Passive Voice
ESL Lesson Plan Passive Voice B1 teaches the past simple passive voice through a museum heist story. Students follow a "breaking news" mystery about a stolen painting, using the story to notice how the passive voice shifts focus from the doer to the action. The lesson builds from active vs. passive structure, to the passive formula (subject + was/were + past participle + agent), through guided practice, a picture description task, a "detective report" writing activity, and a brief look at how passive voice travels through other tenses.
📄B1 ⏱️60 min 📁17 slides
Skills and Outcomes
Understand the difference between active and passive voice.
Form past simple passive sentences correctly (was/were + past participle).
Know when to include or omit the agent.
Practise transforming active sentences into passive and vice versa.
Recognise passive voice across present, future, and modal forms.
Lesson Plan
Lead-in
Mona Lisa Discussion Students answer questions about the painting to activate background knowledge before the story.
Breaking News
Reading Students read a short "breaking news" story about the theft of the Mona Lisa.
Comprehension Questions
Students answer questions to check understanding of the story.
Active vs. Passive Voice
Learners compare an active and a passive sentence, identifying subject, verb, object, and agent.
Passive Voice Formula
Students study the passive voice structure: subject + be + V3 + agent.
When to Use Passive Voice
Learners study the reasons for choosing passive over active voice.
Guided Practice: Active → Passive
Students transform four sentences from the story into passive voice.
Detective Report
Students compare two pictures of a room and write five passive sentences describing what happened.
Passive Voice Through Tenses
Learners see how the passive structure works across present, future, and modal forms.
Practice with Pictures
Students describe famous images (Eiffel Tower, English, etc.) using passive sentences in different tenses.
Passive → Active
Students convert passive sentences back into active voice.
Video
Students watch the "Past Simple Passive Voice Explained" video to review what they've learned.
