Past Simple Passive ESL Activities, Worksheets and Games
In this free past simple passive activity, students ask and answer questions about famous inventions and discoveries. In pairs, students complete the missing information in the table on their worksheet by taking it in turns to ask and answer past simple passive questions, e.g. 'What was discovered by Alexander Fleming?' When the students have finished, they check their answers by comparing tables with their partner.
In this creative past simple passive activity, students create a general knowledge quiz. In pairs, students complete past simple passive sentences with factual information, e.g. 'The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci'. Students must also use their own ideas to create two more factual past simple passive sentences at the end. When the students have completed all their sentences, they turn them into past simple passive questions, e.g. 'Who was the Mona Lisa painted by?' Each pair of students then joins with another pair. Students then use their questions to test the other pair's general knowledge. Pairs score one point for each correct answer. The pair with the highest score at the end wins the quiz.
In this useful past simple passive worksheet, students use the context of news reports to practice past simple active and passive forms. First, students change past simple sentences from their active form into their passive form. After that, students read a news story and identify past simple passive sentences from the story, which they then change to their active form. Students then move on to complete a set of news reports with the past simple passive form of the verbs in brackets. Afterwards, students practice reading the news reports with a partner. Finally, the pairs of students create their own news story with the past simple passive and read them to the class.
In this comprehensive past simple passive worksheet, students create news headlines and a news story. Students begin by creating news headlines on four topics using the past simple passive. Next, students choose a topic for a news story and write the story using at least four examples of the past simple passive, referring to an example story as a guide. When the students have finished, they read their news stories to the class.
Here is a fun past simple passive game to use with intermediate students in class. Students start by completing interesting historical facts on their worksheets with the past simple passive. Student A then reads their facts to Student B who guesses if they are true or false. One point is awarded for each correct guess. Afterwards, students swap roles. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins.
In this free past simple passive game, students ask and answer general knowledge quiz questions in the past simple passive. Students begin by writing a past simple passive quiz question in a box next to each prompt on the worksheet. After that, Student A starts and asks the first quiz question to Student B, i.e. 'When was Facebook created?' Student A then gives three possible answers. Student B gives their answer by making a past simple passive sentence, e.g. 'Facebook was created in 2004'. If the answer is correct, the student scores a point. If the sentence is also grammatically correct, the student scores an extra point. Students then swap roles and Student B asks their first quiz question. The student with the highest score wins the game. As an extension, students can write past simple passive sentences about the answers.
Here is a productive past simple passive worksheet for intermediate students to use in class. Students start by completing sentences with the past simple passive form of the verbs in brackets. Next, students change past simple active sentences to past simple passive sentences. Students then write out newspaper headlines as complete active or passive past simple sentences. Lastly, students write newspaper headlines in the past simple passive that correspond to pictures.
In this engaging passive voice true or false game, students write statements about past beliefs using it was + past participle forms of verbs and then guess whether each one is true or false. First, students use prompts and the structure it was + past participle to write statements describing past beliefs, putting the other verbs in the prompts in their correct past forms. Next, in pairs, students discuss which statements they think are true and which are false and write their guesses in the 'True or false' column. Pairs score one point for each correct guess. If a pair thinks a statement is false, they can guess the correct answer for an extra point. The pair with the most points at the end of the game wins.
This insightful past simple passive activity helps to teach students how to use the past simple passive followed by an infinitive with to to talk about their experiences of growing up. First, students write numbered sentences about their experiences of growing up using verbs in the past simple passive followed by an infinitive with to, e.g. 'When I was a child, I was told to look both ways while crossing the road'. In groups (Student A, B, C and D), one student then turns over a card. The letter on the card refers to the student and the number refers to the sentence to be read out. The student corresponding to that letter then reads the numbered sentence to the group. For example, if the card reads C11, Student C reads sentence number 11 to the group. The other students then contribute with their own experiences for the same sentence. After the topic has been discussed, the next student turns over a card and so on.
