Sign up for freeSign up

Lettuce from space? The future passive with will be + past participle

This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches the future passive through space farming: the lettuce grown on the International Space Station and NASA's research on crops for Mars.

Grammar
Will be or won't be + past participle for what will happen to something (The leaves will be harvested.), questions like Where will the seeds be kept?, and by + the doer when it matters.
Topic
NASA's Veggie garden on the space station and its magenta glow, with words such as store, wipe, root, freezer and LED light.
Activities
Jade's story to read, a visit to a campus plant lab and a listener's message to hear, self-checking drills, a space-menu chat and open boxes.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: hungry for space?

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: food for the futureVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: a garden on the space station

    • Look at the photo: a garden in spacePictureUnlock
    • Read Jade's story on the show's websiteArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: lunch under pink lights

    • Listen to Jade and CarterListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Listener's Take: Tamika's messageListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: It will be grown under lights

    • Study the scheme: will be + past participleGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use will be or won't be + the past participleFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: will be and won't be + the past participleFill in the tableUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: a menu for Mars

    • Choose the right replies: a space-food menuChatTry it
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use will be or won't be + the past participleFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the sentence with the same meaningQuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Bridget's science fair posterChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Jade answers TamikaDrag and dropUnlock

32 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • LED light
  • space station
  • freezer
  • root
  • fertilizer
  • kale
  • zinnia
  • magenta
  • planet

Grammar: the future passive with will be

The future passive says what will happen to something when the action matters more than who does it: Tomorrow, the leaves will be harvested. Learners already know is grown, was grown and can be grown, so in a lab where lettuce grows under pink lights they put will be before the past participle, then ask questions and use by with care.

It will be grown under lights

will be / won't be + past participle: what will happen to something in the future, when the action matters more than who does it. You know is grown, was grown and can be grown: this is the future one.

Will be or won't be + the past participle

The form is the same for every person: I will be picked, it will be picked, they will be picked. The negative is won't be + past participle: The lettuce won't be cooked. Three parts, always in the same order: will, be, past participle.

Every person

PersonPositiveNegativeQuestionShort answers
II will be (I'll be) picked.I won't be (will not be) picked.Will I be picked?Yes, I will. / No, I won't.
youYou will be (You'll be) picked.You won't be picked.Will you be picked?Yes, you will. / No, you won't.
heHe will be (He'll be) picked.He won't be picked.Will he be picked?Yes, he will. / No, he won't.
sheShe will be (She'll be) picked.She won't be picked.Will she be picked?Yes, she will. / No, she won't.
itIt will be (It'll be) picked.It won't be picked.Will it be picked?Yes, it will. / No, it won't.
weWe will be (We'll be) picked.We won't be picked.Will we be picked?Yes, we will. / No, we won't.
theyThey will be (They'll be) picked.They won't be picked.Will they be picked?Yes, they will. / No, they won't.

will + be + past participle, every time

Three parts, always in this order: will + be + past participle. Don't drop be (not: will grown). Don't use the base form or the past simple (not: will be grow, will be grew). Never use been after will (not: will been grown). The negative is won't be + past participle (not: won't be eat).

The right past participle

Irregular verbs need their third form: grown, eaten, kept, frozen, sent, chosen. Regular verbs add -ed or -d: planted, stored, wiped. The past simple never follows will be: Half of the crop will be frozen, not will be froze.

Base formPast participleExample
growgrownMore lettuce will be grown next month.
eateatenThe leaves will be eaten raw.
keepkeptThe seeds will be kept in a drawer.
freezefrozenHalf of the crop will be frozen.
sendsentSome leaves will be sent to a lab.
choosechosenThe best plant will be chosen on Friday.
store, wipe, plant, cookstored, wiped, planted, cookedThe trays will be wiped clean.

Questions: will before the subject

Will moves in front of the subject, and be + past participle follows it: Will it be eaten raw? Yes, it will. A question word goes at the very start: Where will the seeds be kept? When will the lettuce be harvested?

(Question word) + will + subjectbe + past participle?

Will it be eaten raw? Yes, it will. / No, it won't.

Where will the seeds be kept?

When will the lettuce be harvested?

Active or passive, and when to add by

The active says who does it (Carter will plant the seeds); the passive says what happens to it (The seeds will be planted). Add by + the doer only when it matters, or when it's new or funny: The lights will be turned off by a timer.

Who does it, or what happens to it?

Active: who does it

  • Carter will plant the seeds.
  • A timer will turn off the lights.
  • Nobody will cook the lettuce.

Passive: what happens to it

  • The seeds will be planted (by Carter).
  • The lights will be turned off by a timer.
  • The lettuce won't be cooked.

by + the doer, only when it matters

Most of the time, we don't say who does the action: The seeds will be planted tomorrow. Add by + the doer when it is important, new or funny: The lights will be turned off by a timer. The lettuce will be eaten by a podcast host!

In Carter's lab

  • Tomorrow, the leaves will be harvested.
  • The new seeds will be stored in a cool, dark drawer.
  • Anything too big won't be grown here.
  • Will the lettuce be cooked? No, it won't.
  • Where will the seeds be kept?
  • At ten p.m., the lights will be turned off by a timer.

Mistakes to avoid

Don't drop be (will grown), don't use the base form (will be plant) and never put been after will. In a question, be comes after the subject: Will it be cooked?, not Will it cooked? or Will be it cooked?

  • The lettuce will grown under LED lights.

    The lettuce will be grown under LED lights.

    don't drop be

  • New seeds will be plant tomorrow.

    New seeds will be planted tomorrow.

    be + past participle, not the base form

  • Will it cooked?

    Will it be cooked?

    will + subject + be + past participle

  • It won't be eat raw.

    It won't be eaten raw.

    won't be + past participle

More lessons on this grammar: Passive voice lessons and exercises

Try the future passive exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 17 auto-checked exercises
  • 6 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • say what will happen to things with will be + past participle: Tomorrow, the leaves will be harvested. The seeds will be stored in a cool, dark drawer.
  • use the negative won't be + past participle: The lettuce won't be cooked. Anything too big won't be grown here.
  • ask questions with will before the subject: Will it be eaten raw? Yes, it will. Where will the seeds be kept?
  • add by + the doer only when it matters: The lights will be turned off by a timer.
  • choose the past participle, not the past simple: Half of the crop will be frozen, not will be froze

Lesson 10 is the second lesson of Food for the future, unit 3 of English B1.2 · Changemakers. It completes the passive of unit 2, lessons 5 to 8 (is grown, was grown, can be grown, has been grown), with will be grown, and it uses the will of A2.2 lesson 13. Lesson 11 moves on to verbs with dependent prepositions. Space farming is all about plans for seeds, crops and harvests, where what happens to the food matters more than who does it.

Students spin a wheel of questions about vegetables, freezers and space travel, then learn twelve words, from store and wipe to magenta and planet, with pictures and audio. They read Jade's story about NASA's Veggie garden, then hear her visit Carter in a campus lab that glows pink and Tamika, a listener from Florida, predict what will be grown on Mars, both AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking drills, including a table of positives, negatives and questions. In the speaking chapter, students plan a space-food menu with Jade in a chat, then open boxes of predictions.

The ten homework tasks mark themselves: four on the words (a match, an anagram, a gap-fill and a memory game), then a choice of forms, gap-fills with will be and won't be, word order, a quiz that pairs active and passive sentences, a science fair poster with gaps and Jade's answer to Tamika to complete.

Grammar:
future passive · will be + past participle · won't be + past participle · passive questions · by + the doer
Topic:
Veggie · the International Space Station · NASA · space food · lettuce · LED lights · Mars · Stories That Travel

Teaching tips

  • Start with next week at school: what will be cleaned, checked or returned? Students answer in the passive: The board will be cleaned on Friday. Our tests will be returned on Monday.
  • Before the reading, ask what color space gardens glow. Most students guess green, and Jade's story explains why NASA's Veggie glows magenta.
  • Pause the lab visit after each of Jade's questions and let students predict Carter's answer in the future passive before they hear it: The seeds will be kept in a drawer.
  • Turn the space menu into a class poster: groups plan three meals for a trip to Mars and present them: Potatoes will be grown on the ship. The lettuce won't be cooked.

Liked it?

Teach the whole lesson in edio

32 exercises in 6 chapters, ready to teach. edio is an online platform for language schools and teachers: ready-made interactive lessons, live classes, homework and student progress in one place.

  1. Start a free trial

    7 days, no credit card.

  2. Open the lesson

    Find it in the library of 621 ready lessons. Teach it as it is, or copy any chapter into your own lessons.

  3. Teach it live or as homework

    Students work in their own accounts, in sync with you during the lesson, and the practice exercises check themselves.

Teach it free for 7 days

The whole course: English B1.2 · Changemakers

32 lessons for adults at B1 in American English, about people and ideas that changed things: start-ups, future cities, food, memory, customs, art, volunteers and adventure. The podcast team of English B1.1 is back for a season called Changemakers. Learners use the second conditional, the passive, reported speech, the past perfect, relative clauses and verb patterns, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Start-up stories

    the second conditional, If I were you, the first vs the second conditional, also, too, as well and besides

    1. Lesson 1The garage where Silicon Valley beganThe second conditional for imagined situations
    2. Lesson 2Would you sell lemonade to save bees?Second conditional questions and If I were you
    3. Lesson 3Pitch it to the Sharks!First vs second conditional: a real plan or a dream?
    4. Lesson 4A bakery that hires anyone?Adding ideas: also, too, as well, either and besides

  2. Unit 2 Cities of tomorrow

    the passive in the present simple and the past simple, with modals, and in the present perfect and present continuous

    1. Lesson 5Can you cross a city without going outside?The present simple passive
    2. Lesson 6A park on top of a freeway?The past simple passive
    3. Lesson 7Can a desert city catch the rain?The passive with modals
    4. Lesson 8Can an old railroad become a park?The present perfect and present continuous passive

  3. Unit 3 Food for the future

    comparative and superlative adverbs, the future passive, verbs with prepositions, phrasal verbs with up, away and out

    1. Lesson 9Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts?Comparative and superlative adverbs
    2. Lesson 10 · you're hereLettuce from space?The future passive with will be
    3. Lesson 11Why do corn, beans and squash grow together?Verbs with dependent prepositions
    4. Lesson 12What happens to dining-hall leftovers?Phrasal verbs with up, away and out

  4. Unit 4 Memory and learning

    reported statements with say and tell, tense changes, time and place words, reported questions, requests and commands

    1. Lesson 13Can you train your memory?Reported statements with say and tell
    2. Lesson 14He got better but never rememberedReported statements about the past
    3. Lesson 15Can a TV show teach the alphabet?Reported questions
    4. Lesson 16Can you learn a new skill at 70?Reported requests and commands

  5. Unit 5 Customs and manners

    degree adverbs such as quite and pretty, the past perfect, the past perfect vs the past simple, make vs do

    1. Lesson 17To tip or not to tip?Adverbs of degree before adjectives and adverbs
    2. Lesson 18They'd already started without me!The past perfect: had + past participle
    3. Lesson 19What should you do at a powwow?Past perfect vs past simple
    4. Lesson 20How do you accept a lei?Make vs do: collocations to learn

  6. Unit 6 Art and design

    relative clauses with whose, non-defining relative clauses, relative clauses without a pronoun, when and why

    1. Lesson 21Art that moves in the airRelative clauses with whose
    2. Lesson 22A heart that sells a stateNon-defining relative clauses
    3. Lesson 23What would you paint on a city wall?Relative clauses without who, which or that
    4. Lesson 24Why does the sign say Hollywood?Relative adverbs: when, why and where

  7. Unit 7 Volunteers and changemakers

    verb + -ing or to, -ing as a subject and after prepositions, stop, remember, try and forget, prefer and would rather

    1. Lesson 25A day on, not a day off?Verb + -ing or verb + to
    2. Lesson 26The house that welcomed a neighborhoodGerunds as subjects and after prepositions
    3. Lesson 27A walk that lasted 24 hoursStop, remember, forget and try + to or -ing
    4. Lesson 28Head, heart, hands and healthPrefer, would rather and would prefer

  8. Unit 8 Adventure and challenge

    possessive 's vs of, must and can't for deduction, might, may and could for possibility, the meanings of get

    1. Lesson 29Could you climb a fourteener?Possessive 's, s' or of
    2. Lesson 30It must be here somewhere!Must and can't for deduction
    3. Lesson 31How did Houdini get out?Might, may and could for possibility
    4. Lesson 32A capital with no road inThe meanings of get

Questions about this lesson

What is the future passive?
The future passive is will be + past participle, and it says what will happen to something: Tomorrow, the leaves will be harvested. It's used when the action matters more than who does it, so the doer is often left out. The B1 lesson Lettuce from space? on edio.ai teaches it with a campus plant lab and NASA's lettuce garden on the space station.
How do you form the future passive?
The future passive has three parts: will, be and the past participle, the same for every person: The seeds will be stored in a drawer. For the negative, use won't be: The lettuce won't be cooked. For a question, put will first: Will it be eaten raw? The scheme in Lettuce from space?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, shows all seven persons in one table.
What are some examples of the future passive?
Five examples from Lettuce from space? on edio.ai: New seeds will be planted in the same trays. Half of the crop will be frozen. Anything too big won't be grown here. Where will the seeds be kept? The lights will be turned off by a timer. Each one is about what happens to a thing, and only the last one names the doer, because the timer matters.
What's the difference between the future active and the future passive?
The active starts with the doer: Carter will plant the seeds. The passive starts with what the action happens to: The seeds will be planted. The facts are the same, but the passive moves the focus to the seeds, and by Carter is added only if it matters. A homework quiz in Lettuce from space? on edio.ai asks learners to find the passive that means the same as each active sentence.
Is it "will be grown" or "will grown"?
It's will be grown: the passive can't lose be. Will grown drops it, and will been grown and will be grew are wrong too. The same goes for negatives and questions: won't be eaten, not won't be eat; Will it be cooked?, not Will it cooked? Drills in Lettuce from space? put each of these traps next to the right form.
Can astronauts grow food in space?
Yes. NASA's Veggie garden on the International Space Station is about the size of a carry-on suitcase. Its plants grow in small bags called pillows, which hold a clay-based material and fertilizer and spread water to the roots, because water forms bubbles in space. Red, blue and green LED lights shine on them, and since plants reflect the green, the inside glows magenta. Jade's story in Lettuce from space?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, explains how it works.
When did astronauts eat lettuce grown on the space station?
On Monday, August 10, 2015, the crew of the International Space Station ate red romaine lettuce grown on board. NASA called it the first station-grown crop officially on the crew's menu; it wasn't the first plant grown in space. An earlier crop, in 2014, was frozen and sent back to Earth for study. The crew ate half of the 2015 crop and froze the rest. Lettuce from space? on edio.ai checks these facts in a true/false task.
How do I teach the future passive to B1 students?
Build on the passives students already know (is grown, was grown) and add will be: Lettuce will be grown here next month. Then practice questions and negatives with plans that have a clear object, such as seeds, food or a classroom. Lettuce from space? on edio.ai moves from a feature about the space station to a lab visit, then the scheme and five drills.
What's a good game for practicing the future passive?
A box of predictions to open one by one gets everyone talking: a student opens a box and answers a prompt such as Your town in twenty years: what will be built, and what will be closed? or What won't be grown on a spaceship? In Lettuce from space? on edio.ai, the boxes come after a chat where students plan a menu for Mars.
What's good homework for the future passive?
Good homework moves from the form to the meaning: choices like will be built or will built, gap-fills such as Your pizza ___ (deliver) in thirty minutes, then a quiz that matches A timer will turn off the lights with The lights will be turned off by a timer. All ten homework tasks in Lettuce from space? on edio.ai check themselves, a science fair poster among them.
How do you practice the future passive one-to-one?
Plan a class party in the passive: the teacher asks When will the invitations be sent? and What will be eaten?, the student answers, then asks the same questions back. The chat in Lettuce from space? on edio.ai works without a partner: Jade plans a menu for Mars, and the right reply is It won't be cooked, not It won't be cook.
Are there interactive exercises for the future passive?
Yes: drills that check each answer at once help with will be and the past participle. This page plays three parts of Lettuce from space?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, with no account: Jade's visit to Carter's lab, a gap-fill of will be and won't be + past participle and the space-menu chat. Signing up opens the rest.
Unlock full lesson

Teach this lesson with your students

Book a demoStart free trial

No credit card required