Chicago, America's pulse?
“Chicago, it is America's pulse”, said the French actress Sarah Bernhardt. A city that burnt in 1871, was rebuilt upwards, and became the birthplace of the skyscraper and the blues: I investigate with the passive voice.
The passive voice
When what matters is the thing that receives the action, we use the passive: be + past participle. Tap the cards.
My words → tap a card: it turns over and I hear the word
Culture → Chicago, the laboratory of modern America
Officially founded in 1833 on Lake Michigan, Chicago grew very fast thanks to the railways and the meat industry. From 8 to 10 October 1871, the Great Fire destroyed the centre: about 300 people died and 100,000 lost their homes.
The city was rebuilt with steel, and upwards. In 1885, the Home Insurance Building by the architect William Le Baron Jenney, with a metal frame, was often called the first skyscraper. In 1973, the Sears Tower (today the Willis Tower) became the tallest building in the world, until 1998.
During the Great Migration (from the 1910s to the 1970s), hundreds of thousands of African Americans left the segregated South for Chicago: there they created the electric Chicago blues. The French actress Sarah Bernhardt, on tour in the United States, is said to have declared: “Chicago, it is America's pulse”.
Did you know? → tap a card
I listen → a short history of Chicago
Listen. Write down three dates and what happened. Find four verbs in the passive.
I watch
Video: “How the Great Fire of 1871 Actually Benefitted Chicago” · channel Smithsonian Channel · watch on YouTube. The video only loads when you tap (youtube-nocookie player).
- Write down two good consequences of the fire.
- Write down one word about building.
- Write two sentences in the passive about the rebuilding.
I watch too
Video: “The Chicago Fire of 1871: Disaster & Destruction in the Windy City” · channel HISTORY · watch on YouTube. The video only loads when you tap (youtube-nocookie player).
- Write down the supposed cause of the fire and why it spread so fast.
The lessons in this learning journey (6)
- Where is Chicago? Map and first impressions.
- The Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
- Grammar: the passive voice.
- The birth of the skyscraper.
- The Great Migration and the Chicago blues.
- Final task: a guided tour podcast.
- “Welcome to Chicago!”
- “This building was designed by…”
- “The city was rebuilt after…”
- “On your left, you can see…”
- “Chicago is known for…”
For the teacher → goals and official curriculum
- Theme 6 “The United States” → topic: “Chicago, it is America's pulse” (Sarah Bernhardt), a city that represents the United States? 2020 theme: languages; meeting other cultures.
- Understand a documentary video and an informative text; describe a city and its history.
- B1 grammar: the passive voice in the present and the past (The city was rebuilt); by + agent; dates and big numbers.
- Final task: a recorded guided tour of Chicago (podcast).
Texts and materials: Photos of the skyline and of the Home Insurance Building (1885); Smithsonian Channel and HISTORY videos about the Great Fire of 1871.
Theme 6 “The United States”. Source: French national curriculum for modern languages, cycle 4, BO no. 31 of 30 July 2020 (in force in 3e in 2026-2027); matching theme of the English curriculum, BO no. 22 of 29 May 2025, which will apply in 3e from September 2028.
Fill in and choose
Active → passive: match the sentences with the same meaning
Tap an item in the first column, then its partner in the second.
Active or passive?
Tap a word, then the right box.
Worksheet to fill in (paper or ENT)
The same learning journey, to print or to put on the ENT. For a PDF, choose “Save as PDF” in the print window.