A2 ESL Video Lesson Plan: New Year’s Resolutions

Lesson Summary:
This ESL video lesson plan is built around a thought-provoking short video that explores New Year’s resolutions and why they often fail. Aimed at Pre-intermediate (A2) to Intermediate (B1) learners, the lesson encourages reflection on goal setting, habits and personal change through viewing, discussion, roleplay and writing. Learners also engage with an article titled Why Small Habits Lead to Big Change, allowing them to deepen understanding and apply ideas to their own lives.

Learning Objectives:
• To introduce students to the concept of New Year’s resolutions.
• To explore reasons why New Year’s resolutions often fail.
• To expand vocabulary related to goals, habits and personal change.
• To develop viewing, listening and reading comprehension skills.
• To improve speaking skills through discussion and roleplay.
• To develop writing skills through creative and reflective tasks.
• To improve visual representing skills through multimodal homework tasks.

Lesson Activities:
• Warm-up discussion on New Year’s resolutions.
• Prediction and guided viewing of the video.
• Comprehension and analysis tasks.
• Vocabulary development activities.
• Roleplay based on goal setting and setbacks.
• Reading and discussion of a follow-up article.
• Reflective writing and discussion.

Learner Type:
Pre-intermediate (A2) to Intermediate (B1) mature teens and adults.

Language Focus:
• Vocabulary related to goals
• Habits and routines
• Personal change and reflection

Benefits for Teachers:

• Save hours of preparation with a fully developed, flexible lesson plan
• Engage students through compelling stories and real-world themes such as emotional intelligence, character, values, empathy, personal development, identity, relationships, global issues and social issues
• Build classroom routines that integrate multimodal literacy naturally and progressively
• Foster more inclusive and differentiated learning by using varied modes of input
• Promote social-emotional learning (SEL)
• Rely on a trusted methodology backed by educational research and grounded in the theories of Vygotsky, Kress, Mayer and Krashen

Benefits for Learners:

• Develop communicative competence and confidence through integrated skill-building
• Expand vocabulary and improve listening and reading comprehension through repeated, meaningful exposure
• Think critically and creatively while exploring powerful social and emotional themes
• Strengthen emotional intelligence and intercultural awareness through affective engagement with multimodal texts

Watch the short video.

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We hope you enjoy this ESL video lesson plan.

Thanks for being part of the Film English community, and happy teaching!
— The Film English Team

Transform Your English Classroom with the Multimodal Approach
This ESL video lesson plan is built around a thought-provoking short video and designed using the innovative Multimodal Approach, integrating listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and representing. Engage learners with real-world themes, develop communicative competence, build vocabulary and foster critical thinking through dynamic, research-informed activities. Find out more about the Multimodal Approach and join thousands of teachers transforming their classrooms with Film English.