How to help students achieve their New Year’s resolutions

Nicola Pope
A group of students stood in a classroom high fiving eachother
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2025 is here. As we step into the new year, it's the perfect time to reflect on our recent challenges andachievements. It’s also a good moment to think about the future with optimism andplan our goals. Our students, too, are thinking about their New Year's resolutions.

As a teacher, you can help them consider how learning English will help them now and in the future. On top of this, you can guide them as they plan their goals and give them useful advice on how to achieve them.

How to help students with their resolutions
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Extended mind mapping

You probably already know how useful mind mapping can be when it comes to being creative or thinking about goals. This 30-minute activity will help your students think about how learning English will help them in the future and also consider what is most important to them.

You won’t need to prepare anything ahead of time, but you will need to supply each student with a large piece of paper (e.g., A3 size). If they are working online, they will need to have something to write on. Tools likeare a good, simple and free alternative if you want to be paper-free.

1. Write “How learning English can help me” on the board and have students copy it out in the center of the paper. Younger students can be more creative and also draw a picture of themselves if you think it will be more engaging for them.

2. Ask your students to call out ways English can help them now and in the future. Write them on the board in a spider diagram as they do so. Encourage them to expand on their ideas and speak in full sentences. For example:

“English can help me understand things on the internet.”

  • I can watch English-language movies;
  • I can read forums in English;
  • I can play online games in English.

Once students have understood the activity, put them in pairs or small groups and have them think of as many ways that English can help them as they can.

Encourage older learners to think about how English might help them with studying at university, living abroad and their future careers. Younger learners might be more focused on things that can help them in the immediate future. If you are working online, put them in breakout rooms to do so. Allow about ten to fifteen minutes for this.

3. Have each group share their ideas with the rest of the class. Students should add anything new or interesting to their own mind maps.

4. Next, students should individually rank which five ideas are most important to them. These will form the basis of their own personal language learning goals.

5. Then have students write out their five top language learning goals. Depending on the age and ability of the group, you may need to supply the structure. For example:

  • By the end of the year, I want to watch a movie in English.
  • By the end of the year, I want to be able to play online games in English.
  • By the end of the year, I want to pass my language exam.

Finally, once students have completed their own personal goals, set homework. They should consider what steps they need to take to achieve their goals. Also, encourage them to think about the following questions:

  • What can they do on their own?
  • What can you (the teacher) do to help them?

In the next class, reflect on their ideas and help students put a plan into action.

Tracking progress

Tell students to display their New Year's resolutions in a prominent place. If you’re working in a classroom, you can put them on the wall. If you are working online, you can have students print them and display them above their desks at home, or you could attach them to your virtual learning platform.

You should review their goals at different times throughout the year and quiz students on their progress. This will hold them accountable and keep them focused on what they want to achieve.

Encouraging a growth mindset

It's important to foster a growth mindset in your students. Remind them that learning a new language is a journey that requires patience and persistence. Celebrate their progress, no matter how small, and encourage them to view challenges as opportunities for growth.

We wish you the best of luck with your classes, whether they are face-to-face, online or hybrid and a very happy and healthy 2025.

Read our posts 'Building healthy New Year habits with your students' and 'The art of goal setting'.

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    6 tips for planning your first English classes

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    You are nervous, yet excited. You want to appear relaxed and fun, but still be taken seriously. Most of all, you are keen to make an excellent first impression.

    With all that in mind - planning your first English classes of the year can be a daunting experience.

    Here are six things to consider when planning your first classes:

    1. Set clear aims

    Whether you are teaching young learners, teenagers or adults, it’s important you discuss the aims and objectives of the course from day one. You’ll need to learn more about your students' needs to do this. Why are they learning English? Do they want to prepare for an official exam? What activities do they enjoy? What things do they need to improve the most?

    The way you do this will depend on the age of your learners. For example, with adults and teens, you could get them to interview each other and write a report about what they found out. With younger children, do a survey they can complete using smiley faces.

    2. Find out students’ interests

    Although you should understand your students' needs and why they want to learn English - to help make your classes relevant and engaging - you should also discover what they enjoy doing outside of class.

    To do this, get students to write mini bios you can stick around the classroom. Or have them prepare presentations where they share something they are passionate about with the rest of the class - using coursebooks. As a class, go through the contents page, vote on which topics students find most interesting, and start with those.

    3. Break the ice

    You want your first class to be fun so that students are motivated, and associate English language learning with something they can enjoy. Ice-breakers can also be an excellent way to get to know each other and learn about your students' current level of English.

    Activities where students have to ask each other questions work well.

    4. Provide a comfortable environment

    Young learners and teenagers tend to be shy at the start of a course - especially if they don’t know each other. Develop a rapport and break down boundaries by including team-building activities in your first class.Your aim is to have all the students feeling more comfortable with each other before the end of the lesson so that there are no awkward silences in future lessons.

    5. Manage expectations

    Managing expectations is an essential part of a teacher's job. Make sure in the first class you are clear about what you expect from your students and what they can expect from you.

    Have students brainstorm the rules for the class and then make a big poster or ‘class contract’ which all students have to sign. Display the poster on the wall so you can always refer to it if someone misbehaves.

    Try to keep the rules as positive as possible. Instead of writing: 'Don’t speak your first language', write: 'Try to always speak English and ask if you don’t know a word'. If you are feeling really brave, you can even get your students to devise a list of rules for you which you can display on the wall next to theirs.

    6. Make it challenging

    It’s great making your first lesson fun - but there’s nothing more motivating than leaving a new class and feeling like you’ve made a good decision and you are going to learn lots (and you aren’t wasting your time or money). This is especially important for adult learners.

    So, as well as getting to know each other and finding out their needs, teach them something new. This could be 10 new pieces of vocabulary, how to structure a letter or report, or a list of resources they can use at home to practice their English.