Hey there, this is Teacher Ola Podcast episode 73: What’s Your New Year Resolution? Vocabulary Booster
My name’s Ola and I’ve overcome a massive language blockade myself and now I help you do the same. I’ve been teaching English since 2012. If you want to eliminate your fear of speaking and boost your vocabulary, brush up your grammar, improve your pronunciation, this podcast is for you! Go to my website for full transcripts and worksheets to each episode. Happy learning!
Hey there! Welcome back! Right at the end of this amazing year we are asked more often than not about our New Year’s Resolutions. I went on YouTube and found a video from the end of 2019. The whole video is made up of people, different people answering the question: What is your New Year’s resolution. It was interesting for me to watch because we all know now what has happened this year. But the people who answered this question right at the beginning of 2020 had no idea. No idea. They were planning travelling, being more social and many more goals that couldn’t be met. So, I thought I would pick the most interesting ones, ones you might need when planning 2021. Maybe you get inspired. You will find a link to this video I’ve mentioned in the show notes to this episode. Teacherola.com/73.
So, today I have twelve example answers . You’ll learn how to say you don’t like New Year’s resolutions, you don’t have any, you’re not planning to have them. Is it ‘do’ or ‘make’ a New Year’s resolution? What’s a cliche? What does it mean when someone says: I wanna get my shit together. I’ll give you four meaning of one phrasal verb, and you’ll find out who is a homebody. Finally, you will repeat eighteen sentences with all the phrases you’ll have learnt in this episode. Let’s do this, let’s start with the first answer.
I haven’t even thought about that.
Maybe you are one of these people who simply don’t make New Year’s resolutions. Or maybe, you’ve forgotten to make them. Maybe you haven’t had enough time to sit down summarise the past year and make some new plans. Whatever the reason, use present perfect to say you haven’t thought about that. I haven’t even thought about that, yet you may wanna add. Wait till the practice part comes, you’ll practice this sentence again. Focusing on pronunciation and intonation. Now, remember the pattern. Present perfect. Because it’s not too late, you can make some plans today, or tomorrow, you’ve just haven’t made them yet. The past participle, that is the third form of the verb think is ‘thought’, past simple is, in fact, the same, ‘thought’. Think – thought – thought.
I don’t ever really do New Year’s resolutions.
Wait a moment. ‘Do’ or ‘make’? ‘Do resolutions’ or ‘make resolutions’? Well, the correct answer is ‘make’. We make or we don’t make New Year’s resolutions. But in the sentence: ‘I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions’ it’s slightly different. What that person meant was that they just don’t do it. They don’t do this task. It’s not that they didn’t make them because of lack of time or ideas. It’s not the case. By saying ‘I don’t do new years resolutions’ you say quite frankly you never do them. It’s not your thing, you’re not that kind of a person. End of discussion.
I don’t believe in New year’s resolutions, it’s cliched.
Brilliant! Many people don’t see the New Year’s Day as an opportunity, as a new beginning. For them, any day is a new beginning. New opening. What does it matter when you make your plans and set your goals? There’s no point in doing it on this particular day just because everybody does that. For them, it’s a popular cliche. A cliche is an idea or phrase that has been used so much that it is not effective or does not have any meaning any longer. The bottom line is that New Year’s resolutions don’t last. Unfortunately. Most people stick to their goals for a few months and then they forget about it or they lose motivation, they lose the willpower to pursuit them. I used to be that person. I didn’t make any resolutions because back then it was cliched for me. So I get it, I know where you’re coming from if it is your point of view.
My New Year’s resolution is to drink more water.
I treat this answer as a pattern. My new year’s resolution is to and then you put a verb in the infinitive. To go, to see, to meet, to do, to make, to eat, to lose, to visit, to read and so forth. By the way, drinking more water is, in fact, my resolution as well. I do track how much water I drink daily, I monitor it eagerly because I used to neglect it. And I was dehydrated and well, you don’t wanna go there. Drink your water. Stay hydrated. If you don’t have any resolution you can safely pick this one. And stick to it! It’s not a joke, it’s a solid resolution.
I wanna be better organised, wanna get my shit together, I wanna start waking up earlier.
Here I picked three resolutions that follow the same pattern. I wanna. I wanna is a contraction, totally informal, use it when speaking fast and in an informal context. It can be replaced with ‘I want to’,I wanna is shorter and easier to pronounce. I wanna do this. After wanna, or want to use the infinitive. I wanna go, I wanna see, I wanna get, I want to do, I want to achieve,I want to stay and so forth.
Now, let’s see the vocab. I wanna be better organised. Notice the use of ‘better’ so the comparative form of ‘well’. Well – better – the best. I wanna be well-organised. Maybe she is well-organised, but she needs to improve it even further. She hasn’t met her expectations yet.
The second resolution in this pattern was ‘I wanna get my shit together’, and that means basically the same. I wanna get better organised. To get your shit together means to be more effective, organised or skilful.
The third example also follows the pattern: I wanna start waking up early. You may say, wait a moment, there’s a continuous form there! waking up! But let’s hear it again: I wanna start waking up earlier. After the infinitive ‘start’ we can use both, the verb with the -ing ending or another infinitive. Here, we have gerund, that is the -ing ending. I wanna start doing something. I wanna start waking up, I wanna start jogging, I wanna start eating healthy food, I wanna start playing board games.
I’m going to start working out.
I’m going to, I have a plan, I’m planning it, sounds serious. But, that’s not what I want to talk about. Grammar is not my main focus today. Vocabulary is, and here we have an exciting phrasal verb which I can’t ignore.
To work out has several meanings. The first is to train the body by physical exercise. The second: to develop in a successful way. The third meaning is to understand somebody’s character. I can’t work her out, for example. To work out also means to solve. Like to work out a solution, a problem, to work out where to do something, for instance. Can you believe it’s not all? There are more meanings of this phrasal verb. Search for more. Stay with me till the part of this episode where you practice sentences repeating them out loud. I’m giving you sentences to repeat with all the meanings you’ve heard. Don’t forget to download the worksheet and translate Polish sentences into English. I’ve prepared many sentences with this phrasal: to work out. The worksheet is at teacherola.com/73 or in your inbox if you’re a member of TOPeople.
I want to be more of a homebody.
What a nice resolution made in 2019 because I’m fairly sure it’s been fulfilled. Who hasn’t become a homebody in 2020 huh? Who is a homebody? It’s a person who enjoys spending time at home. See? Some New Year’s resolutions were spot on back in 2019. Ok, homebody. Bingo.
I want to be more in tune with my surrounding and with myself.
What a resolution! Love it! To be more in tune with my surrounding. To be in tune with something, to be aware of something, of other people’s feelings, thoughts. Good one. It’s like I want to be more present. Mindfulness, good stuff.
I would like my business to really take off, I wanna lift it off the ground
Take off. You might understand ‘take off’ as ‘to remove clothes’. Like in: take off your jacket. But take off has more meanings. Planes take off, they leave the ground and begin to fly. But here, in: I would like my business to really take off. It’s something yet different. To take off means to become successful or popular.
I just get too caught up on social media
To get or to be caught up on something means to become involved in something, especially when you do not want to be. Spending too much time on social media is my vice for sure, so yup, I’m going to put this one on my list.
Ok! That’s all I’ve prepared. I found these resolutions interesting and put them together for you in this episode. I hope maybe you’ve got inspired or at least you’ve learnt some new phrases or meanings. Now, don’t leave me because it’s your turn. It’s time for your practice, so, listen, try to retain the sentence in your memory and then repeat, say it out loud. It’s crucial, it has to be out loud.
I haven’t even thought about that.
I haven’t thought about New Year’s resolutions yet.
I don’t believe in New year’s resolutions, it’s cliched.
There’s no point in doing it on this particular day just because everybody does that.
I don’t ever really do New Year’s resolutions.
I do track how much water I drink daily, I monitor it eagerly because I used to neglect it.
Stay hydrated. If you don’t have any resolution you can safely pick this one.
I wanna start playing board games.
One of these days I’ll get my shit together.
She hasn’t met her expectations yet.
I work out regularly to keep fit.
My first job didn’t work out.
I’ve never been able to work her out.
I couldn’t work out where the music was coming from.
The new magazine has really taken off.
Her singing career took off after her TV appearance.
How did you get caught up in this mess?
Well done! Thank you for staying with me, repeating all the sentences, you’re awesome. Now, go to your inbox and find an email form me, download worksheet 73 and translate 10 sentences into English. If you don’t receive my emails, it’s something we can fix. Go to teacherola.com/newsletter and sign in. You can download the worksheet at teacherola.com/73 as well. teacherola.com/73. This is your homework. Check yourself, see how much you’ve been able to remember from this particular episode.
Ok, let’s wrap up. What have you learned today? How to answer the question that people are asking you around the end of the year. The dreadful question: What’s your New Year’s resolution? Let’s have my suggestions listed:
I haven’t even thought about that.
I don’t ever really do New Year’s resolutions.
I don’t believe in New year’s resolutions, it’s cliched.
My New Year’s resolution is to drink more water.
I wanna be better organised.
I wanna get my shit together.
I wanna start waking up earlier.
I’m going to start working out.
I want to be more of a homebody.
I want to be more in tune with my surrounding and with myself.
I would like my business to really take off, I wanna lift it off the ground.
I just get too caught up on social media
Here you have it! The whole episode on how to answer the question about New Year’s resolutions. I hope you enjoyed it and learned a lot. If so, share it with your friends. Don’t forgent to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
Next week we’re going to explain song lyrics. Till then, have a good week, please take care. Happy learning bye-bye!