What do you wish for 2016?

At the beginning of the new year, it is common to say what we will do better in the coming year, or what we hope will happen to improve our lives.

We asked callers on Skype about their wishes for 2016. We learned that they want to live in peace and improve their English. They all said it was important to set a goal and do all they could to achieve it.

Abdul Kareem in Saudi Arabia says, "The world is going on in a bad situation these days. Like war ... I pray for the world to live in in peace, to become united again. Also, I'm praying [for] my situation to become good."

Studying online for a better job

Kareem says he plans to work on an online master's degree in technology and improve his English in 2016. He says, "Right now I'm doing a distance learning master's degree in IT and trying to finish it by November 2016, I'm hoping that later on I find a better job."

Nadeem Rohani in Afghanistan says "I wish to have peace in our country, to be happy – all the people in our country. I wish just this."

Rohani is studying and hopes to improve his vocabulary in the coming year. He studies computer science using English textbooks. "I want to read English for university, and I want to be [as good as] a native speaker."

Keep trying to meet a goal

Ibrahim Haid is from Afghanistan. He is studying for a master's degree in political science in India. "I would like to visit the U.S.A. Sometime, I want to improve my English like an American accent and like my native language. ... I want to take TOE FL exam, and one day I want to come and visit the U.S."

He says he lives by this motto: "Try, try, try, and one day you will fly. So I'm always trying."

Tamim Bakhshi is a secondary school student in Sweden. After he finishes school he plans to go to college. He would like to be a football player, too. "I wish to reach my goal next year. ... I'm the kind of person who has a great, or high goal. I never give up about something. I will try, try to reach it."

What is your goal for 2016? Write to us in the Comments section and on our Facebook page.

Dr. Jill Robbins wrote this story for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

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Words in This Story

achieve – v. to get or reach (something) by working hard

distance learning – n. a method of study where teachers and students do not meet in a classroom but use the Internet, e-mail, mail, etc., to have classes

accent – n.  a way of pronouncing words that occurs among the people in a particular region or country

secondary school - n. (U.S.) high school; (Brit) a school for children between the ages of 11 and 16 or 18