The effect of translational kinetic energy E-k on the activated chemisorption of CH4 on Ni (polycrystal) surface and La film has been investigated using supersonic molecular beam technique. No dissociative adsorption was observed for CH4/Ni system when E-k <= 58.5 kJ . mol(-1) and for CH4/La system when E-k <= 52.3 kJ . mol(-1). Above these threshold values, the initial sticking probability s(4) increases linearly from 0 to 0.54 for CH4/Ni system as E-k increases from 58.5 to 63.8kJ . mol(-1) and from 0 to 0.49 for CH4/La system as E-k increases from 52.3 to 63.8 kJ . mol(-1). These results indicate that a rather direct chemisorption process, rather than a classical precursor mechanism proceeds in these systems. Finally the apparent activation energies obtained are 46.8 kJ . mol(-1) and 38.1 kJ . mol(-1) for CH4/Ni and CH4/La systems respectively.