This is a lesson for English learners. Read the quotes, go over the new vocabulary, and do the activity at the end of this lesson.

You can find many additional useful lessons in our online courses and downloadable eBooks. We also have free resources for teachers (stories, lesson plans, worksheets, and fun class activities).


Read:

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. 

Bill Vaughan, an American author

New Vocabulary:

kitchen

optimist: someone who believes that good things will probably happen.

Example: Amy is an optimist, and she is sure that they can avoid selling the house.

see (someone) in: to welcome a visitor and help them arrive at the right place.

Example: Can you please see in our guest? His room is on the second floor.

see in the New Year: to celebrate the beginning of a year by staying awake until midnight on December 31st.

Example: We are going to see in the New Year in beautiful Paris.

pessimist: someone who believes that bad things will probably happen.

Example: Don’t be such a pessimist, everything will be okay.

stay up: to stay awake instead of going to sleep.

Example: Tonight we let the kids stay up.


“Celebrate endings—for they precede new beginnings.”

Jonathan Huie, an American author

New Vocabulary:

celebrate: to do something special because it is an important day.

Example: How will you celebrate your wedding anniversary?

(em dash): a short line (in the width of the letter M) used to show a short break and separate parts of a sentence.

Example: Many left the city—it no longer had any jobs left.

cows eat grass

for: because of some reason.

Example: I don’t eat meat for several reasons.

dinner date

precede: to come before.

Example: On our date, a pleasant dinner preceded the movie.


“Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.”

Brad Paisley, an American country singer and songwriter

New Vocabulary:

a writer

blank: completely empty.

Example: I stared at the blank sheet of paper.


“You can’t go back and make a new start, but you can start right now and make a brand new ending.”

James R. Sherman, an author

New Vocabulary:

brand new: completely new.

Example: We got a brand new apartment.


“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.”

Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States

New Vocabulary:

a guy smoking

vices: bad habits.

Example: His only vice was smoking.

look up

at peace: in a state of friendship.

Example: I feel at peace with the world.

family

find: If a time finds you in a situation, it means you are in that situation, at that time.

Example: The afternoon found us talking and having fun.

Founding Fathers: the group of men who started the United States as a country and wrote its constitution. (A Constitution is an important document with the basic laws of a country. It describes what the government can and cannot do, and it protects the rights of the people.)

Example: Benjamin Franklin is one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

Activity


End of Sample Lesson

Get Vocabulary, Grammar and Teaching Tips, Site Updates, and Special Offers Directly to Your Email

Join our mailing list now and get a special bonus:
The first 2 chapters of the English Short Stories Book and Workbook.

English Short Stories-book and workbook

By submitting your email, you consent to receiving updates and newsletters from us and to the sharing of your personal data with third parties for the purposes of sending you communications. We will not spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information, please see our privacy policy.

Click to share:

Similar Posts