Having a tough time getting your students to use the passive? Try this engaging video and conversation lesson.

Download and print out the following PDF worksheet with your students. They should answer questions 1-25 while watching the video School Lunches You’ve Probably Never Heard Of from BRIGHT SIDE.

There are three options for watching the video and completing the worksheet.

Option 1: The teacher can play the whole video first, allowing students to answer questions as they go. When the video is finished, the teacher can call on students to answer the questions.

Option 2: The teacher can pause after each country, giving students time to write and/or answer the questions out loud.

The first option will challenge students’ listening skills more. The second option will give the teacher more opportunities to check for correct use of the passive.

Option 3 (Online Class): If the teacher is using this as an online lesson, it’s better to share the document as a PDF with the students and pause the video after each country to check their answers and have a brief discussion about each country’s lunches.

You can find the questions and time stamps below.

South Korea 0:40 

1. In South Korea, how are lunches served?

2. What food is served for lunch in Korea?

3. Who is given fish oil, and why?

Japan 1:23 

4. Where is lunch eaten in Japan?

5. What is worn during lunch in Japan?

Turkey 1:55 

6. Where is lunch brought from in Turkey?

7. What foods are brought from home in Turkey?

Thailand 2:27 

8. What foods are Thai children given for lunch?

9. When are Thai children allowed to eat?

France 2:58 

10. What foods are served for lunch in France?

Finland 3:28 

11. When are children offered snacks in Finland?

12. Why do schools in Finland offer several types of lunches?

Russia 4:08 

13. When are children offered free breakfast in Russia?

14. What is eaten in Russia for school lunch?

Hungary 4:34 

15. How many courses are offered for Hungarian school lunch?

16. What food is served?

Israel 4:52 

17. What food is taken to school in Israel?

Columbia 5:25 

18. What percentage of children get free lunch in Columbia?

19. How many hot meals are served per day?

Italy 5:54 

20. How many courses are Italian students given?

21. Are different choices of food given? Why or why not?

Australia 6:37 

22. What foods are forced out of Australian school lunches, and why?

23. Are school lunches given for free in Australia?

Chile 7:11 

24. What foods are served at school in Chile?

25. Where are higher quality foods served?

After students have watched the video…

…and completed the worksheet make sure all the students have a chance to say a few answers. Check for correct use of the passive as students answer the questions. If students need extra help put the structure on the board.

Subject + is/are + past participle

Now move onto part 1 and 2 conversation practice. The students can either complete this in pairs or one-on-one with the teacher. When the speaking practice is finished, discuss the use of passive with the students.

Tell students, “Now it’s your turn!”

Part 1

Talk with a partner.

Answer in the passive.

1. What was a typical school lunch served at your school when you were a child?
2. How was the food served?
3. Where was the food served?
4. Was food usually brought from home?
5. What was thought of the school lunch?

Part 2

Talk with a partner.

Don’t use the passive.

1. What did you usually eat for school lunch?
2. Did you like it? Why or why not?
3. Did you enjoy lunch time? Why or why not?

At the end, ask students why part 1 uses passive but part 2 doesn’t.

Students should be able to tell you that we use passive when there is no subject or the subject is not important.

Want to keep the discussion going?

If you have some more time in class, try this extra video discussion. Project the questions onto the board.

Extra: Video Discussion

Discuss in partners.

1. Who has the best school lunch? Why?
2. Who has the worst school lunch? Why?
3. Which school lunch was the most similar to yours? Why?
4. What was the most interesting thing you learned from the video?
5. Which of the countries in the video would you like to go to? Why?
6. Do you miss your school lunches? Why or why not?
7. If you could try one school lunch food again from your childhood, what would you try? (If you’re in school now, what’s your favorite school lunch food?)
8. Was your school lunch healthy? Why or why not?
9. What are some barriers to good school lunches?
10. If you could create your own school lunch menu for kids, what would it include?

And that’s it! Hopefully, your students enjoyed discussing school lunches around the world and had lots of practice using the passive voice!

If you want another advanced conversation lesson, try this one about scams.