ACE421 Teaching Grammar at the Secondary Level E-learning task: grammar activity presentation

Name of Teacher Mohamad Irfan Salihin Title of activity Using an authentic text to understand the Passive Grammar structure / focus The Passive (or Passive Voice)
Form The passive be marks the passive voice. Function In the passive, the object of an active verb/clause becomes the subject of the passive verb/clause. Since the object is involved, only transitive verbs wit objects may be passivised. Meaning The agent of the action is not the focus, but rather the thing or person affected by the action. The passive or passive voice is often used in news reports to hide agency, depending on biases, controversial topics, or for reasons unknown.

e.g. The door is locked at 6pm every evening. is locked passive be past participle

Objective(s)
(Be as specific as you can)

y To ensure that students understand the difference between the active voice and the passive voice. y To develop in students a keen eye in identifying the authors goals in using passive structures, especially in news reports. y To allow students to recreate these passive structures themselves so as to meet their own objectives in writing.

Step/phase of activity

Rationale Procedure
(relevant models, theories, approaches, teaching and principles and processes)

ACE421 Teaching Grammar at the Secondary Level E-learning task: grammar activity presentation Pre Activity:
Introduction to the Passive (5 minutes) Teacher is to show the following two pictures to the students: Generally, students may already have the knowledge of passive sentences. The 5 students which are chosen would most likely be able to match the sentences to the correct picture. By using these examples, the teacher adopts an inductive stance (rule-discovery) in teaching grammar instead of a deductive one (rule-driven). In doing so, the teacher can introduce the specific grammar items to the students, scaffolding the next activity.

1.

2.

Teacher is to write the following sentences on the board, and ask 5 students to match the sentences to the pictures: 1. The man kicked the ball. 2. The ball was kicked by the man. 3. The man was hit by the ball. 4. The ball hit the man. 5. The man was kicking the ball.

Main Activity:
Using an authentic text to teach the passive voice

Teacher is to direct students attention to the article, Egypt embassy attack is a 'blow' to ties: Israel, taken from TODAYOnline (http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC110911-0000217/Egyptembassy-attack-is-a-blow-to-ties--Israel). Each student is given a copy of an excerpt from the main article:

Authentic texts give learners examples of real language use, which is noticeably richer in examples, as compared to texts written specifically for language teaching purposes.

ACE421 Teaching Grammar at the Secondary Level E-learning task: grammar activity presentation

Mr Netanyahu thanked Egyptian authorities for helping rescue the six Israeli employees trapped inside the embassy, according to an aide. "The fact that the Egyptian authorities acted with determination and rescued our people should be noted," the aide cited him as saying. "However, Egypt must not ignore the severe injury to the fabric of peace with Israel and such a blatant violation of international norms." Three people died during the street clashes between the protesters and the police outside the embassy, and more than 1,000 people were hurt. Nineteen protesters were arrested. The police and army troops fired tear gas and live ammunition into the air to try and disperse the crowd. Several cars, police vehicles and trees were set ablaze.

Teacher is to then write the following questions on the board: 1. How many people were trapped? 2. Where were they trapped? 3. Who rescued those who were trapped? Teacher is to then instruct students to read only the first paragraph and answer the questions written on the board. Students are to then check their answers in their pairs, and the teacher is to then go through the answers with the class.

Scaffolding is done to as to ensure that students can connect the previous activity to this one.

Peer learning (i.e. giving students the ability to discuss the answers) gives them more confidence in volunteering themselves to answer the questions posed.

ACE421 Teaching Grammar at the Secondary Level E-learning task: grammar activity presentation
Teacher is to then write the two following lines on the board: 1. Egyptian authorities rescued six Israeli employees trapped in the embassy. 2. Six Israeli employees who were trapped in the embassy were rescued by Egyptian authorities. Teacher is to then ask the class if they can remember which of the two sentences, appeared more familiar to them as read from the first paragraph. Students are to carry this activity out without reference to the text (i.e. they are to turn the text over and not refer to them). After students identify 1 as the sentence, teacher is to ask students which sentence they think is in an active construction and which is in the passive construction. Teacher then points out that the subject in sentence 1 (the Egyptian authorities) is the actor, whereas the subject in sentence 2 (the 6 Israeli employees) is the people who are affected by the action. Teacher is to then point out the structure of the passive sentence: Six Israeli employees were rescued In comparing the two sentences and in asking students to recall what they have read, indirectly scaffolds the activity and enables rulediscovery. Teacher is not required to point out the structure of the passive sentences and students are allowed to discover these for themselves.

Subject

Auxiliary verb to be

Past Participle

Teacher then instructs the class to read the remaining passage and find other instances in which they can find passive constructions. In their pairs, students are to discuss why these passive constructions are present and suggest reasons for the use of the passive voice in those instances.

Directing students back to the text ensures that students can draw parallels to form and use, maximizing the texts utility.

As a follow-up activity, students can be instructed to reconstruct the text from memory and to write their own stories with appropriate use of passive structures.