New Year in the UK
and New Year's resolutions for language learners
Hello everyone!
Happy New Year and my best wishes for you for 2024!
January 1st is New Year's Day in a lot of countries today but not all. I know that some countries, cultures and religions have different traditions and celebrate New Year at a different time of year. Some countries even use two different calendars and have New Year twice!
Somebody asked me recently about the connection between New Year and Christmas. Although you’ll often see or hear “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!” the two celebrations are actually completely separate and unrelated in the UK. It’s just a coincidence that they happen a week apart. New Year has nothing to do with Christmas or religion. It’s a secular holiday here.
(Secular = not connected to religion)
Read on if you'd like to learn about how people celebrate the new year in the UK. Practise your reading skills at the same time.
New Year in the UK
In England, December 31st is called New Year’s Eve. Many people like to celebrate the new year with their friends (whereas Christmas is more often spent with family). Some people go out for a meal or go to a pub or nightclub while others invite friends round to their home for a party.
People usually stay out until after midnight so they can see in the new year. At midnight, everyone counts down the last ten seconds until 12 o’clock, maybe with the TV or radio on so they can hear Big Ben strike 12 in London. Then they wish each other a Happy New Year, kiss loved ones, hug friends and drink champagne!
There is usually a spectacular firework display in London. Fireworks are set off from the bank of the River Thames, from boats on the river and from the London Eye. The first display like this was to celebrate the new millennium at the end of 1999 and it has happened most years since then.
Not everyone goes out on New Year’s Eve. Some people have a quiet evening at home. There are plenty of good things to watch on TV, including the London firework display. People also set off fireworks in their gardens so there’s no chance of an early night!
In Scotland, New Year’s Eve is called Hogmanay, a Scots word, and the celebrations are even bigger there than in England. There is a big street party in Edinburgh. They have a custom called first-footing. The firstfoot is the first person to enter the house in the new year and brings gifts such as whiskey, fruit cake or even coal for good luck. Another tradition is to sing a song called "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight and people link arms to sing it.
New Year’s Day (January 1st) is a national holiday in the UK. Many people go out for a walk, perhaps to burn off some of the calories they have consumed over the Christmas and New Year period! If New Year’s Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, then the following Monday will be a holiday instead so we always get a day off.
A lot of people make New Year’s resolutions, for example, “I’m going to lose weight this year” or “I’m going to see my family more often” or “I’m going to learn Spanish”. Many people sign up for gym membership! A lot of gyms have special offers in January to take advantage of this! Of course, most resolutions are broken or forgotten within the first week!
New Year’s resolutions for language learners
Have you made any New Year's resolutions this year? Maybe you want to improve your English in 2024!
May I make a suggestion? If you say "I'm going to learn English this year," it's very general and not that easy to achieve. It's better to make your resolution something more specific and doable. Here are some ideas for you. You can choose one idea or more from this list, depending on what suits you, and you can change the numbers.
Speak English for 10 minutes every day, even if I am only talking to myself!
Spend 15 minutes studying every day.
Learn 10 new words every day.
Read a news story in English every weekend.
Watch a short video in English every day.
Write three sentences in my journal in English every day.
Improve my level from B1 to B2.
Learn about all the verb tenses.
Make a list of my most common mistakes and try to fix them.
Get some English lessons.
I'm going to try to brush up on my German this year! I'm going to try to spend at least ten minutes a day on Duolingo or reading something in German!
What about you? What are you going to do?
See you next week!
Katie
Thanks for reading! I’m Katie Salter and I teach British English online. I help adult learners to speak better English through conversation practice and grammar lessons.
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Wonderful, thank you.