Gossip- the telephone

The Telephone Activity

This one has been around for years- and it works every time.

Have the students sit on the floor in a circle.  Choose the student that you would like to start the telephone.  Pull them out in the hall and whisper a sentence to them (examples below).  If they did not hear you very well, shrug your shoulders and say, "That's the best I can do."  Have them retun to the circle and whisper (low enough so no one else can hear them) the sentence to the person sitting next to them.  That student will whisper what they hear to the next student and so on.  When it gets to the last student have them repeat what they heard out loud to the class.
Examples of sentences that can be used: 

• Gossip breeds hurt feelings. 
• Some people use gossip to get others to fight.
• Talking about other people should be done nicely.

Discussion:  how is this like gossip? How much of the sentence did we get correct?  We only hear part of it, or mis-interpret the story, so it never comes out right.  When we pass things along it can hurt the people that the rumor is being spread about.  This can lead to non-acceptance and even fighting.