🔥 Lesson 8 — Breaking Bad Habits

 

🔥 Lesson 8 — Breaking Bad Habits (B2 Level)

Objective: Understand and change habitual behaviour patterns

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📖 1. Reading — Breaking the Habit Loop

Bad habits are rarely the result of a single decision. In most cases, they are part of a habit loop — a cycle that includes a trigger, a routine, and a reward.

For example, stress (trigger) can lead to scrolling social media (routine), which gives temporary relief (reward). Over time, this loop becomes automatic and difficult to interrupt.

To change a habit, it is not enough to simply stop it. You need to disrupt the pattern and replace the behaviour with something more constructive.

Successful people do not rely only on willpower. Instead, they design their environment to reduce temptation and make good choices easier. For instance, if someone wants to improve their health, they might remove junk food from their home and substitute it with healthier options.

Another key factor is consistency. Occasional effort is not enough to create lasting change. The brain adapts through repetition, not intention alone.

Ultimately, breaking bad habits is about awareness, structure, and self-discipline — not perfection.

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🧠 2. Vocabulary (B2 Level)

Word	Meaning
eliminate	completely remove something unwanted
resist	avoid giving in to something
disrupt	interrupt a pattern or process
substitute	replace something with another
temptation	strong desire to do something unhelpful
trigger	something that causes a reaction
habit loop	repeated behavioural cycle
relapse	return to a bad habit after stopping
self-discipline	ability to control behaviour
consistency	steady, repeated effort over time

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🧠 3. Grammar Focus — Negative Imperatives & Strong Advice

We use Don’t + verb for direct warnings or strong advice.

Basic form:

• Don’t give in to temptation.

• Don’t ignore your triggers.

• Don’t repeat the same mistake.

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B2 upgrade (more natural alternatives):

Instead of only “Don’t…”, we also use:

• You should avoid exposing yourself to triggers.

• Try not to reinforce the habit loop.

• It is important not to undermine your progress.

• Avoid situations that encourage relapse.

👉 This makes your language more precise and less emotional.

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💬 4. Speaking Practice

🧠 Part 1 — Understanding habits

1. Why are bad habits difficult to eliminate?

2. What is a habit loop in your opinion?

3. Can willpower alone change behaviour?

4. What role does environment play in habits?

5. Why do people often relapse?

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🔄 Part 2 — Strategies for change

6. Is it better to resist a habit or replace it? Why?

7. How can someone disrupt a bad routine effectively?

8. What makes temptation stronger in daily life?

9. How can environment be redesigned to support good habits?

10. Why is consistency more important than motivation?

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🧠 Part 3 — Personal reflection

11. Have you ever successfully changed a habit?

12. What helped you maintain consistency?

13. What usually triggers bad habits in your life?

14. What habit would you like to eliminate permanently?

15. What substitute behaviour could replace it?

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🎤 Part 4 — Speaking Task (2–3 minutes)

👉 Topic: “How I would break a bad habit”

Try to include:

• eliminate

• trigger

• habit loop

• resist

• substitute

• consistency

• temptation

Example start:

“To break a bad habit, I first need to identify the trigger that activates it…”

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🧠 5. Homework — Behaviour Change Plan

Choose one habit you want to change and write a plan:

Step 1 — Identify

• What is the habit?

• When does it happen?

• What is the trigger?

Step 2 — Analyse

• What reward does it give you?

• Why is it difficult to eliminate?

Step 3 — Strategy

• How will you disrupt the habit loop?

• What will you substitute it with?

• How will you reduce temptation?

Step 4 — Consistency

• How will you stay consistent for 7–14 days?

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🌟 Final idea

Change does not happen by stopping a behaviour.
It happens by understanding the system, disrupting the loop, and replacing it with something better.

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