New Year’s Resolutions is a tradition in which a person makes some decisions about the New Year just before it comes. These decisions usually involve getting rid of an old bad habit or taking up a new one which could improve this person’s life. Some of the most common New Year’s Resolutions are related to losing weight, starting some kind of exercising, spending less money or spending more time with friends and family!
However, about 80% of people fail to stick to their resolutions after a period of six weeks. Why does this happen? The reasons are usually psychological. It is very often the case that we decide to do things that we consider to be good or right for us but not necessarily things we enjoy. So, scientists claim that the key to being faithful to our New Year’s Resolutions is to frame them in a positive way and try to find enjoyment in them so that they don’t become a chore and eventually get abandoned.
Activities
- Students read the text above and reflect on the following:
- Have they ever made any New Year’s Resolutions?
- Have you stuck to them throughout the year?
- Is there something that you constantly want to start doing but you always fail?
- What do you think you can do to change this?
- Think of a New Year’s Resolution that will make your life better and at the same time more enjoyable!
- Students write their New Year’s Resolutions on small pieces of paper. In groups they take it in turns to use pantomime to describe the resolution they have written on each paper and their classmates have to guess it. They practice asking and answering questions with “going to” (e.g. Are you going to start ballet lessons? Yes, I am …).
- Students can join forces to think of some New Year’s Resolutions for the class as a whole. They can think of things they want to do together in the year to come, either in class or outside of it. After collecting all suggestions, they can make a poster so that they don’t forget what they want to accomplish.
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