New Year

Idioms
1 Match the idioms with their definitions.

1. New year, new me! A. To change your behaviour

B. To celebrate the moment when the

2. To turn over a new leaf
New Year arrives

3. To tighten your belt C. To change your habits

4. To kick the habit D. To change your life completely

5. To mend your ways E. To give up something bad for you

6. To get back into the swing

F. To return to normal
of things

7. To shake things up a bit G. To change everything

H. To totally change your behaviour or

8. To stick to something
appearance in the new year

9. Out with the old and in with

I. To try and save money
the new

10. To ring in the new year J. To follow a plan of action

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There are many acronyms associated with English language teaching. These include (but are not limited to) ELT, TEFL, EFL, ELL, EAL and ESOL. While the term ESL may not
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 New Year Idioms

2 Read Laila’s paragraph about New Year’s resolutions and fill in the gaps with the
idioms below. There is one example.

out with the old and

to turn over a new leaf to shake things up a bit
in with the new

to kick the habit to stick to something new year, new me

A New Year’s Resolution is something people decide to do on 1st January in order to continue

good behaviour like doing exercise, being kind to others or spending less money. It’s a

tradition in the Western world, although not many people to the resolutions

that they make, they usually end up breaking them or simply forgetting about them after a
week. For example, last year my older sister Delilah said she would turn

and behave better at school after she was called to the head teacher’s

office so many times at school. Her resolution only lasted two weeks! What a shame. On the

other hand, my mum decided to kick

and stopped eating chocolate for the whole year! She’s

really strong, I could never do that because chocolate is

my favourite food. This year, I’m going to shake

and cut my hair

really short and dye it blonde - new ,

, you know? It’ll be a big change, but I’m

ready to do something different. Like they say, out with

and in , right?

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 New Year Idioms

3 Answer the questions.

1. Have you ever made a New Year’s Resolution?

2. Can you think of a new habit you would like to start this year?

3. Do you have a bad habit you would like to change?

4. Are bad habits hard to break? Why?

5. Do you think the beginning of the year is a good time to start something new?

6. Write down three things you would like to achieve this year.

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 New Year Idioms Answers
1. Match the idioms with their definitions:

1. H 5. A 9. G

2. D 6. F 10. B

3. I 7. C

4. E 8. J
2. Read Laila’s paragraph about New Year’s resolutions and fill in the gaps with the idioms
below. There is one example.

A New Year’s resolution is something people decide to do on 1st January in order to continue
good behaviour like doing exercise, being kind to others or spending less money. It’s a
tradition in the Western world, although not many people stick to the resolutions that they
make, they usually end up breaking them or simply forgetting about them after a week. For
example, last year my older sister Delilah said she would turn over a new leaf and behave
better at school after she was called to the head teacher’s office so many times at school. Her
resolution only lasted two weeks! What a shame. On the other hand, my mum decided to
kick the habit and stopped eating chocolate for the whole year! She’s really strong, I could
never do that because chocolate is my favourite food. This year, I’m going to shake things up
a bit and cut my hair really short and dye it blonde - new year, new me, you know? It’ll be
a big change, but I’m ready to do something different. Like they say, out with the old and in
with the new, right?

3. Students’ own answers

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