ESL Lesson Plan · CEFR B1

Passive Voice ESL Lesson Plan (B1, 60 Minutes)

A complete 60-minute lesson on the passive voice for B1: learners compare an active and a passive description of the same thing, work out for themselves why the passive exists, and then use it to write about how something is made.

CEFR B1
60 minutes
Teenagers and adults
Grammar
Passive Voice

About this lesson

The lesson answers the question every class asks - why not just say who did it? - instead of teaching the transformation as a puzzle with no purpose.

At a glance

Level: B1, with a B2 extension in the notes
Learners: Teenagers and adults
Length: 60 minutes. For a 45-minute lesson, teach the present passive only and leave the past passive for a second lesson.
Skills: Reading, speaking and writing
Language focus: The passive in the present and past simple: form with be + past participle, when to use it, and by + agent
Framework: Guided discovery: learners compare two versions of the same information and work out why one uses the passive
Materials: The two texts, the worksheet, a board
Preparation: 10 minutes

Aims

Main aim. By the end of the lesson, learners will be able to form and use the passive in the present and past simple to describe processes and facts where the doer is unknown, obvious or unimportant.

Subsidiary aim. Learners will be able to decide when the passive is the better choice and when the active is.
Subsidiary aim. Learners will be able to add by + agent only when the doer carries real information.

The text: "Two ways to say the same thing"

A. Somebody built this bridge in 1908. Workers repaired it after the flood in 1996, and every year the council paints it. People call it the Iron Bridge, and thousands of drivers use it every day. - B. This bridge was built in 1908. It was repaired after the flood in 1996, and it is painted every year. It is called the Iron Bridge, and it is used by thousands of drivers every day. - Text B is the one you would find on the sign beside the bridge.

Gist question: Which text is about the bridge, and which is about the people? Which one belongs on a sign?

Detail questions: (1) When was the bridge built? (2) How often is it painted? (3) Who uses it? (4) In text B, why is "by thousands of drivers" kept, when "by somebody" is not?

Language analysis

What to know before the lesson: the meaning, form and pronunciation of the target language, and the problems learners usually have with it.

Meaning

The passive puts the important thing first. In a text about a bridge, the bridge is the subject of every sentence, and who did the work is secondary - often unknown, obvious, or simply not the point.

So we choose the passive when the doer is unknown (my bike was stolen), obvious (the road is cleaned every night), or unimportant (the forms are checked on Monday), and in writing that describes processes, rules and facts.

We add by + agent only when the doer is worth saying: It is used by thousands of drivers is information; it was built by somebody is not.

Concept-checking questions

Ask	Answer
"This bridge was built in 1908." Do we know who built it?	No.
Is that a problem here?	No - the bridge is the subject.
"It is painted every year." Once, or regularly?	Regularly.
"My bike was stolen." Do I know who did it?	No - if I did, I would say so.

Form

Sentence type	Pattern	Example
Present simple passive	am / is / are + past participle	The forms are checked on Monday.
Past simple passive	was / were + past participle	The bridge was built in 1908.
Negative	is not / was not + past participle	The road wasn't repaired last year.
Question	Is / Was + subject + past participle	Was it repaired after the flood?
With the doer	... + by + agent	It is used by thousands of drivers.

Spelling

Nothing new to spell: the passive uses the past participle, the same third form learners already need for the present perfect. Regular verbs repeat the past form (repair → repaired); irregular verbs use their own (build → built, take → taken, write → written, make → made).

Pronunciation

is and was are weak inside the sentence: /ɪz/ and /wəz/. It was built runs together as /ɪtwəzˈbɪlt/.
were is very weak indeed: /wə/. Learners who expect /wɜː/ often miss it entirely when listening.
The stress falls on the participle, not on be: it was BUILT, they are CHECKED. This is what makes a passive sentence sound natural.

Anticipated problems and solutions

Problem	Solution
The verb be is dropped: The bridge built in 1908.	This is the mistake of the lesson. Board the pattern with a box round be, and drill short pairs until the box is never empty.
Past participle confused with past simple: It was build. / It was wrote.	Return to the three forms. Test the third column only, since that is the one the passive needs.
by + agent added everywhere: The window was broken by somebody.	Give the test: does the doer tell the reader anything? If not, leave it out.
The passive used where the active is natural: The ball was kicked by me.	Show two versions and ask which sounds like a report and which like a person talking. The passive is a choice, not a better form.
Intransitive verbs made passive: The accident was happened.	Some verbs take no object, so they cannot be passive: happen, arrive, come, go, die. Give the five and move on.

Lead-in: what is it made of?5 min · Whole class, then pairs

Aim: To create interest and let the target language appear naturally.

Hold up or name three ordinary objects: a pencil, a plastic bottle, a shirt.

Ask what each is made of and where it was made. Accept any answer, in any form.

In pairs, learners choose one object in the room and say three things about it. Do not correct yet.

Two ways to say the same thing12 min · Pairs, then whole class

Aim: To let learners discover why the passive exists before it is named.

Learners read texts A and B and answer the gist question in pairs: which is about the bridge, and which is about the people?

Take the answers, then work through the four detail questions. The last one - why keep by thousands of drivers - is the heart of the lesson.

Elicit the three reasons onto the board: the doer is unknown, obvious, or not important.

Only now name it: this is the passive.

Clarify the form8 min · Whole class

Aim: To make the form clear in both tenses and to fix the stress.

Board the pattern with a box around be: be + past participle. Fill the box with is, are, was, were from sentences in text B.

Elicit the negative and the question from the same text.

Drill four sentences, with the stress on the participle: it was BUILT, they are CHECKED.

Ask the CCQs to check that a regular action and a finished one are told apart.

Controlled practice13 min · Individual, then pairs to check

Aim: To practise the form accurately in both tenses.

Learners do Worksheet Tasks 1 to 3 alone, then compare with a partner.

Check as a class. For every answer, ask which tense and why.

Put two sentences with a missing be on the board - your own - and let the class repair them.

Choose: active or passive?7 min · Pairs

Aim: To practise the decision, not only the form.

Read out six short situations: You are writing a notice about the library. You are telling a friend what you did yesterday.

Pairs decide active or passive for each, and say why in one sentence.

Take the answers quickly. Disagreement is useful here: some are genuinely either.

Freer writing: how it is made10 min · Pairs, then groups of four

Aim: To use the passive for its real purpose: describing a process.

Pairs choose something they know how it is made or done: tea, a school timetable, a cricket pitch, a dish from home.

They write four or five sentences describing the process, in the passive where it fits.

Two pairs join and read their processes to each other, who ask one question each.

Collect two good sentences for the board.

Feedback and exit task5 min · Whole class, then individual

Aim: To correct the common mistakes and check the main aim.

Write four sentences from the freer stage on the board - two correct, two with a missing be or a past simple instead of a participle - for the class to repair.

Exit task: two sentences about your town, one present passive and one past passive. Collect them.

Homework Worksheet Task 5: describe a process from your own life in six sentences.

Guided discovery: learners compare two versions of the same information and work out why one uses the passive. Stage times add up to 60 minutes.

Differentiation

Support: Give weaker learners the three forms of ten verbs on a slip, and let them write their process sentences in the present passive only.
Stretch: Stronger learners use the passive with modals - it must be checked, it can be repaired - and try one sentence with the present perfect passive: it has been painted.

Adapting the lesson

For	What to change
A class of 40 or more	The choose-active-or-passive stage works as a whole-class vote by hands, which is fast and shows you immediately who is guessing. Collect exit tasks from two rows.
No photocopier	Write texts A and B on the board before the lesson, one above the other - the comparison is easier to see that way than on paper.
Online	Put texts A and B on screen side by side. The process-writing stage works well in a shared document, one pair per line.
Exam classes	Point out that the passive appears in nearly every B1 writing task about rules, processes or reports, and that Task 3 is the exact transformation exercise those exams use.

Checking learning

The exit task requires one sentence in each tense, so a learner who can only manage one of them is visible at once.

The worksheet for this lesson

Passive Voice Worksheet (B1)

Five graded tasks with an answer key and teacher's notes. Printable.

About this lesson plan

Written by RCF English to the RCF English international standard: levelled by the CEFR, original throughout, and suitable for classrooms in any country. Last reviewed 22 September 2026.

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