This Tooth

Parents and teachers, how many of you played “tooth Fairy” to your children when they lost their milk teeth? Did your children finally find out where this tooth Fairy came from? Or does this still remain a wellguarded airy-fairy story?

surely, you have many teeth and dentist-related stories to share. now, how about making and sharing a list of teeth-related expressions to enrich your children’s command of language in context?

It’s also helpful to collect and keep handy for use, idioms or phrases related to body parts.

Activity A

1. read the poem silently while thinking about your own “wobbly tooth” experience.

2. read aloud. after each line, do the action (you can add “wiggling” it with the tongue, if you like). next, one person reads while the other does the action at the same time. 3. Can you add to the list of alliterations in the poem? (You learnt about this special word in our Year Four series – check The Star for the Sounds Like Magic lesson.) Here’s an example: wiggle-wibble-wobble.

4. there is a message in this poem. What is it? share your answer with others.

Activity B

1. Use your imagination: the words in the first stanza can be used to describe something else that you might be trying very hard to do. Change the last stanza to add your own. share with your teacher and friends.

2. shape poem: Draw a tooth. Write a little poem inside the tooth.

3. Draw a few teeth in a row. add an emoji to each tooth to show: i. mouth open wide as instructed by your dentist ii. fear of pain iii. pain iv. tears running down your face v. a clean, shiny, happy tooth!

Activity C

1. tooth-to-tooth talk: Draw two teeth having a conversation. One is a firm tooth; the other is wobbly. What are they saying to each other?

2. read the sentences below. then, choose and complete each sentence with a tooth-related idiom or phrase provided in the box.

a sweet tooth fighting tooth and nail long in the tooth lying through your teeth i. Yes, my grandfather is getting old. He has been _____________________. ii. Let’s get sharon some bars of chocolate for her birthday. We know she has ____________________________. iii. If you haven’t done your homework but insist that you have, then you are guilty of ____________________________. iv. He has been admitted to hospital for Covid-19. the doctors and nurses are ___________________ to cure him.

now, write down the meanings of these idioms in your own words. remember to learn these special expressions and use them in your spoken or written english.