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Teaching the Passive Voice: A Step-by-Step Lesson Plan For English Teachers

Teaching The Passive Voice (+PDF Worksheet With Answers)

Your writing teachers might hate it, but let’s face it, we love using the passive voice. We use it when we speak or write after all. In addition, the passive voice is not that bad. It is often used in scientific texts, fiction, and news stories. So if you’re teaching English as a second language, it’s absolutely crucial to show your students how to ace that passive construction.

Now, I know you’re probably thinking, “well, teaching the passive sounds complicated.” But don’t worry! I’ve got five simple steps to help you teach the passive voice like a pro. If you are interested, I will also link to a passive voice worksheet in PDF format (with answers) to make things easier for you.

So buckle up and get ready to passively impress your students!

Lesson Details:

  • Level: intermediate to advanced.
  • Materials needed: Worksheet with all the activities in this lesson, pens, and sheets of paper.
  • Timing: 60-90 minutes.
  • Objectives:
    – To help students understand the form and use of the passive voice.
    – To use the passive voice to report a news story.

Introduction

This passive voice lesson plan will use some practical discovery-based strategies and activities that can help make teaching the passive voice more manageable and engaging for both you and your students.

Yes, teaching the passive voice is undoubtedly confusing. But, we will hopefully go through five steps to get the lesson delivered successfully. I will also offer detailed explanations on how to introduce the passive voice and provide tips for reinforcing the concept through exercises and real-world examples.

The lesson is divided into four major stages:

  • The preparation stage includes a lead-in where students will review verb forms – the infinitive, the simple past, and the past participle.
  • The second stage uses a text that will unambiguously contextualize the target structures. Then, the students will be incited to notice the use and form of the passive voice.
  • In the third stage, practice exercises will be introduced. We will start with easy exercises and end with more challenging tasks.
  • Finally, in the production stage, the students will have to work in groups to report a news story based on some prompts.

We hope you’ll find this post useful in your efforts to help your students master this essential grammatical structure.

Let’s start without further ado.

Teaching the passive voice

A lead-in is obviously an activity that prepares or leads the students to what we want to teach. Teaching the passive voice requires that students review the infinitive, simple past, and past participle of regular and irregular verbs.

Step 1: Lead-in

To begin the lesson, students will complete a chart by filling in the simple past and past participle forms of various verbs. This activity will help students to review and practice the past tense and past participle of regular and irregular verbs.

Infinitive Simple past Past participle
visit ……. …….
……. ……. damaged
……. was/were…….
come came …….
……. built…….
……. …….done
……. ……. given
make …….  …….
……. thought …….
…….  ……. Sunk
……….wrote……….
Infinitive, Simple Past, And Past Participle Chart

Step 2: Reading: The Titanic

After, reviewing the infinitive, simple past, and past participle, it is high time to contextualize the target structure, the passive voice.

The teacher will ask the students to read a passage about the Titanic and answer comprehension questions.

But before, the teacher may want to pre-teach some key vocabulary such as iceberg, lifeboats, and non-fiction. This should be done as quickly as possible (through pictures or quick explanations, for example.)

After that, the teacher will ask students to read and answer the comprehension questions below.

On March 31, 1912, the Titanic construction was completed with a new design believed to make it unsinkable. However, not enough lifeboats were provided for the passengers and crew. Tragically, the ship sank because its hull was damaged by a collision with a massive iceberg. The event claimed the lives of 1,513 individuals. In response to the disaster, numerous magazines were printed in various languages, new international safety laws were enacted, and the Ice Patrol was established in 1914 in response to the sinking of the ship. In 1985, the ship’s wreckage was located on the ocean floor and was explored. To date, several films have been produced about the Titanic, including the 1997 release of the well-known movie. The non-fiction book “A Nightmare to Remember” was written by Walter Lord. It recounts the sinking of the Titanic.

Comprehension questions:

  1.  When was the Titanic built?
  2. How many people were reported missing?
  3. What caused the damage to the hull of the Titanic?
  4. What was established in 1914 in response to the sinking of the Titanic?
  5. Who wrote A Nightmare to Remember?

NOTE:

The reading and the comprehension questions are not the focus of the lesson. This shouldn’t take too much time.

Once the students have understood the text, the teacher will start the awareness-raising stage.

Step 3: Awareness-raising

As said before, we will be using a discovery approach to teaching the passive voice.

Teaching the passive voice using a discovery approach requires designing guiding activities that lead the students to discover target structures by themselves, preferably working in groups. Hence, the need for awareness-raising activities.

NOTE:

Awareness-raising (also called consciousness-raising) is a stage where students are guided to notice and understand the use and form of the target language.

A. NOTICING THE FORM

In this stage, the teacher will ask the students to work in groups to underline the verbs in these examples:

  1. The ship was built in 1912.
  2. 1,513 individuals were reported missing.
  3. The hull was damaged by a collision with a huge iceberg.
  4. The Ice Patrol was established in 1914 in response to the sinking of the ship.
  5. The book was written by Walter Lord.

After checking students’ answers, they will be invited to notice the form of the passive voice and complete the table below with information from examples 1-5.

Table completion using the 5 examples above

SubjectVerb To bePast ParticipleThe doer (if mentioned)
1. The ship was built(not mentioned)
2.   
3.   
4.   
5.   
Form of the passive voice

Then, students will be asked to complete the following rule about the passive voice form:

SUBJECT + … + …
Rule Of The Passive Voice Form

B. NOTICING THE USE

In this stage, the teacher will guide students to figure out the use of the passive voice. This can be done by asking the students this question:

Why wasn’t the doer of the action mentioned in sentences 1, 2, and 3?

  1. Because the focus is on the action not on the doer of the action.
  2. Because we don’t know who the doer of the action is.
  3. Both a and b.

Once the students understand the form and use of the passive voice, they are asked to underline all the remaining passive verbs in the text above.

Step 4: Practice

After understanding the form and use of the passive voice, students may now start the practice stage.

NOTE:

The practice stage should normally start with restricted (more controlled) exercises, and then gradually move on to less restricted (less controlled) activities.

In this stage, the teacher will ask students to complete the following table:

(Note: you may need to stress the fact that the verb to be should be in the appropriate form)

TenseExamplesSubject + Be + Past Participle + Doer
Simple presentJane writes books.Books are written by Jane
Simple PastJane wrote books.Books…
Simple futureJane will write books.Books…
Present ContinuousJane is writing books.Books…
Past continuousJane was writing books.Books…
Present perfectJane has written booksBooks…
Modals: must, will, should, can, etc.Jane must write books.Books…
Practicing The Passive Construction

After that, students will have to do the following two tasks. The first one is a multiple-choice exercise while the second is a transformation exercise.

Looking for more passive voice exercises?

Fill in the blanks with the appropriate verbs:

  1. English ________ all over the world.
    a. speak
    b. spoke
    c. is spoken
    d. are spoken
  2. America ___________ in 1492
    a. discover
    b. discovered
    c. were discovered
    d. was discovered
  3. The letter ________ by the postman this morning.
    a. delivers
    b. delivered
    c. has been delivered
    d. have been delivered
  4. The song ________ by Michael Jackson.
    a. was sung
    b. sang
    c. were sung
    d. sings
  5. The party ________ by Sarah and her friends.
    a. planned
    b. are being planned
    c. is being planned
    d. planned  

Rewrite these sentences as suggested:

  1. They make the best shoes in Italy.
    The best shoes…
  2. They are sending the package by air.
    The package…
  3. Leila was preparing biscuits.
    Biscuits…
  4. An electric engine has started the fire.
    The fire…
  5. The government announced a conference on global warming.
    A conference on global warming…
  6. They will publish a local newspaper in this small town.
    A local newspaper…

Step 5: Production

The Production stage is a less controlled stage. Students will have to use the target language in a more authentic way.

Reporting A News Story

The teacher, in this stage, will ask students to work in groups and to do one of the tasks below as if they were reporters.

Divide the class into groups and give them prompts like the following:

Group 1

  • Last night, some people robbed the school.
  • They took some supplies.
  • They broke a window.
  • They stole a television and two computers.
  • Finally, they photocopied all the final exam papers.

Group 2

  • The parliament passed a new law about child protection.
  • Associations suggested the law.
  • The government will implement the law this year.
  • The government will provide shelter for homeless children

Group 3

  • They burglarized the Star Video shop on Main Street.
  • They broke the glass door.
  • They disconnected the alarm.
  • The police found the suspect in the back room.
  • The police took the suspect to the police station for questioning.

Group 4

  • Levi Strauss invented jeans in the United States in 1872.
  • Today, people wear jeans in many countries around the world.
  • The make many styles and colors.
  • Lately, Levi’s has introduced a new range of snowboard-related jean.
  • Now, manufacturers produce jeans all over the world

Group 5 

  • Someone called the police to the First National Bank yesterday.
  • They robbed the bank at 12:15 pm.
  • They have stolen one million dollars.
  • They didn’t hurt customers.
  • The police shot one robber.

Final Thoughts about teaching the passive voice

Teaching the passive voice is not an easy task. This lesson may require from you some effort to design a worksheet that is appealing and that saves effort and time. The Following worksheet in PDF format is for sale for just $1.

Passive voice Worksheet PDF

GET YOUR COPY:

Passive Voice Worksheet (PDF)

Help our students master the passive voice with this comprehensive worksheet for ESL students. The worksheet is based on a hands-on approach to teaching. Learners will be guided to discover the rules of form and use themselves. They will be then invited to practice the target structures. The practice exercises start from easy to more challenging.

Passive Voice PDF Download


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