My sister-in-law called me the other day and asked me if two of my children would be interested in taking part in a commercial. "I think so," I replied. I thought that it would be an exciting, new experience for them. One girl and one boy were needed. They would be brother and sister to my nephew in the commercial. We arranged the date and time. When we turned up at her house, I didn't know what to expect. There was only one camera man, and that was it. He has done work in the past for the company called Crunch Pak, so he was in charge of telling the kids what to do and say. I must say, he handled all of the kids really well. He has four children himself, the youngest of which is only a couple of weeks old, so he is used to lots of movement and distraction. Crunch Pak is a company that sells bags of sliced apples. They also have Mickey Mouse shaped plastic containers that have three sections for different, healthy food, including fruit. The filming started in the kitchen. One by one, the children had to walk to the fridge, open it, take out a packet of Crunch Pak, and put it in a brown paper bag, as if they were packing it as part of a home made lunch for school. That went well. They had to do a few retakes because the kids looked at the camera when they weren't supposed to. My daughter got quite excited about being on film, and started to show off a bit, but the camera man said that they could edit out anything they didn't want. Then it was time to go outside and play a little basketball. Cass was filmed shooting hoops and dribbling, so was my nephew Boone. Then Domini had to ask the boys if she could play. The story behind the commercial is that Domini ends up beating the two boys, dunks a basket, and is left hanging from the hoop, saying, "Can someone get me down from here?" Very cute. Two hours later, we were finished. The kids were very pleased with themselves, and are anxious to see the finished product. "I'll send each of your kids a little payment in the mail," said the camera man as we left. That made them doubly pleased.

Grammar notes.

Related vocabulary: To take part in, to handle .../it, to dribble, to shoot hoops, to dunk.

1. My children took part in a play in the local theater.

2. It was a difficult situation, but he handled it very well.

3. In basketball you must dribble the ball. That is when you bounce the ball while you run.

4. To throw the basketball at the basket and get it in is to 'shoot hoops'.

5. If you get really good at basketball, you might be able to dunk the ball. That means to jump up, put the ball in the basket, and then hang on to the rim or the hoop.