Are you looking for a no-prep, no-tech way to review material with your students? Try the “Clapper Talk Show” activity. I don’t know what it is about talk shows, but students love to pretend they are guests on a talk show. As a teacher, I love anything that doesn’t take time to prepare or utilizes new technology for the students to learn. This improv game will give your students a chance to be “on stage,” review any material that you just learned, and create some laughs at the same time.
Getting Started
Choose two or three volunteers to come sit in the chairs set up at the front of the room. Tell them that they will be experts on your talk show, and you will let them know what they are experts in once the show starts.
Now, you will need to get into this one to make it work. Put on your best game show host voice and you can’t do this quietly. “Helllllooooo ladies and gentleman. Welcome to the Holsterama Talk Show. Today, we have a very special show planned for you. Now you may not recognize my guests right off, but once I tell you who they are and what they do, you will be astounded. Let’s first welcome Steve (I use the student’s real name). He is the real body-double for Channing Tatum. (Give time for applause.) Next, we have Alisha who is the body-double in magazine shoots for Jennifer Aniston. Lastly, we have Josh who is the stunt-double for Matt Damon in the Jason Bourne movies. Surprising? Yes, I know. So, Steve, we will start with you. Tell me, how did you get started as a body-double?” Using an type of career will work. See below if you want to see how to use this in the different content areas.
At this point, the student starts answering the question. When he hears me clap once, he stops, even if it’s mid-sentence, and the next student continues the conversation. The person has to keep talking until they hear me clap once. To keep this going, you throw in a new question every now and then. Then I ask they audience if they have any questions for the guests. This is when I teach them about open-ended questions. When you decide to stop, have the students “tap” in a new student to take their place and start a new game show. I also “tap” in a student to take my place as the game show host, and they get to make up their own show.
Have them review in small groups too!
If you don’t have time to bring students to the front of the room, have them do this in small groups at the same time. One person would be the talk show host/clapper, and the rest of the group are the talk show guests. Have them change roles after a certain amount of time. My video shows you what this can look like in the classroom.
But how do I use this in my content area for review?
Tip: This can be done with any subject area. Did you just teach about the presidents? Have each student be a different president. Did you just read a whole novel together? Have the guests be different characters. Did they work in lit circle groups? Do this in small groups like my video. Did you just teach about cell division? Have a student be meiosis and another student be mitosis. You teach math? Have them be the people represented in a math problem or have them become different math symbols. It’s a fun way to review what they have learned.
So fun! How can I do more of these?
If you are interested in learning about another talk show idea to use in your class, check out my other post about the talk show, “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.” When you mix in fun, the chance to improv, and some laughter, the students will WANT to review the material with you.