Part 1
1. What aspirations would you like children to have? How can we influence the goals that our children set?
2. If you could ask anyone, living or dead, for advice, who would it be and why?
3. Do you think children born into poorer families face more obstacles to achieving their dreams? What difficulties might they face?
4. What is your vision for the future? Is it optimistic or pessimistic?
5. What is something on your bucket list that you are determined to cross off in the next 5 years? What steps will you take to make your dream come true?
6. Would you be willing to sacrifice all of your free time if it meant you could earn a huge amount of money?
7. Which famous figure do you respect most for what he/ she accomplished?
8. How important is a positive mindset in achieving a goal? Why is it important?
Part 2
9. Ideally, where would you like to be in ten years in your career and personal life?
10. Did you strive to be successful from a young age? How can we motivate kids to be more ambitious?
11. Do you think people prioritise different goals at different points in their lives? How have your priorities changed as you get older?
12. Is hard work, motivation and dedication enough to be successful, or do we also need natural talent?
13. Who is the most driven person you know of? What makes/ made them different from other people?
14. What is the appeal of having a very expensive car? Why do so many people chase this dream?
15. What skills would you like to perfect in the future?
VOCABULARY
Topic Vocabulary:
appeal (verb):
Definition: Something that makes people like or want something.
Example: The colourful toys had a strong appeal to the kids
aspiration (noun [c]):
Definition: A strong desire or hope to achieve something.
Example: Her aspiration is to become a successful entrepreneur.
bucket list (noun [c]):
Definition: A list of experiences or achievements that a person wishes to have during their lifetime.
Example: Skydiving is on my bucket list of things to do before I die.
chase a dream (verb phrase):
Definition: To try to achieve a very big personal goal.
Example: He decided to chase his dreams and left his job to start up his own business.
dedication (noun [u]):
Definition: Being committed and putting in effort to reach a goal.
Example: The athlete's dedication to daily training paid off with a gold medal.
draw (verb):
Definition: To attract or make someone interested in something or someone.
Example: The beautiful artwork drew people's attention at the gallery.
drive (noun [u]):
Definition: The push that makes you work hard and get things done.
Example: She was driven to become CEO.
ideally (adverb):
Definition: How things would be just right, in a perfect world.
Example: Ideally, we'd have sunny weather for our picnic.
make a dream come true (verb phrase):
Definition: To turn your hopes and wishes into something that you can actually do or have.
Example: With determination and hard work, you can make your dream of becoming a published author come true.
motivation (noun [u]):
Definition: The reason that makes you want to do something.
Example: The thought of winning the game was his motivation to practise every day.
obstacle (noun [c]):
Definition: Something that gets in the way or causes difficulty.
Example: The heavy traffic was a major obstacle on his way to work.
perfect (verb):
Definition: To try to improve your performance to the point where you make no mistakes.
Example: He worked hard to perfect his negotiation skills.
positive mindset (noun phrase):
Definition: Thinking optimistically and focusing on solutions.
Example: Having a positive mindset helps you see opportunities in challenges.
prioritise (verb):
Definition: To choose something as the most important or urgent thing to focus on or achieve.
Example: He prioritised success in his career over everything else in his life.
sacrifice (noun [c]):
Definition: Refers to giving up something valuable or important in order to achieve a greater goal or benefit.
Example: Many athletes sacrifice their personal time and social life in order to train and compete at a high level.
set a goal (verb phrase):
Definition: To decide what you want to achieve.
Example: She set a goal to read ten books this summer.
set your mind on sth. (idiom):
Definition: To really focus on one thing and want it a lot.
Example: He set his mind on becoming a chef and practised cooking every chance he got.
strive (verb):
Definition: Working hard and making an effort to achieve something.
Example: She will strive to improve her grades by studying harder.
struggle (noun [c]):
Definition: A difficult or challenging experience.
Example: It was a struggle to overcome the language barrier while studying abroad.
vision (noun [u]):
Definition: An idea or image of something that you want to achieve in the future.
Example: The company's vision is to create an affordable electric vehicle.
Exercise 1: Gap-fill Exercise
Fill in the blanks with the appropriate form of a word from the list provided below.
1. Achieving your goals requires ___________ and hard work.
2. Despite facing many ___________, he remained determined to pursue his dream.
3. She has a clear ___________ of what she wants to achieve in the next 10 years.
4. It's essential to ___________ your most important goals to ensure you're working towards what truly matters to you.
5. With dedication and a ___________ mindset, she was able to overcome every obstacle in her path.
6. To make a dream come true, one must be willing to ___________ certain short term pleasures.
7. He ___________ his mind on becoming a programmer and after 3 years he was one.
8. Despite the fact that she ___________ to finish school, she became one of the richest people in the
country.
prioritise
struggle
dedication
positive
vision
sacrifice
obstacle
set
Exercise 2: Matching Exercise
Match the vocabulary word on the left with its corresponding definition or description on the right.
1. appeal
2. aspiration
3. bucket list
4. chase a dream
5. drive
6. ideally
7. make a dream come true
8. perfect
a. A list of things a person wants to do or achieve before they die.
b. The quality of being attractive or interesting.
c. A big goal that you would like to achieve in the distant future.
d. To go after or work towards a big goal.
e. A strong feeling of enthusiasm or motivation.
f. To remove any mistakes from your performance.
g. In the best possible situation or circumstances
h. Achieving a big goal.
Exercise 3: Multiple-Choice Exercise
Choose the best word to complete each sentence.
1. Despite facing numerous ___________, she persevered and achieved her goal.
a) aspirations
b) struggles
c) visions
2. He decided to ___________ a dream he had since childhood and work towards becoming a professional musician.
a) chase
b) set
c) sacrifice
3. The ___________ of being her own boss kept her motivated while she was starting up her business.
a) dedication
b) perfect
c) appeal
4. It's important to have a ___________ mindset and stay focused on your long-term objectives.
a) positive
b) perfect
c) drive
5. The company's ___________ to be more sustainable and socially responsible attracted environmentally conscious consumers.
a) drive
b) draw
c) obstacle
6. To achieve success, one must be willing to ___________ certain comforts and work hard.
a) chase
b) prioritise
c) sacrifice
7. After many years during which she ___________ to build her business, it became very successful.
a) strive
b) perfect
c) aspiration
8. Once she ___________ a goal for herself, she would always achieve it.
a) struggle
b) set
c) strive
Vocabulary Answer Key:
Exercise 1: 1. dedication, 2. obstacles, 3. vision, 4. prioritise, 5. positive, 6. sacrifice, 7. set, 8. struggled
Exercise 2: 1b, 2c, 3a, 4d, 5e, 6g, 7h, 8f
Exercise 3: 1b, 2a, 3c, 4a, 5a, 6c, 7a, 8b
Advanced Discussion Questions
10. Hopes & Dreams
SPEAKING
