We’ve put together a few tips you can try in your classroom to help your pupils with active and passive sentences. These fantastic ideas have come directly from fellow teachers.
If you’d like to add your own ideas to this list, tweet us @Sats_companion or send us an email info@satscompanion.com.

1. Get Active!

Teaching active voice works best whilst pupils are being active! Try taking the lesson outdoors. Emma. E, suggested pupils could ‘look for verbs and then ask pupils to comment in the passive voice’. Emma’s idea is great as there is so much scope here to adapt according to what your pupils’ interests are! Emma also commented that her pupils played football in the passive voice. “The ball was kicked, the goal was saved”.

2. Bring out the Zombies!

By Zombies! This is a tip I’m looking forward to trying out. Spot passive voice by adding ‘by zombies’ after the verb for passive. The house was built… by zombies! I can imagine the class having lots of fun with this one. Great tip here from Katie. S! Thanks!

3. Make it real..

Put the passive voice into a real life context. Ask pupils to think back to what they did on the weekend. Use this to encourage discussion around the passive voice. (eg) A visit to the park can become… The dog was walked, the ducks were fed.

4. Research for the win!

This next tip works with the pupil’s investigative skills and would be great as a homework task. Ask pupils to research who invented their most useful technology. From Smart phones to gaming devices the list is endless. For each invention, they should write a passive sentence to go with it. For example: computer software was invented by Grace Hopper.

5. Free active and passive revision questions!

You can access hundreds of instantly marked active and passive revision questions by signing up for a FREE 30-day trial of SATs Companion. In addition to the active and passive questions, you’ll also benefit from thousands of Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar questions. You’ll know exactly how your pupils stand with this topic and more! Your 30-day free trial awaits… click here to request your demo account.

Happy Teaching!