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Аctivity 4: Using passive constructions in text

Reading text:

My Hometown

Many years ago, I was born in Seattle, Washington USA. Seattle is located in the

Northwest corner of the USA. Recently, Seattle has become the focus of much international attention. Many films were made there, probably the most famous of which is Sleepless in Seattle starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. Seattle is also known as the birthplace of "Grunge" music; both Pearl Jam and Nirvana are from Seattle. For older people like me, it should be noted that Jimmi Hendrix was born in Seattle! NBA fans know Seattle for the "Seattle Supersonics", a team that has played basketball in Seattle for more than 30 years. Unfortunately, Seattle is also famous for its bad weather. I can remember weeks and weeks of grey, wet weather when I was growing up. Seattle has also become one of the fastest-growing business areas in the United States. Two of the most important names in the booming business scene in Seattle are Microsoft and Boeing. Microsoft was founded and is owned by the world-famous Bill Gates (how much of his software is on your computer?). Boeing has always been essential to the economic

situation in Seattle. It is located to the north of Seattle and famous jets such as the "Jumbo" have been manufactured there for more than 50 years!

THOUGHTS ON GRAMMAR TEACHING OF THE ENGLISH PASSIVE VOICE

Seattle is positioned between Puget Sound and the Cascade Mountains. The combination of its scenic location, thriving business conditions and exciting cultural scene makes Seattle one of America's most interesting cities.

1. Teacher let students read through the reading text, and ask students pay attention to the underlined phrases using passive voice.

2. After students finishing reading, the teacher sort out the passive voice on the board and analysis with students one by one (grammar points includes tense and aspects, passive voice structure, when and why to use agentive and non-agentive passive, etc.)

3. Students work in groups to talk about their own hometown by using non-referential “it” (students have learned this grammar point before) and passive voice, letting other group members guess where his/her hometown is.