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ESL Lesson Plan · CEFR A1

Present Simple Passive ESL Lesson Plan (A1, 60 Minutes)

A complete 60-minute A1 lesson on Present Simple Passive, built round the theme "Made in Sri Lanka".

  • CEFR A1
  • 60 minutes
  • Teenagers and adults
  • Grammar
  • The Passive
  • Present Simple Passive

About this lesson

Who it is for. High beginners who know the present simple, am / is / are and common regular and irregular verbs. They want to say where things come from but say Tea is grow in Sri Lanka or Tea grows by farmers.

Everything the lesson needs is on this page: the language analysis, the timed stages with the teacher's own words and instruction-checking questions, the differentiation, the printable handouts and the answer key.

At a glance

Level
CEFR A1 (Beginner)
Learners
Teenagers and adults
Length
60 minutes. For 45 minutes, run only "Quiz" of the two tasks in "Freer practice" and cut "Feedback and wrap-up" to board-based error correction.
Skills
Speaking
Language focus
Grammar: Present Simple Passive (is made, are grown)
Framework
PPP (presentation, practice, production)
Materials
Real objects or pictures (a packet of tea, a coconut, a cricket bat, a mobile phone, a banana), Handout 1 (product labels), Handout 2 (practice), Handout 3 (Where is it from? quiz).
Preparation
About 10 minutes: print Handouts 1 to 3, one per learner, and read the language analysis. The answer key is for you, not the class.

Aims

Main aim. To present and practise the present simple passive (is / are + past participle) to talk about products and where they are made, grown or sold.

Learning outcome. By the end of the lesson, students can say and write 6 sentences about products, e.g. Tea is grown in Nuwara Eliya. Cars are made in Japan.

  • Subsidiary aim. To learn eight common past participles (made, grown, sold, eaten, spoken, used, produced, caught).
  • Subsidiary aim. To develop speaking through a quiz.

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.

Form

SingularPlural
PositiveTea is grown in Sri Lanka.Phones are made in China.
NegativeRice isn't grown in the desert.Cars aren't made here.
QuestionWhere is coffee grown?Where are these shoes made?

Form: notes

  • is / are + past participle.
  • Past participles: make → made, grow → grown, sell → sold, eat → eaten, speak → spoken, use → used, produce → produced, catch → caught.

Meaning and use

  • We use the passive when the thing is more important than the person who does the action, or when we don't know or care who does it: Tea is grown in the hills. (Who grows it? Farmers. Not important.)

Pronunciation

  • Weak is and are: Tea's grown /tiːz ɡrəʊn/; are made /ə meɪd/.
  • -ed participles: used /juːzd/, produced /prəˈdjuːst/.

Concept-checking questions

  • Tea is grown in Sri Lanka. Does tea grow itself? (No, people grow it.) · Who grows it? (Farmers.) Is that important here? (No.) · What is important? (The tea and the place.)

Anticipated problems and solutions

ProblemSolution
Missing past participle (Tea is grow).Board is + grown; drill base verb → participle.
Missing is / are (Tea grown in Sri Lanka).Two-part formula on the board with colours.
is with plurals (Phones is made).Singular / plural contrast in practice.
Using the active wrongly (Tea grows by farmers).Show who does the action vs what happens to the thing.

Board plan

Left: participlesCentre: grammarRight: pronunciation
make → made · grow → grown · sell → sold · eat → eaten · speak → spoken · use → used · produce → produced · catch → caught
Farmers grow tea. (active) → Tea is grown in Sri Lanka. (passive) · is / are + past participle · Phones are made in China. · Where is coffee grown?
Tea's grown /tiːz ɡrəʊn/ · are made /ə meɪd/ · used /juːzd/

CEFR A1 · 60 minutes · Teenagers and adults

Procedure: Present Simple Passive, step by step

Warm-up5 minutes · T → Ss, whole class

Aim: To create interest and introduce the topic.

Show the objects one by one. Ask: "What's this? Where is it from?" Students guess freely.

Hold up the tea. Say: "Sri Lankan tea is famous!" Ask: "Where in Sri Lanka?" (Nuwara Eliya, Kandy ...)

Presentation20 minutes · Individual, pairs, whole class

Aim: To present the language in context. To clarify meaning, form and pronunciation.

Part A: Context (8 minutes)

Give out Handout 1. Say: "Read the labels. Match each label to a product." (3 minutes.)

ICQs: "Do you match or write?" (Match.)

Pairs compare. Check as a class.

Students answer the three questions. Check as a class.

Part B: Language clarification (12 minutes)

Meaning. Board Farmers grow tea. and Tea is grown in Sri Lanka. Ask the CCQs. Point: "In the second sentence, the tea is more important."

Form. Underline is grown. Elicit is / are + past participle. Board Phones are made in China to show are with plurals.

Participles. Elicit participles from the labels and complete the list on the left of the board. Drill grow – grown, make – made.

Negatives and questions. Board Rice isn't grown in the desert and Where is coffee grown?

Pronunciation. Drill weak forms: Tea's grown in Sri Lanka. Phones are made in China. Where's coffee grown?

Controlled practice10 minutes · Individual, then pairs, then whole class

Aim: To practise the form accurately.

Give out Handout 2. Say: "Exercise A: is or are + past participle. Exercise B: make questions. Six minutes."

ICQs: "Do you write the base verb or the past participle?" (Past participle.)

Pairs check. Nominate students to read answers.

Quick drill: say a product and a verb (rice / grow); students say the sentence (Rice is grown in Sri Lanka.).

Freer practice18 minutes · Teams, then individual

Aim: To use the present simple passive in speaking and writing.

Quiz (10 minutes). Give out Handout 3. In teams, students choose the correct country for each product and write a full sentence: Kiwis are grown in New Zealand. Then teams ask each other the questions aloud: "Where are kiwis grown?"

ICQs: "Do you write the country or a full sentence?" (A full sentence.)

Check answers. One point for the correct fact, one for a correct sentence.

Writing (6 minutes). Students write 4 sentences about products from their town or country at the bottom of Handout 3: Coconuts are grown in Kurunegala. Batik is made in Kandy.

Two students read their sentences (2 minutes).

Feedback and wrap-up7 minutes · Whole class

Aim: To give feedback and consolidate.

Board four sentences from the quiz and writing (two with errors). Students correct them.

Quick round: each student says one thing that is made or grown in their country.

Set the homework.

Homework Look at 6 things in your kitchen. Write where each one is made or grown: My rice is grown in Polonnaruwa. My fridge is made in Korea.

PPP (presentation, practice, production). Stage times add up to 60 minutes.

Differentiation

Support
Give weaker students the participle list on a card. Allow them to complete sentence frames: ___ is grown in ___.
Stretch
Stronger students add by + agent when it is important: Batik is made by hand. They ask and answer What language is spoken in ...?

Adapting the lesson

ForWhat to change
A large class (40 or more)Keep the pairwork in "Controlled practice" in fixed pairs rather than a mingle, and take feedback from four or five pairs instead of the whole room. Run "Quiz" once, with two pairs reporting, rather than hearing every pair. Monitor one half of the room during "Controlled practice" and the other half during "Freer practice".
A class with no photocopierPut the exercises from Handout 2: Practice on the board for learners to copy into their notebooks, and read any text aloud twice instead of printing it. The board plan above is this lesson's minimum - with that on the board, it runs on no paper at all.
An online classSend Handouts 1 to 3 in the chat before the lesson and put the board plan on a shared slide. Use breakout rooms for "Quiz" and visit each room once. Have learners type the controlled answers in the chat, so you see every answer at once instead of nominating.
A different age groupWith young learners, cut the writing at the end and give that time to the speaking task; keep the drilling short, and let them draw or mime where the plan allows it. With adults, keep the writing and ask for a short spoken summary in place of anything drawn or mimed.

Checking learning

8 out of 10 or better on Handout 2, Exercise A. Students use is / are + past participle in their own sentences. Students choose is or are correctly for singular and plural.

Teacher's reflection

Which participles were hardest? Did students understand why we use the passive?

Handout 1: Product Labels

Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________

Read the labels. Match each label (1–5) to a product (a–e).

Answers: 1 ___ 2 ___ 3 ___ 4 ___ 5 ___

Answer the questions.

  • Where is the tea grown? ______________________________
  • What is coconut oil used for? ______________________________
  • Where are the fish sold? ______________________________
LabelProduct
1. This is grown in the hills of Nuwara Eliya. It is picked by hand and drunk all over the world.a. a cricket bat
2. These are grown near the coast. Their oil is used for cooking.b. a mobile phone
3. This is made of wood in Panadura. It is used by top players.c. tea
4. These are caught in the sea every morning and sold in the market.d. coconuts
5. This is made in China and sold in shops everywhere.e. fish

Handout 2: Practice

Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________

A. Complete with is or are and the past participle.

B. Write questions. Then answer them.

  • Rice ______ ______________ (grow) in Polonnaruwa.
  • These shoes ______ ______________ (make) in Italy.
  • English ______ ______________ (speak) in many countries.
  • Bananas ______ ______________ (sell) at the market.
  • Cheese ______ ______________ (make) from milk.
  • Where / coffee / grow? → ______________________________ (Brazil)
  • What language / speak / in Brazil? → ______________________________ (Portuguese)
  • Where / these phones / make? → ______________________________ (China)

Handout 3: Where Is It From? Quiz

Choose the correct country. Then write a full sentence.

Write 4 sentences about things from your town or country.

..........................................................................................

..........................................................................................

..........................................................................................

..........................................................................................

ProductCountryYour sentence
1. Kiwis (grow)New Zealand / Sri Lanka / Egypt
2. Pasta (eat a lot)France / Italy / India
3. Toyota cars (make)Japan / Germany / USA
4. Spanish (speak)Brazil / Mexico / Japan
5. Cinnamon (grow)Sri Lanka / Canada / Russia
6. Chocolate (make) fromcoffee / cocoa / tea

Answer Key

Handout 1

Handout 2, Exercise A

Handout 2, Exercise B

Handout 3

Common errors to watch for

  • 1 c · 2 d · 3 a · 4 e · 5 b
  • In the hills of Nuwara Eliya · 2. Cooking · 3. In the market
  • is grown · 2. are made · 3. is spoken · 4. are sold · 5. is made
  • Where is coffee grown? It's grown in Brazil. · 2. What language is spoken in Brazil? Portuguese is spoken in Brazil. · 3. Where are these phones made? They're made in China.
  • Kiwis are grown in New Zealand. · 2. Pasta is eaten a lot in Italy. · 3. Toyota cars are made in Japan. · 4. Spanish is spoken in Mexico. · 5. Cinnamon is grown in Sri Lanka. · 6. Chocolate is made from cocoa.
ErrorCorrection
Tea is grow in Sri Lanka.Tea is grown in Sri Lanka.
Tea grown in Sri Lanka.Tea is grown in Sri Lanka.
Phones is made in China.Phones are made in China.
Where coffee is grown?Where is coffee grown?

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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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