Active or Passive

Age: 10+

Level: Intermediate

Target Structure: Active & passive voice

Duration: 10-20 minutes (depending on group size)

Materials: cut-out Regular Verbs in Past & Past Participle Grammar Cards*

• Divide your class into pairs, trios, or small groups.

• Give out a small bunch of cards to each group (make sure they have been shuffled first).

•    Have students take turns and draw a card from the bunch and read the verb in the card.
•    If the verb is in simple form, they have to say a sentence using the verb in active voice, e.g., travel = My family travels to the beach every year.
•    If the verb is in past/past participle, they should say a sentence using the verb in passive voice, e.g., visited = The museum is visited by many people on weekends.
•    Ask students to take note of any verbs they had trouble using in a passive sentence and go over them as a class. This activity should make them aware that not all verbs are used in a passive form “naturally”.

*Note: time expression cards have elements in paranthesis that can be easily replaced.