Today's chat - New Year Celebrations!
2018 is only a few days away which means people all over the world will soon be celebrating.
It’s a great topic for conversation!
Here are some facts and vocabulary to help you speak about it! I am adding some worksheets too which we can use to discuss the grammar.
New Year’s Resolutions
Resolutions are goals or ideas that people will often make for themselves, to set a plan for the future.
At the start of a new year, many people make resolutions for the year ahead, as it gives a fresh new start to life. These are important dreams or goals they hope to fulfil in the coming year. They might often be related to their health, for example, a resolution to start a diet, do more exercise or stop smoking.
You can also make resolutions about other subjects – and they can be as big or small as you like. For example, you can make a resolution to learn a new skill or language, travel more, or simply make some changes to your lifestyle. ( Just an idea but one of your resolutions could be to practise English more!) Look at worksheet 1.
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
These two dates are pretty special – and they come at either end of the calendar!
New Year’s Eve is December 31st – this is the day before the next year starts.
New Year’s Day is January 1st – this is the start of a brand new year!
In many places, New Year’s Day is often a public holiday ( Bank holiday in the UK) – so many people enjoy a relaxed start to the new year, especially if they’ve been celebrating the night before!
Countdown
If you’ve ever celebrated the start of a new year, you might have seen a special countdown, where the last few seconds are counted down before midnight strikes and the New Year officially begins.
In many places, it’s a time of great anticipation and excitement. In the UK people listen to the strike of Big Ben at midnight.
Auld Lang Syne
Pronounced “old lang sine”, this is the name of a well known song that is sung across the UK and other English speaking countries, when celebrating the New Year. The words might seem a little strange and unfamiliar to you – this is because it’s actually written in a Scottish dialect.
Don’t worry if you don’t know the lyrics to the song though – the most important part is taking part and having a good time with everyone!
Have a look at tenses we use everyday in simple conversations.
Present continuous to ask questions about the near future
Verb To Be + verb ING form or Going to + verb
Are you getting ready for 2018? How are you going to celebrate?
Are you planning anything special? Are you staying at home or are you going out?
What are you wearing? Or What are you going to wear?
Now you think of more questions! It's important you practise asking questions.
Look at my worksheets which will help you prepare for your conversations.
Worksheet 1 is about your New Year's resolutions and 2 about New Year's Eve. There's also worksheet 3 about food for celebrations and worksheet 4
with lots of conversation ideas.
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