English lesson plan · 6th grade (Year 7 in England) · 45 minutes
Active and passive voice
Grammar
CCSS L.8.1.BCCSS L.8.3.AEngland: Y6 GPS (passive voice)England: KS2 SATs GPS
Objective and success criteria
Students will: Active and passive voice.
- I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
- I can explain each step and say why it works.
- I can check my answer and spot a mistake.
Before and after
Needs first: Perfect tenses (past, present, future)
Leads to: Verb moods and shifts in voice or mood; Academic style: hedging, nominalisation and objectivity; Rewriting passive sentences in the active voice
Materials: Sentence strips, Highlighters, Mini whiteboards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).
Warm-up · 5 min
- Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Perfect tenses (past, present, future)). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
- Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
- Choose the correct perfect tense. We ___ (visit) the museum twice this year. (have visited / visiting / had visited / will have visited) → have visitedPrompt: Is the action finished before a past time, before now, or before a future time?
- Choose the correct perfect tense. By the time we arrived, the film ___ (start). (had started / will have started / starts / has started) → had startedPrompt: Is the action finished before a past time, before now, or before a future time?
- Choose the correct perfect tense. Scientists ___ (discover) a new kind of frog. (discovering / will have discovered / had discovered / have discovered) → have discoveredPrompt: Is the action finished before a past time, before now, or before a future time?
Hook · 5 min
- Show a sentence with the grammar point used wrongly and ask what sounds odd.
- Share the objective: Active and passive voice. Read the success criteria together.
I do: model it · 10 min
- Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
- Example: Which sentence is the passive version of this sentence? The children have planted the trees. • The trees has been planted by the children. • The trees have planted the children. • The trees have been planted by the children. • The children have been planted by the trees.
- Step 1: Move the object to the front, use be + past participle in the same tense, and put the doer after 'by' (or leave it out).
- Step 2: So the answer is: The trees have been planted by the children.
- Answer: The trees have been planted by the children.
- Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.
We do: guided practice · 10 min
- Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
- Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
- Which sentence is the passive version of this sentence? The children have planted the trees. • The children have been planted by the trees. • The trees have been planted by the children. • The trees have planted the children. • The trees has been planted by the children. (The children have been planted by the trees. / The trees have been planted by the children. / The trees have planted the children. / The trees has been planted by the children.) → The trees have been planted by the children.Prompt: In a passive sentence, the thing the action is done TO becomes the subject.
- Is this sentence active or passive? Our class planted a vegetable garden. (active / passive) → activePrompt: Who or what is the subject? Is the subject DOING the action or RECEIVING it?
You do: independent practice · 10 min
- Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
- Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.
The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.
Exit ticket · 5 min
- Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
- Choose the best answer. In a science report about an experiment, which sentence is most appropriately formal? (I reckon we heated it for five minutes. / The mixture was heated for five minutes. / Heat it for five minutes! / We heated the stuff for like five minutes.) → The mixture was heated for five minutes.Prompt: The passive voice lets a writer leave out the doer or put the focus on what was affected.
- Which sentence is the passive version of this sentence? Thousands of fans watched the final. • The final was watched by thousands of fans. • The final watched thousands of fans. • Thousands of fans were watched by the final. • The final is watching by thousands of fans. (The final was watched by thousands of fans. / The final watched thousands of fans. / Thousands of fans were watched by the final. / The final is watching by thousands of fans.) → The final was watched by thousands of fans.Prompt: In a passive sentence, the thing the action is done TO becomes the subject.
Watch out for
- Naming the feature but not using it in their own sentences.
- Thinking a sentence is right because it sounds right when spoken casually.
Support and stretch
Support
- Review first: Perfect tenses (past, present, future).
- Use concrete materials: sentence strips.
- Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
- Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.
Stretch
- Move on to: Verb moods and shifts in voice or mood; Academic style: hedging, nominalisation and objectivity; Rewriting passive sentences in the active voice.
- Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
- Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.
Homework and more practice
Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-6.
Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder