New Years resolutions

[lindseyinfrance]

This isn't so much a full lesson plan, but if anyone is planning a lesson or partial-lesson on New Years resolutions, I've found a site with some cute resolution-themed cartoons scattered throughout that might be good for discussion: http://www.offthemarkcartoons.com/newyear/newyear.htm . (I originally did a Google image search and found some others that way, FYI.)

[lindseyinfrance]

That said, one is supposed to get permission to use these cartoons. Just so it's out there.

[lindseyinfrance]

To flesh things out a bit, here's a top-10 resolution list I plan on discussing with the whole group, both to explain unfamiliar phrases and get their thoughts. This list was culled from a bunch of different lists I found on news sites in North America and the UK.

(Before the list, I'll likely use a cartoon or two as a conversation starter on the idea of resolutions, whether they're a good/bad idea, what it means to make/break/keep a resolution, etc.)

Top 10 New Year's resolutions:
1. Enjoy life more
2. Spend more time with family and friends
3. Quit smoking
4. Get in shape (lose weight, exercise more)
5. Drink less
6. Learn something new (game, instrument, class, etc)
7. Take a holiday
8. Find true love
9. Save more money / pay off debts
10. Be more organized

And here's another list of questions I've adapted from an ESL site. I'll likely use it if time permits at the end of class (either working individually or in pairs, depending on their level/rowdiness, and doing a sampling of answers with the whole class).

NEW YEAR'S QUIZ - 2009:
1) Was 2009 better or worse than 2008? Why?
2) What is your happiest memory of 2009?
3) What is your saddest memory of 2009?
4) What was the best movie you saw during the year?
5) What was the best music you heard?
6) What was the best TV show you saw?
7) What was the best food you ate?
What was the most expensive thing you bought?
9) Do you have any regrets about 2009?
10) Do you have any hopes or resolutions for 2010?

ROLE PLAY:
And as another optional activity on the same theme, I'm planning to have students prepare a dialogue in pairs, one of them playing a life coach and the other a customer who is struggling to keep his/her resolution. Customer explains resolution and problems, life coach gives advice. I like to keep role-plays fun, so I would probably encourage them to be a quirky (but still class appropriate) in their resolutions/advice.

This plan is untested, and I have some low-level seconde classes, so I'll likely be adapting it over the next couple of weeks for different groups. I'll also try to post updates on how it goes. (Mid-January seems like it might be getting kind of late for a resolution-themed class, but planning event-based classes is tricky
when I get half the group one week and half the next. Any thoughts?)

Anyway, hope this can be of help to some others who, like me, are still scrounging together their lessons post-holidays.

[amp]

You are a lifesaver, been dropped in the deep end this week and this one lesson with cover me for pretty much all of them!
Thanks so much

[katiej]

I've been using this lesson yesterday and today- works well! thanks

[lindseyinfrance]

Glad I could help! And that it's working. I've only managed to use it once and it was with a group who'd already learned about NY resolutions with their teacher on Monday (found this out in the minutes before class began - ugh). Didn't bomb, but didn't exactly shine, either. Hoping for better luck later.

[t5williams1]

This is great! I was having a hard time getting my Lycee students into the idea of New Years Resolutions but I'm sure this will help spark some convo! Thanks so much!

[Gwan]

Thanks for this, I used the life coach dialogue with two classes on Friday, went pretty well although I had to work pretty hard to persuade them they didn't have to write everything down first... It was really great to have something because my family were visiting and I was totally unprepared for the week!

I also printed a list of different ways to give advice (e.g. If I were you..., You should..., Why don't you... etc.) and revised what verb tenses are used with these, then they had to try and incorporate a few of the different phrases in their dialogues.

Happy New Year all!