Activate Manual

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Activate: Games for Learning American English
“Player Talk” in Word Strings
Let’s Play!
Player 1:
baseball
Player 2:
baseball player
Player 3:
the baseball player
Player 4:
the tall baseball player
Player 1: 
the tall baseball player hits
Players continue until the group has formed a complete sentence.

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63
Activate: Games for Learning American English
Game 14: TV Talk Show
TV Talk Show
is an extension activity that requires time for preparation and coordina-
tion. A 
TV Talk Show
is a program on television. A talk show has a host who interviews 
people who are in the news—celebrities, leaders, people with special talents and inter-
ests, and so on. In this game, students put on their own 
TV Talk Show
using questions on 
a 
Picture This
card as a starting point for the questions that one student (the host) can 
use to interview other students (the guests).
Instructions
1. Divide the class into groups of 5–6. In each group, choose two students to be Talk 
Show Hosts. The remaining students will be Celebrity Guests.
2. To prepare for the activity, the Talk Show Hosts from all of the groups will work to-
gether, and the Celebrity Guests from all of the groups will work together.
3. Preparation: The Hosts choose one 
Picture This
card, making sure that none of the 
Celebrity Guests see it. Working together, the Hosts brainstorm questions about the 
topic on the card. They should use the pictures and the questions on the back for 
ideas. Remind students to make their questions as funny, detailed, or impressive as 
they can.
4. Preparation: Working together, the Celebrity Guests brainstorm to choose who they 
want to be. They can choose real celebrities or made-up personalities. They should 
brainstorm things about themselves, such as name, style of speaking, body lan-
guage, etc. Remind students to have fun and develop a character to play. 
5. Put students back into their original groups, and have each group present a Talk 
Show to the rest of the class. First, have the Hosts ask each Celebrity Guest to intro-
duce him/herself. Second, the Hosts should introduce the topic of conversation from 
the picture card. Third, the Talk Show Hosts ask questions about the topic of the 
card, and the Celebrity Guests take turns answering the questions. Remind students 
to be funny and creative and to act in character.

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