Teaching Passive Voice: ideas for your classes (Part 2)

 

Hey, Great Grade Teachers!  We're ready to share more ideas to teach the Passive Voice effectively. Read, try them out in class and make sure your students get incredible results.

What’s it made of? What’s it used for?

This task is performed by students in a group. You need to make word cards for each group of 4-7 students. They take turns picking up the card and describing the object depicted on it (or the name of which is written there). Ask students to think about the following questions: How big is it? What’s it used for? What’s it made of? The first person to guess the word keeps the card. The winner is the one who collected the most cards. You can use the following words: desk lamp, notebook, mouse mat, scanner, coffee cup, chair, desk, light switch, plug, pot plant, drawer, phone, stapler, paper clip, envelope, printer, headset, etc. Or use any other words on the topic being studied. Another version of this game is called "Something in common", and it can also be played by dividing the class into 2 teams. Each team receives a set of cards with the names of two items written on them. For example, ‘a window and a lamp’. Team A picks up a card and asks team B, “What do a window and a lamp have in common?” Team B has a discussion with each other and gives an answer using Passive Voice, for example, "Both are made of glass." If the answer is grammatically correct and satisfies the teacher, then team B keeps the card. If not, team A gets a chance to answer and pick up the card. The team with the most cards wins. Here are examples of words that may be on cards: forks / coins (are made of metal) tennis / squash (are played with a racket) coffee / cotton (are grown in tropical countries) polar bears / penguins (are found in the Poles) shoes / socks (are worn on foot) presents / greeting cards (given at Christmas) bottle opener / corkscrew (are used to open bottles) paints / brushes (are used for painting) glass / cement (are made from sand) newspapers / magazines (are made from paper / bought at the newsagents) stamps / airletters (are sold at the post office)

Change the room

This physical game for beginners is quite fun and will not leave anyone indifferent. It is easy to adapt to the present or past times. Divide students into two teams. Choose one member from each team and ask them to go out of the classroom. Meanwhile, students rearrange furniture or objects in the classroom. Invite students to return to class. They must describe in English everything that has changed. Set a time limit. The one who names the most correct sentences wins. Here's what students can say: "The table has been moved," "The board has been cleaned," "The window has been closed," and so on.

Passive Voice Quizzes

Everyone loves quizzes. Therefore, it is a great way to practice the use of passive structures, especially when there are so many variations. Active Passive True-False Quiz Coffee Quiz Guess the Country Name three Another interesting kind of quizzes needs a little time to prepare, but it is very interesting. Write the words on strips of paper. For example: 65% of Greenland / cover / ice. Divide students into 2 teams. Each team receives different prompts. Their task is to compose a sentence using Passive Voice. For example, “65% of Greenland is covered with ice”. For each correct statement the team receives a point. The team's answer should be as close as possible to the correct one. In this case, the correct answer is 85%. So if another team said, "65% of Greenland is covered with ice," that's the answer you'd count. Or, for example: Seals / eat / by crocodile (false > polar bears) Spain / visit / by the highest number of tourists in the world every year (false  > France) We hope that you and your students will like the activities :) And….we have more opportunities for your professional development to offer! From Grade Center