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Lesson planB150 minsNew. New: checked automatically for level, grammar, facts and originality; a teacher's review is still to come. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Who Invented It? The passive
Students learn to use the passive to talk about famous inventions and discoveries, then write about the history of an everyday object.
Simple passive · Inventions · Technology
Or download everything as a ZIP (4 PDFs)This lesson plan and its PDFs are free.
Plan at a glance
Aims
- Use passive: present and past simple accurately
- Learn and use 16 words and phrases in 2 sets: Making new things, Factories, machines and materials
- Read for detail: the story of the bicycle
- Writing task: an everyday invention
Stages · 50 min
- 5 minLead-in: Pairs talk about inventions and share ideas with the class.
- 5 minVocabulary: Ex. 1
- 5 minLanguage focus: Go through the grammar notes together and check understanding.
- 5 minControlled practice: Ex. 2
- 5 minVocabulary: Ex. 3
- 5 minAccuracy practice: Ex. 4
- 10 minReading: Ex. 5
- 10 minWriting: Ex. 6
Printables
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Download all (ZIP, 4 PDFs)Grammar notes
The passive: be + past participle
- Present simple: Paper is made from wood. Millions of cars are sold every year.
- Past simple: The telephone was invented in 1876. The first bridges were built from wood.
When to use it
- Use the passive when the action is more important than the person who did it, or when we don't know who did it: Coffee is grown in Brazil.
- Use by to say who did it: The book was written by a teacher.
Watch out
- Don't forget be: The bridge was built (not The bridge built).
- made of (the material), made from (the material changes), made in (the place): The table is made of wood. Paper is made from wood. My phone was made in Korea.
- invent = make something new; discover = find something that was there already: The telephone was invented. Penicillin was discovered.
Study tips
- Look at the objects around you. Where were they made? What are they made of?
- When you read about history, notice the passive: was built, was invented, were discovered.
Glossary
- Making new things8 items
- Factories, machines and materials8 items
Complete the exercises, then check your answers.
1
Inventions and how things are made
Match each word with its meaning. There is one extra meaning.
Tap an item…
…then its match
2
Make it passive
Complete each sentence with the passive form of the verb in brackets. Use the present simple or the past simple.
- a
The telephone (invent) by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876.
- b
Most smartphones (make) in Asia today.
- c
This bridge (build) more than a hundred years ago.
- d
Paper (produce) from wood.
- e
Penicillin (discover) by Alexander Fleming in 1928.
- f
Millions of cars (sell) every year.
- g
The first computers (use) by universities and the army.
3
Word formation
Use the word in capitals to form a word that fits the gap.
- a
The light bulb was one of the most important in history.
INVENT - b
Thomas Edison was a famous American .
INVENT - c
The new phone was created by a young from Milan.
DESIGN - d
The factory has increased its of electric cars this year.
PRODUCE - e
Plastic is a very material, but it's bad for the environment.
USE - f
The safety bicycle was very , and soon it was produced all over the world.
SUCCESS
4
Find and correct the mistake
Each sentence has one mistake. Write the correction.
- a
The first car was invent in Germany.
- b
Coffee is grow in Brazil and Colombia.
- c
The Eiffel Tower built in 1889.
- d
The Harry Potter books were written from J. K. Rowling.
- e
Penicillin was invented by Alexander Fleming in 1928.
- f
Glass are made from sand.
5
Read: the story of the bicycle
Read the text. Are the sentences true, false or not given?
The first bicycle was built in Germany in 1817 by Karl von Drais. It was made of wood and it had no pedals: riders pushed it along with their feet. Pedals were added in France about fifty years later. Early bicycles were heavy and uncomfortable, and they were mostly ridden by young men. In the 1880s a new design appeared. The two wheels were the same size, and the bike was moved by a chain. This "safety bicycle" was much easier to ride, and soon bicycles were produced in factories in many countries. Today more than 100 million bikes are made every year, and in some cities more people go to work by bike than by car.
- a
The first bicycle was made of metal.
- b
Riders of the first bicycle used their feet to move it.
- c
Karl von Drais sold a lot of his bicycles.
- d
Pedals were added in Germany.
- e
The safety bicycle was easier to ride than the earlier bikes.
- f
Bicycles are cheaper to produce than cars.
6
Write: an everyday invention
Write about an object.
Choose an object you use every day, for example a phone, a pen, jeans or a fridge. Write about it (8–10 sentences). When and where was it invented? What is it made of? Where is it produced today? How is it used? Use the passive. Word box: invent · invention · discover · produce · design · factory · material · vehicle Example: Jeans were invented in the USA in the 1870s. They were designed for workers, because they were made of very strong material. Today jeans are produced in factories all over the world.
Suggested minimum: 80 words
0 words · aim for at least 80
Spotted a mistake in this lesson?· tell us the exercise and item
Revise with a game
This lesson's own words and questions. Play on your own, or in teams on the classroom screen.
- Step UpAnswer the lesson's questions to climb to the top.
- Pair UpMatch the lesson's words to their meanings against the clock.
- SnapA word and a meaning: do they go together? Answer fast.
- Fix ItFind the mistake in each sentence, then correct it.
- Quiz BoardTeams choose questions worth 100 to 500 points.
- Retro arcadeWord Invaders, Word Snake, Word Maze and Word Crossing: classic arcade games with the lesson's words.
Glossary
The 16 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in 2 sets.
Making new things
- invent
- to make something new that didn't exist before
- invention
- something new that someone has made or designed
- inventor
- a person who invents something
- discover
- to find something that was already there but wasn't known before
- design
- to plan how something will look and work
- produce
- to make goods or food, often in large numbers
- build
- to make something by putting parts together
- create
- to make something new
Factories, machines and materials
- factory
- a building where things are made by machines and workers
- machine
- a piece of equipment that does a job, using power
- vehicle
- a machine that carries people or things, for example a car or a bus
- material
- what something is made from, for example wood, glass or plastic
- plastic
- a light material made from chemicals
- metal
- a hard material such as iron or steel
- glass
- a hard material that you can see through
- wood
- the hard material that trees are made of
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