams shattered in penalty shootout, but English football was transformed

• Premier League
• Sky television
• Merchandising boom
• Expensive all-seater stadia
  

[PowerPoint Slide 3]
Defeat in 1990 a springboard to something revolutionary
[click] Moments of great change aren't the important thing
[click] Our response is more important
Introduce Bible

[PowerPoint Slide 4]
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

Acts 9:1-2
Today's New International Version

Saul:

• Leading opponent of early church
• Privileged upbringing
• Pharisee
• Saw Christians as dangerous
• Stirred up opposition to them
• About to have a world-changing encounter
  

[PowerPoint Slide 5]
As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."

Acts 9:3-6
Today's New International Version

Saul had to decide how to respond to his experience

• Carry on as before?
• Let it change the direction of his life?
  

[PowerPoint Slide 6]
At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, "Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?" Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

Acts 9:20-22
Today's New International Version

Saul became Paul

• Devoted his life to building the Christian church
• Wrote much of the New Testament
• Chose to trust God and do what he believed God was telling him
  

[PowerPoint Slide 7]
Don't know how England will do in the World Cup
[click] Do know that there are moments in our lives when everything changes
[click] More important than the moment is the decision we make and what happens next.

Dear God, thank you for turning points in our lives. Thank you for the people and events that offer us the opportunity to think again and change the direction of our lives. Thank you that you don't leave us to make those choices on our own, and that you want to guide us in the steps we take. Please help us to recognise these moments when they occur, and to make wise choices about our lives. Amen.

What have been the biggest turning points in your life so far? Maybe you feel that your life has run on straight rails so far without any pivotal moments, or maybe you can look back on one or more particular time when something significant changed. Either way, where do you see your life going right now? Are you happy with the direction you seem to be taking, and if not what could you do to change it?

If you want to include singing as part of your assembly, use one or more of the following:

• Great Is Thy Faithfulness (147, Songs of Fellowship combined edition. Kingsway 2003)
• Lord, For The Years (892, Songs of Fellowship combined edition. Kingsway 2003)
• Father, Hear The Prayer We Offer (1229, Songs of Fellowship combined edition. Kingsway 2003)
• You Are My Anchor (1646, Songs of Fellowship combined edition. Kingsway 2003)

Ask the students to draw a personal timeline. This should be a twisty 'path' marked with key moments in their lives (being born, changing schools, moving to a new town, etc). Ask them to consider which moments have been most significant in shaping their lives so far, and what part their own decisions have played in that process.