EFL Lesson Plan –How to stick to new year resolutions

Exercise 1.
Work in pairs and answer these questions:

– Why do people fail in meeting their resolutions?

– What's the percentage) of people who fail in keeping their resolution?
– What do you think micro resolution is?
– Why is making small changes in our behaviour better than setting ourselves 'big'
resolutions'?
Exercise 2.
Watch the video again and find the answers to these questions:

1. Who's Caroline Arnold?

2. What's the first rule that helps you stick to resolution and how to implement it?
3. Why did Mrs. Arnold decide to write the book?
4. How did she start her first micro resolution?
5. What does the writer mean by establishing a pattern in our mind.

Exercise 3.
Here are the sentences that you've heard in the video. Watch the video again, put the words in
the correct order and match them with the speaker.

a. different / something / explicitly / Instead / pledging / of /

1. TV Presenter (Man)
different. / be / to / do / to / pledge / you
2. TV Presenter b. tackle. / We / you / bet / to / like / 've / some / got / New
(Woman) Year's/ you'd / resolutions
c. She / nail / has / up / come / down / the resolutions / get /
3. Caroline Arnold and / right / them / time. / the / first / a system / with / to / you /
help / refocus / can / so / you / that

Exercise 4
Here are 9 failures people do that stop them from achieving their resolutions. In pair discuss
each sentence and think about the reasons it's considered to be a mistake, if possible give
examples.

1. The first mistake is that we don't write our resolutions down.

2. The second one is that we create too many goals.
3. The third mistake is that we only focus on one area of our lives.
4. The next mistake is that we don't make our resolutions specific.
5. The fifth mistake is that we don't make our resolutions measurable.
6. The fact that we don't assign a due date is the sixth mistake.
7. The seventh reason we fail when setting resolutions is that we don't keep them visible.
8. We don't get out of our comfort zone – is the eighth mistake.
9. The final mistake is that we don't make the resolutions compelling.

created by Emily Kruszewska © 20I5 www.englishlessonplan.co.uk www.telcuk.com

 Exercise 5
Match the paragraphs with the heading 1-9 in Exercise 4.

It's this time of year where we start reflecting on the said at the beginning of the year mattered most.
past year and kind of evaluate how far we've come
and the goals we've accomplished. It's also the time ..................................................................
when we set out with new, great goals, and inevitably We often say "I want to write a book" or, "I want
we failed at a few of them, 25 percent of people to study more" or, "I want to learn a new
abandon their New Years resolutions after one week. language". That's a good intention, but hat's not
So how to make and keep to our New Year's specific enough. You might have a goal called " I
resolutions. Here are 9 mistakes people do that stop want to read more books." But that's not really a
them from achieving their resolutions: goal; it's a dream. But if you say, "I want to read
10 books this year" that's the kind of specificity
.................................................................. we're looking for. Or you could say, "I want to
This is important because if the goal doesn't stimulate learn photography." That's to general. But to say,
you, you're not going to put he effort in to accomplish "I want to complete the Karl Taylor Photography
it. Compelling goals are spiritually meaningful, Masterclass course…" That's the kind of
intellectually stimulating, emotionally, energizing, or specificity we need. This actually gives you some
physically challenging. Resolutions that don't motivate kind of parameters to move forward.
you, that are just set out of a sense of duty will be
quickly forgotten. ..................................................................
You have to have a date by which you're going to
.................................................................. accomplish that goal. "I'm going to lose 35
A study done by psychologist Dr. Gail Mathews at pounds by 1st July " There are a lot of benefits of
Dominican University of California showed that 42 deadlines, if we put a deadline on something,
percent of students who had written their resolutions then suddenly we're accountable for it.
were more likely to achieve them. So next time you're Sometimes, you may think there's a part of you
saying your goal out loud or to your friend, make sure that doesn't want to put a deadline on it, because
you write it down too. you can't foretell what's going to happen next
month or week. There are three main benefits of
.................................................................. deadlines, precisely they create a sense of
It's very common for us to have goals related to our urgency, balance your workload and help you
carers. However, if you're going to be fully expressed prioritize your daily tasks.
as a human being, if you're going to become all that
you were created to be, you have to set goals in the ..................................................................
other areas of your life. Your health, for example, your What gets measured gets improved, and to be
spiritual life, your marriage, your involvement in the able to measure it is partly an aspect of
community, career goals. All of those different slices of specificity, but let me give you an example. If
the pie have to be addressed if you're going to you say, "I want to earn more money” Well,
experience happiness and meaning in your 'new life'. how much more money? If you said, "I want to
convince my boss to give me a 10 percent raise
.................................................................. this year" that would have been a measurable
Sometimes we decide we're going to change our lives, goal. So you want it to be something you can
we're going to get really serious about resolution measure, something that's quantifiable,
setting, and we set 20, 25, or even 30 different something that makes you able to know when
resolutions in all of these different areas. That's simply you've crossed the finish line.
too many. According to an old Chinese proverb "Man
who chases two rabbits catches neither." Ideally set ..................................................................
yourself 7-10 goals in total. If the number of things you can do without
feeling anxious are few—you’ll either be anxious
.................................................................. a lot of the time or miss out on a lot of the
We create the goals, we lose them in our computers, excitement life has to offer. Change your frame of
we lose them in our desk drawers, and we just don't mind. View your comfort zone not as a shelter
keep them visible. If you don't keep them visible, but a prison. Don’t take the safe, known path
you're going to forget about them because life has a instead choose challenge over comfort, and set
way of coming at you faster than you can process, and goals that force you to get out of your comfort
you get sidetracked. You soon lose focus on what you zone.

created by Emily Kruszewska © 20I5 www.englishlessonplan.co.uk www.telcuk.com