B2 – The Passive Voice

Description

A B2-level ESL lesson on passive voice news articles, perfect for learners exploring real-world grammar through media.

Students analyze headlines and short articles to understand how and why the passive voice is used in journalism. The lesson includes grammar comparisons, headline transformation tasks, article-matching activities, and a final speaking task that blends passive voice and discussion skills. Ideal for learners ready to boost their grammar accuracy and fluency with authentic content.

Warmer: Which headline grabs your attention?

Start the class by having everyone check out the article titles, like Dumbphones are wanted by many people or The sperm whale ‘phonetic alphabet’ was revealed by AI. Give them a minute to think about the titles on their own and choose an article that catches their interest the most. Then, pair them up and have them chat about their picks and explain why they chose those articles.

Grammar Focus: Passive or Active?

Next, get into a grammar section where you explore the differences between active and passive voice. This part is all about helping students get a grip on when and how to use the passive voice. This gives students a chance to see how the passive voice is formed in both present and past tenses.

Headline Challenge: Rewrite it actively

Once students understand active and passive voice, have them look at article titles and change them into the active voice. For instance, instead of saying The sperm whale ‘phonetic alphabet’ was revealed by AI, it could be AI revealed the sperm whale ‘phonetic alphabet’. Then, chat about which versions sound better and why the article writers might have picked the passive voice in the first place.

Reading: Match the headline to the article

Work on reading skills by matching an article to the best headline. This task help to check the understanding and see how the passive voice works in academic and journalistic writing. After choosing the best title for the article, look at the missing verbs. Apply what you’ve learned so far and switch the verbs in brackets to the passive voice.

Speaking Task: Ask the passive questions

The last part of the class is all about mixing grammar with speaking skills. Check out three sentences from the article and come up with questions based on them. For example, if we have, Dumbphones reduce distractions compared to traditional smartphones (How), they might ask, How are distractions reduced by using dumbphones instead of smartphones? After they finish, put them in pairs and let them share their thoughts on dumbphones.