This lesson suits upper-intermediate to advanced learners. After listening, scroll down and test your knowledge with our quiz.
Learning notes
Lesson language objective:
How to talk about goals and New Year’s resolutions
Different ways to talk about our plans and goals
- I’m planning to shed a few pounds
- I’m going to work out more and get in better shape this year.
- I hope to travel more.
- I would like to manage my time better.
Different phrases we can use to wish someone good luck with their plans.
- You’ll do great!
- Fingers crossed!
- Go for it!
- Hang in there!
- Best of luck!
- You’ve got this.
Colloquial expressions:
Bring it on is an expression we use to show that we are impatient to do something extremely well.
If you are kicking a habit, you are stopping a bad habit.
If you are sticking to a budget, you are only spending the amount of money that you have already decided to spend so that you can save money.
Cultural information:
Making a New Year’s resolution, common in the Western world, is when a person decides around the beginning of January to make some kind of change in their behaviour, achieve some kind of personal goals, or improve their behaviour in some other way in the coming year.
Transcript:
(Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript)
SBS acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country and their connections and continuous care for the skies, lands and waterways throughout Australia.
Hi, my name is Josipa and like many of you, I started this new year feeling hopeful and optimistic that a great year is ahead of me. 2023, bring it on!
Bring it on is an informal phrase we can use to show that we are confident about meeting a challenge. For example, let’s say I meet Allan while going to work,
Hi Allan, where are you going this morning?
Allan
Hi , I have a job interview.
Josipa
D’you feel ready?
Allan
Yeah! I feel pretty confident! Bring it on I say.
Depending on the context, we can also use the phrase bring it on, among friends and family, to mean:
- Let’s get things started!
- Let’s go!
- I can’t wait! - which is also an expression we use to show that we are impatient to do something well.
By the way, my friends, Allan and Claire take the beginning of a new year very seriously.
For them, it’s the part of the year when it feels like they have a new chance to start a new habit and kick the old ones.
Do you know what kicking a habit means?
If not, listen on, I’ll tell you later, first let’s hear what Allan and Claire are saying. They are talking about their New Year’s resolutions.
Claire
So, I hear that you are planning to get fit in the new year?
Allan
Yeah, that’s right. I’m definitely going to work out more and get in better shape this year.
Claire
I guess that means that you’ll be focusing on diet and eating healthier?
Allan
Yes, I will, but it is going to be important that I learn to manage my time better so that I can find time for everything.
Claire
Any other drastic change?
Allan
Yep. I hope to kick the vaping habit. That’s enough about me, what about you?
It doesn’t really matter whether your goals in life are to - get organised, exercise more, save more money, lose weight, learn a new skill or hobby - you can use some of the phrases we just heard.
Let’s hear them again, one by one. First, there was Claire,
I hear that you are planning to get fit in the new year.
To get fit means to get in a good physical shape often by losing some weight, but the important thing is that she said is that she is planning to lose weight.
We say we are planning to something when we are sure that we are going to do it.
I’m definitely going to work out more and get in better shape this year.Allan
We use the phrase going to or not going to to express a plan or intention for the future.
And when we talk about things we want to do, but it’s not a definite plan we can say,
I hope to travel more.Claire
I hope to do this or that. Also, in this kind of situation we can use a phrase like Allan did when he said,
I’d like to manage my time better.
I would like to do this, or I hope to do that are phrases we can use when we are talking about something we want to do but we don’t necessarily have any definite plans .
A definite plan is a plan that has been made clearly and is without doubt.
Do you have a bad habit you are going to change? Can you think of a new habit you would like to start?
These questions can be good conversation starters, and while you think how you would answer them, I want to find out what Claire’s New Year resolutions are. Let’s hear them.
Allan
Yep. I hope to kick the vaping habit. That’s enough about me, what about you?
Claire
I’m thinking about traveling more, but I also want to save some money. So, I made a budget and now I’m sticking to it.
Allan
You’ll do great!
Claire
Fingers crossed!
Do you know what Allan meant when he said,
I hope to kick the vaping habit.
If you are hoping to kick a habit, you are hoping to get rid of it, to stop it.
Claire then talked about things she is considering doing that are not a definite plan yet, when she said,
I’m thinking about traveling more.
Claire also said something else, a phrase that I should say more often in my everyday life,
So, I made a budget and now I’m sticking to it.
If you are sticking to a budget, you are spending money according to a specific plan designed to help you save money. You can also ‘stick to’ other things such as a timeline or a plan.
At the end of the dialogue, we heard two expressions we can use to wish people good luck with their resolutions.
What phrase besides ‘good luck’ would you use? This is what Allan and Claire said,
You’ll do great!Allan
Fingers crossed!Claire
While to cross one's fingers is also a hand gesture commonly used to wish for luck in the Western world, in Vietnam, the gesture is considered rude as it refers to female genitals.
And, in German-speaking countries, Sweden and Latvia to cross one's fingers is a sign of lying.
But let’s go back to our phrases because there are many more ways to wish someone good luck. So, if you wish to encourage someone with their plans, you could also say,
- Go for it!
- Hang in there!
- Best of luck!
- You’ve got this!
For many of us, improving our English language skills is one resolution we made when we decided to set up our lives in Australia.
So today I invited Shirley Glaister who spent many years teaching English to adult migrants like us.
Hi Shirley, welcome to the show.
Shirley
Hi Josipa, it’s good to be here.
Josipa
Shirley, I’ve been working a lot on my English language skills during last years, but sometimes I feel like I’m not improving, which can be frustrating.
Shirley
You shouldn’t be too hard on yourself, that happens to many students….something along the lines of: learning curve slows down once people reach upper intermediate level
Josipa
Do you have any tips on including learning in our daily lives so that it doesn’t feel like studying?
Shirley
Conversation is the best way to improve your everyday English and your confidence.
Remember to practice the "Three As Technique" when someone talks to you.
So, answer the question, add some information then ask a question yourself.
For example, if a person asks you: "Where are you from?" you answer: "I'm from Beijing in China. (then add) It's a very big and busy city and is the capital of China. (and then ask) Have you ever been there?"
By using the "Three As Technique", you can keep a conversation going for longer and get to practice your English for longer too!
A big thank you to our educational consultant Professor Lynda Yates, our guests Shirley Glaister and Juncheng Guo, and Paul Nicholson and Lily O'Sullivan who voiced the characters of Allan and Claire.
