Monthly lesson plan - This year I...

• If possible, elicit from learners what kind of changes people make at the start of the year. Use prompts if needed (health, study, work, relationships)
• On the board write the following sentences or display slide 1:

• This year, I’m going to be nicer to my sister.
• This year, I’m going to run a marathon.
• This year, I’m not going to eat chocolate.

• Ask the learners if they know what the statements refer to and write New Year resolutions on the board and explain what this means

Note: You may need to explain what New Year resolutions are if they don’t happen in the culture you are working in. Explanation for A2 learners: New Year's resolutions are things you want to change or do in the new year.

Ask the learners whether they made any New Year resolutions this year. Use this opportunity to determine their knowledge/ use of ‘going to’.

• Display slide 3 or give out the worksheet
• Tell learners they have 2 minutes to identify 5 resolutions mentioned in the text.
• Ask learners to compare ideas in pairs before taking whole class feedback
• Elicit if any of these ideas are surprising or interesting.

Resolutions mentioned in the text

1. Take up a sport
2. Start dancing
3. Go for walks
4. Join local clubs
5. Sketching
6. Cooking
7. Play a musical instrument
8. Eat fewer sugary foods
9. Eat more healthy foods
10. Do more recycling
11. Reduce single-use plastics
12. Eat less meat
13. Conserve water
14. Limit screen time
15. Do daily acts of goodwill

• Ask which three resolutions the writer is going to make. (answers shown in bold)
• You can display slide 3 which highlights all the options

Note: Encourage learners to give answers as sentences, using their own words

• Go back the 3 sentences from the lead in (...be nicer to my sister; run a marathon; quit eating chocolate). Highlight the first sentence as an example of ‘going to’.
• Go through how to form the ‘going to’ structure with the learners: I‘m going to be nicer to my sister.

         subject + be + going to + infinitive

• Elicit the negative form:

         I’m not going to be horrible to my sister.

         subject + be + not + going to + infinitive

• Choral drill the pronunciation (stress on: nicer/sister; not/horrible/sister). Use the weak form of to (/tə/) during the drill
• Elicit more ideas for resolutions from learners and feed in the ideas below:
• save money, not eat so much, tidy up my bedroom, not keep stuff I don’t need, go travelling, not spend so much time on social media
• For each one, elicit the resolution with going to/not going to (you could nominate learners). Then choral drill the pronunciation.

• Learners write four resolutions for the rest of the year that are true for them (in notebooks or exercise 2 on their worksheet).

Note: If using the presentation display slide 4.

• Monitor and support with vocabulary as needed.
• Ask learners to turn over their worksheets or close their notebooks and tell their partner their resolutions.
• Monitor and elicit corrections on the spot.

• Ask one of the learners what their partner is going to do and not going to do and write the sentences on the board. Use the sentences to focus on the correct form and pronunciation of ‘be going to’ in the 3rd person.

        She isn’t going to spend all day on social media

        /ʃ ɪ jɪ zn/             /tə/

• Put learners with different partners and ask them to report what their old partner is going to do to their new partner. Monitor and elicit corrections on the spot.
• Conduct whole class feedback asking learners to read out some of their own and some of their partner’s sentences. Write a few of these on the board exactly as the learners read them.
• Go through any mistakes and remind learners of the correct form.

• Ask learners to think about their resolutions in more detail and write down three things that they are going to do to achieve them. Give them an example:

         This year I’m going to save more money.

• I’m going to keep a record of all the money I spend every day.
• I’m not going to spend more than ten euros on lunch.
• I’m going to open a savings account.

• As a follow up, now or in the next class, ask one of the learners to read out one of their resolutions from the previous stage, and write it on the board, as below.

What are going to do?                             How are you going to do it?

I’m going to run a marathon

• Ask the learner questions with ‘Are you going to ...?’ to find out what they are going to do to achieve their goal. When you have asked the questions,
• Elicit from the learners what you said and write the questions in the second column, as below. Focus learners’ attention on the correct way to form the questions.

  What are going to do?                             How are you going to do it?

  I’m going to run a marathon                       Are you going to run every day?

                                                                     Are you going to buy running shoes?

•  Put learners into small groups

• They repeat the above procedure, i.e. one learner reads out their resolution (but NOT the three things they are going to do to achieve it!) and the other learners in the group ask questions to try to guess the three things.
• Finally, the learner who read out their resolution tells the group what they decided they would need to do to achieve their resolution.
• You could open this up to a whole class activity with points awarded for correct guesses.         

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/42522336 - Reference for reading text
• https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/51150-what-new-years-resolutions-are-britons-making-for-2025 - Article about common New Year resolutions for 2025