Introduction:

This is a board game activity to talk about New Year’s Resolutions. It is a great way to help students practise speaking skills as well as reflect on their goals and plans for the following year. This activity is also a great opportunity to review future tenses if you think your students might benefit from it or need it.

Don’t forget to feed students new vocabulary throughout the activity, correct and/ or find opportunities to help them express themselves more precisely and accurately. 

Level: B1+

Objectives:

1. To write new year resolutions
2. To practise speaking skills
3. To increase fluency and confidence

Materials:

A die (or an online dice roller) 

Procedure:

1. Write the words New Year’s Resolutions on the board and check that all students understand the meaning and/or concept of it.
2. Give students examples of some resolutions you have made in the past e.g. to go for a run three times a week, to move house, to go to the beach more often, to eat less pasta, to refine your style etc. and ask them to guess which ones you managed to stick to and which ones you didn’t manage to keep.
3. Put students in pairs or small groups and ask them to choose 5 resolutions for the coming year that they plan to keep and discuss them with their partner(s).
4. Display Turn over a new leaf on the screen.
5. In pairs or small groups, one of the students throws the dice twice – the first throw indicates which column they should use, and the second throw indicates which row, to obtain the topic.
6. The player (s) discuss the resolution they have landed on. I have given you a list of questions the students can answer to help them out if the conversation runs dry: 1. Does it match any of the resolutions you wrote down in the previous activity? 2. Have you ever made a similar resolution? 3. Would you be happy to add it to your list? 4. If you have made a similar resolution before, were you successful in sticking to it? 5. If you have tried to do it before, what advice would you give to your classmates?
7. Encourage students to ask additional questions and ask for clarification and details. 
8. At the end, ask students to review their initial lists to see if they want to add any new ideas to them. Also ask students to put their resolutions in order of difficulty and give reasons why.

Related posts:

2020 Round-up

P.S. Happy New Year