St Patrick’s Day Lesson Plan

Learning Objectives: To speak about St Patrick's Day and to practise/revise passive forms. / Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Completion Time: 60 minutes
Skill/Grammar: Speaking/Passive forms / Age/Level: Adults/Intermediate–Upper Intermediate
Resources: St Patrick's Day Quiz, Irish Connections, Irish ConnectionsAnswer Key, Funny Sentences.

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

•Write on the board in large letters: Ireland.

•Brainstorm this word with the class.

•Write up any words or phrases students suggest without commenting.

•You may need to prompt with Where is it? What kind of place is it? What is it known for?,etc.

•Then ask Does anyone know who Ireland’s most famous saint is?

Pre-presentation (15 minutes)

•Tell the class they will now do a quiz about St Patrick’s Day.

•Give out St Patrick's Day Quiz.

•Ask students to complete the quiz in pairs.

•Check their answers with the key.
Answer Key:

afalse – not in England (although it is celebrated by people of Irish descent)

bfalse – March 17th

cfalse

dtrue

etrue

ftrue

gfalse –Montreal, Canada

htrue

itrue

jtrue

ktrue

ltrue

Grammar Presentation (10 minutes)

•Write on the board:

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, all night parties are held.

•Ask students Do we know who holds the parties? (No – not specifically)

•Write on the board:

The Chicago River has been dyed green each year since 1961.

•Ask students Do we know who dyes the river green? (Again, no – not specifically)

•Ask students In these two examples what is more important – the action or who did it? (The action)

•Ask studentsWhich ‘form’ are we using in these sentences? (The passive)

•Tell students Find other examples of the passive voice in the text and underline them.Sentences with passive forms: b, c, d, e, f, h, j, k, l.

•Check their examples.

•Then ask So why do we use the passive form?

•Elicit or explain,When the action/event or process is more important than the agent(who did the action). Also when we do not know the agent, or the agent is unimportant.

•Ask How do we form the passive?

Appropriate tense of be + past participle

•Ask students to identify the tenses of the examples they have underlined in the quiz.

Practice 1 (15 minutes)

•Now ask the class to carry out the worksheetIrish Connections for further practice with passive forms, and to find out more about Ireland.

•Check with Irish Connections Answer Key.

Answer Key:

1

a vii, b iv, c i, d iii, e ix, f viii, g v, h vi, I ii

2

ais surroundedby, barrived, cis, dhas made, eis known, fare mostly governed by , ghas produced, his affected by, isaw; was known, jis spokenby, k is situated

Practice 2 (10 minutes)

•For further practice with passive forms put the class into groups to play Funny Sentences.

Closure (5 minutes)

•Ask students what interesting things they have discovered about Ireland and St Patrick’s Day. Ask them to share their thoughts.

Extension Activities

For more activities on Ireland have a look at Going Away, Irish Symbols and Traditions, Irish Symbols and Traditions Answer Key, Back from Ireland.

Author: Louise DelahayPage 1 of 33

r: Katie Jones.