Julietta Schoenmann
Do your students look forward to re-starting school after the holidays? Probably not! You can
make life easier for them by helping them plan the practical steps they need to take as the big
day approaches. As well as offering useful tips, this activity helps to develop students’ listening
skills and revises imperative forms for giving instructions.
Segment: secondary
Level: intermediate
Materials:
• Pictures or drawings on the board of the follwing - school bag, happy teenager, school
timetable, unhappy teenager, calendar with date of new school year on it
• Youtube video clip entitled Kickstart your School Year - https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=ICbJCiMK-sg
• Listening task and vocabulary handouts
Procedure:
1. Introduce the activity by showing the pictures or drawings on the board
2. Put students into pairs. Ask them to look at the pictures and tell their partner how they
think the pictures are connected
3. As a class, invite suggestions from volunteers. Tell students that the pictures are connected
because they show how students feel about the start of the new term. Ask students how they
feel at the start of a new term – happy or depressed?
4. Tell students that they are going to listen to a student called Mariana giving tips on what to
do before the new term begins
5. Write the following topics on the board:
1. Adapt to a new sleep schedule
2. Have a final holiday party
3. Prepare in advance
4. Get new school supplies
5. Eat lots of healthy food
6. Prepare your wardrobe and outfits
7. Closure
8. Plan your first week
9. Get a new haircut
10. Indulge in a mini-spa
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6. Tell students that Mariana gives 7 tips. They should watch the clip and choose the topics that
she mentions
7. Ask students to check their answers quickly in pairs. Answer: 1), 3), 4), 6), 7), 8), 10)
8. Check that students understand the meaning of each topic (the title not the details) and
explain where necessary
9. Ask students to say if these topics are useful for both boys and girls. Which ones are useful
for girls only? Are there any other tips they would add for boys?
10. Tell students they are going to watch the video clip again. Distribute Handout 1 with the
true/false statements on it. Ask students to decide if each one is true or false as they listen
11. Ask students to check their answers in pairs, then check the answers with the whole class.
Answers: 1) True 2) False - set it a little earlier each day so your body gets used to waking up
early 3) True 4) False - reuse all the items you can 5) False – buy a few clothes that you can
mix and match 6) True 7) True 8) False – give yourself these treatments at home
12. Ask students to work in groups and discuss which tip they found most useful and why.
13. As a whole class ask one or two group leaders to say which tip they found useful and the
reason for their choice.
Follow-up: Vocabulary
There’s lots of great vocabulary in the video for students to learn. Let them use a learner’s
dictionary such as the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary online:
http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/
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Listening Task - Handout 1
You are going to watch the video clip again. As you watch, read the True/False
statements below. Decide if each one is True or False as you listen. Put a tick
() in the column on the right.
Statement True? False?
1) Starting the new school year is tough
2) Set your alarm clock at the same time every day
3) Get advice from other students/friends about your
frenew teachers and textbooks.
4) Buy lots of new stationery items
5) Buy new clothes for each day of the school week
6) Make an album with photos from your holiday fre-
while listening to your favourite music
7) Have some fun in your first week of the new term for
– for example see a film with friends
8) Go to an expensive spa hotel to make yourself fre-
beautiful for the new term
Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICbJCiMK-sg
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Vocabulary Task - Handout 2
1. Match each of the following words and phrases from the clip with their meaning
on the right:
Word/phrase Definition
1) To kickstart something a) To look for the cheapest price of an item
2) Dreadful b) To leave a task until you have no more time left to
do it
3) Flexibility fre c) To improve the appearance of old clothes,
furniture, buildings, etc
4) To wait until the last d) To choose 4 or 5 favourite clothes items that you
minute can match with each other, rather than having a
large number of clothes that you don’t wear
5) To search for the best e) Liquid, crystals or powder that you add to a bath
deals to make it smell nice
6) To reuse something f) To finish or close a process, relationship, period of
time
7) To revamp something g) To make the nails on your hands and feet
beautiful
8) To de-clutter your h) To cause something to start quickly
closet
9) To create a capsule i) The ability to change easily
wardrobe
10) To give yourself j) To use something again
closure
11) To cherish memories k) To remove unnecessary items from your
wardrobe
12) Bubble bath l) To keep memories in your mind because they are
important to you
13) To give yourself a m) Very bad
manicure and pedicure
2. Now choose 4 new words/phrases that you would like to use. Use them in your
own sentence when you go back to school!
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