With this lesson, students will expand their vocabulary related to goals, self-reflection, and motivation while practicing advanced verbs and idiomatic expressions such as back to square one, burn the midnight oil, put your best foot forward, and many more! They’ll gain confidence discussing personal ambitions, setbacks, and achievements, and learn how to evaluate progress, set realistic goals, and reflect meaningfully on personal growth.
lesson overview
This B2–C1 ESL lesson explores New Year’s resolutions, goal setting, and self-improvement through reflective discussion, advanced vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, and video-based tasks. Students examine why resolutions often fail, how mindset affects success, and how tools like SMART goals and vision boards can support meaningful change. The lesson encourages deep personal reflection while building fluency, accuracy, and confidence in expressing abstract ideas. The user-friendly digital format allows easy navigation in presentation mode with just a click of the spacebar, requiring no additional software.
Target Audience:
- Level: B2–C1 (Upper-Intermediate to Advanced)
- Best for: Adults and older teens
Content Breakdown:
- Before Class: watch a video & true or false
- Warm-Up: discuss the video
- Vocabulary Focus & Fill-in-the-Gaps
- Guided Discussion
- Short Video Task: SMART Goals
- Goal Analysis
- Speaking Task
- Idiomatic Expressions
- Opinion-Based Speaking
HOMEWORK (Extra Language Immersion):
Watch & Reflect
Students read an article on vision boards and goal achievement and take part in a follow-up discussion. The task encourages critical thinking, vocabulary recycling, and reflection on how visualization and action work together to support long-term goals.