Passive tenses: The new skatepark

Objective & content

Everything to teach the passive beyond the present and past simple, in one pack of four parts: slides to project, a three-level practice sheet, a team game and a 10-minute quiz with answers. The pack starts from a short story: the town skatepark has been closed since June and a new one is being built. Then it's been announced that the park will be opened by a famous skater with a million followers. On opening day the crowd waits, a van arrives, and out jumps Bruno, a bulldog in a helmet, who rolls down the ramp on his skateboard: "He's said to be the best dog skater in the country." Pupils meet the structures in the story before they meet the rule. The pack teaches the passive with has / have been, is / are being, will be and can / must be + past participle, the negatives and questions in those tenses (The park hasn't been opened yet. When will it be opened?), and the impersonal passive for what people say or think (It is said that ..., He is said to be ...). By the end, pupils can use the passive in the tense the situation needs and report a rumour without saying who started it.

Pedagogical guide

The rule is given in Remember! boxes, not left to be deduced; the story and its pictures make the structures easy to notice first. The practice sheet is one A4 sheet at three levels: every page has a Bronze, a Silver and a Gold task, so the whole class works on the same page and each pupil moves up when they finish. On page 2, Gold pupils write the rules of the new skatepark (Helmets must be worn); on page 3, they write a rumour two ways. The team game is written for teenagers, with funny drawings: a huge spider has just been found in the shower, a boy's hair is being cut by his little sister, a teacher's desk has been wrapped in foil. In the first round, every question gives its tense and how to build it; in the third round, teams turn school rumours into the passive (the new boy is said to be a famous YouTuber, the old house is thought to be haunted). Every round opens with a worked example. The quiz gives a mark out of 20. The pack stays at early B2 level: no causative (have something done), no past continuous or past perfect passive and no "is said to have been". The key page of the practice sheet holds the answers, teacher notes and seven common mistakes (for example "A new park is building", "The park will opened" and "Bruno is said that he is the best"). Spelling is British English.

Suggested procedure

The pack fits two lessons of about 45 minutes. Lesson 1 is Teach it and Practise it; lesson 2 is Play it and Check it. The four parts can also be used alone.

1. (25 min) Teach it (lesson.pdf, lesson 1): show the four pictures and ask "Who will open the park? Who opens it?", then read the story together. Read the Remember! boxes aloud; pupils find every passive in the story and say its tense, then ask each other "Has the park been opened yet?". A pupil gives a rumour about the school and the class says it with is said to. Then do the six-question quick check with the class. The last slide is for the teacher and is not projected.
2. (20 min) Practise it (practice.pdf, lesson 1): give each pupil the three pages and a start (Bronze, Silver or Gold); correct page by page, with one pupil from each medal reading an answer.
3. (25 min) Play it (game.pdf, lesson 2): make teams and read each round's example together. Show each question, give 20 seconds to write the answer (40 seconds in round 3), then show the answer slide and keep the score. Round 4 is worth double points.
4. (10 min) Check it (quiz.pdf, lesson 2): pupils work alone on page 1; mark out of 20 with page 2.

Adaptations

[S] Start every pupil at Bronze and keep the Remember! slides on screen during the practice and the game. Give them a card with the four patterns (has been, is being, will be, must be + past participle) and a list of the past participles they need (built, seen, taken, worn, ridden), and do the quiz in two halves.

[A] Send fast pupils straight to Gold and then to page 3, where they invent one rumour about their own town and write it both ways for a partner. In round 3 of the game, ask them to give the rumour with is said to, is thought to and is believed to.

Materials & prerequisites

A projector or screen for lesson.pdf and game.pdf (one PDF page per slide, turned with the arrow keys), and paper for the teams' answers. Print practice.pdf (3 pages for pupils; the key page is for the teacher) and quiz.pdf (page 1 for pupils, page 2 is the key), one copy per pupil. Pupils should already know the passive in the present and past simple (The box was opened), the present perfect and the past participles of common irregular verbs.