Compiled by Nicoline Greer
GOING GREEN
Kids will be playing around a sandpit this summer, but there won't be a sandcastle in sight. The Golf Fun camps are for girls and boys between five and 10 years old. There'll be a flurry of lobbing, tapping, gripping, swinging, putting and chipping as groups of up to 10 are taught by experienced coaches. It all happens in Goatstown, Dublin during July and August, so there is a chance that the weather will be golf-friendly. For the times that it is not, there are indoor activities to keep participants busy. The soft equipment is specially designed, so bystanders need not fear the sound of a little voice screeching "fore!" For more information about the five-day camps, call 01-2369680, check out www.golffun.ie, or write to Golf Fun, Knocknagarm, Glenageary Heights, Glenageary, Co Dublin. Nicoline Greer
TOTAL IMMERSION TRIP
After I spent a few summers in the Connemara Gaeltacht, struggling to learn Irish, my parents gave up and sent me somewhere where I would speak only French for three weeks - Clongowes Wood College in Co Kildare. Some 10 years later, Euro Languages College (ELC) is still going strong, turning boarding schools all over Ireland into little patches of France and Germany for the summer. From late June to mid-August, schools such as Clongowes and Alexandra College in Dublin, St Flannan's in Ennis, Wilson's Hospital School in Co Westmeath, and others from Tipperary to Louth, offer a total immersion environment without the hassle or expense of actually going abroad. Native speakers teach daily classes, tailored for the Junior and Leaving Cert student. Sport and other activities follow in the afternoon. The three-week courses cost from €850, including bed, board, tuition and extra-curricular activities. Places are limited though, so visit www.elc.ie, or call 091-502542 for further information. Davin O'Dwyer
RAISE THE ROOF
It's 10.30 on a Sunday evening and the joint is jumping to the strangled strains of a karaoke singer. You might be picturing an auld one belting out a whisky-and-red-lemonade-fuelled rendition of Delilah by Tom Jones. But you couldn't be more wrong. At Songs of Praise, every Sunday night at The Village, the crowd is hip, the performers are young, and the song list is refreshingly rock 'n' roll. Whereas most karaoke nights offer song titles culled from the cheesier reaches of the pop charts, at Songs of Praise you can sing along to the Sex Pistols, Blondie or AC/DC, and other alternative classics. Because an entire evening with a sound track of karaoke can be a little intense, performances are spread throughout the night and separated by DJ sets. If you have avoided the mob rule that is Saturday night and as a result feel like you didn't have a proper weekend at all, Songs of Praise may be your salvation. The Village, 26 Wexford Street (9pm till late, admission free). Eoin Lyons
LIFE CHANGING
Today could be the day that changes your life. Ever wanted to tell the world about the book that made you choose your career, or the poem that inspired you to join a political party? Here's your chance. British artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard ask you to exchange an item that has changed your life for an item that has changed someone else's. It could be an album, a book, a poem, a film or a song - as long as it had a profound effect on you. Use the leaflet available at the Exchange to write about the importance of your artefact of choice to your personal development, and attach it to the item with an elastic band. Then pick up something from the shelf, and see what sort of effect it has on you - Forsythe and Pollard encourage people to pick something unfamiliar to them, to open themselves up to new experiences. But be quick, the Exchange runs in Walton's School of Music, George's Street, Dublin 2 and ends today. Anna Carey
THE TRIBE VIBE
Content snacking. One-click zapping. Viral sharing. These phrases may sound like something from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but they are actually the means by which an Irish tech company hopes to become the Google of the mobile net. The company, Alatto, and its mobile phone service, Tribes, offer a new way to conveniently access Wap sites. Currently available on the O2 network, and in five other countries across Europe, Tribes functions as a "sort of remote control for the web", according to Alatto CEO Neil Flanagan. Go to the What's Hot link on the O2 portal on any O2 Wap-enabled phone, and you'll find the Tribes link. After a quick set-up, Tribes begins to learn your preferences, and offers pages you might like. If you don't like the page it suggests, you just click onto the next one. Pretty soon, Alatto hopes, everyone will be a Tribes person, surfing the web on their mobile. Davin O'Dwyer