- Level: A1, A2
- Handout on TPT
- Media: Video
- Language focus: Routines, Verbs
What is your daily routine?
My daily routine is the backbone of my success. I am nauseatingly disciplined and predictable. Even when I’m on vacation, I still need to do some of the same tasks to start the day on the right foot. For example, whether it’s a normal week, or I’m in the woods camping, I must start the day sitting quietly with a hot latte. Even my children have learned not to disturb me during that time.
Making Peace with my Limits
Clearly, somewhere down the road of my life, I have made my peace with the fact that if I don’t eat well, I feel like crap. If I don’t do enough exercise, my jeans get tighter. If I don’t make lists and prioritize, I feel overwhelmed and stressed. And if I don’t get a good night’s sleep, it all goes to hell.
Discipline and Repetition
Undoubtedly, the secret for me is doing the same things, in the same order, every day. It may sound boring, but it works. I don’t even have to think about it. And if I get that evil voice that says “forget the push-ups, just for this morning”, I really try to ignore it. It’s not that I am overly rigid, but in the grand scheme of things, I know what I need to feel good even if that means that while doing it, I feel like I’m dying.
Lesson Notes
For this lesson on daily routines, I found a great animated short that really sparks the good vs the bad habits. So not only can you generate the vocabulary of habits, you might get into a debate about why we need our habits and why it is difficult to maintain the good ones and push the bad ones aside.
You can use the accompanying handout ($1.99 on TPT). It includes key vocabulary and answer key. Or you can just watch the video and discuss with the questions included in this post.
Pre discussion
- What do you do every day?
- What do you do every week?
- What do you do every year?
- What routines make you feel good?
- What routines make you feel not so good?
The Video: THE CHOICE by Project Better Self
Discussion
- Make a good and bad list
- What are some of the choices you make every day that contribute to your health?
- What happens when you make good choices (mentally, physically)?
- What are some of your “guilty pleasures”?
- Is it possible to be too disciplined?
- Do you agree with everything in the video?
- If you were to change one thing in the good example, what would it be?
