NCERT Textbook - Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth | English Class 9 PDF Download

 Page 1


89
1. Parents  alone are responsible for inculcating a good sense of dental  hygiene
amongst children. Do you agree/disagree? Discuss with your partner.
2. Listen to the poem.
1 Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth,
And spotted the perils beneath.
All the toffees I chewed,
And the sweet sticky food,
5 Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.
I wish I’d been that much more willin’
When I had more tooth there than fillin’
To pass up gobstoppers.
From respect to me choppers,
10 And to buy something else with me shillin’.
When I think of the lollies I licked,
And the liquorice all sorts I picked,
Sherbet dabs, big and little,
All that hard peanut brittle,
15 My conscience gets horribly pricked.
My mother, she told me no end.
‘If you got a tooth, you got a friend.’
I was young then, and careless,
me teeth: my teeth
gobstoppers: a large, hard sweet
liquorice: candy made with the dried root of the liquorice plant
sherbet dabs: tiny sweets
P .5   Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth
                                                                        by  Pam Ayres
POETRY
Unit
Page 2


89
1. Parents  alone are responsible for inculcating a good sense of dental  hygiene
amongst children. Do you agree/disagree? Discuss with your partner.
2. Listen to the poem.
1 Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth,
And spotted the perils beneath.
All the toffees I chewed,
And the sweet sticky food,
5 Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.
I wish I’d been that much more willin’
When I had more tooth there than fillin’
To pass up gobstoppers.
From respect to me choppers,
10 And to buy something else with me shillin’.
When I think of the lollies I licked,
And the liquorice all sorts I picked,
Sherbet dabs, big and little,
All that hard peanut brittle,
15 My conscience gets horribly pricked.
My mother, she told me no end.
‘If you got a tooth, you got a friend.’
I was young then, and careless,
me teeth: my teeth
gobstoppers: a large, hard sweet
liquorice: candy made with the dried root of the liquorice plant
sherbet dabs: tiny sweets
P .5   Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth
                                                                        by  Pam Ayres
POETRY
Unit
90
pokin’  and fussin’: checking carefully
amalgum;  a vowel changed for better impact- a mixture of mercury and silver used to make fillings
My toothbrush was hairless,
I never had much time to spend.
Oh, I showed them the toothpaste all right,
I flashed it about late at night,
But up-and-down brushin’
And pokin’  and fussin’
25 Didn’t seem worth the time-I could bite!
If I’d known, I was paving the way
To cavities, caps and decay,
The murder of fillin’s
Injections and drillin’s,
30 I’d have thrown all me sherbet away.
So I lay in the old dentist’s chair,
And I gaze up his nose in despair,
And his drill it do whine,
In these molars of mine.
35 “Two amalgum,” he’ll say, “for in there.”
How I laughed at my mother’s false teeth,
As they foamed in the waters beneath.
But now comes the reckonin’
It’s me they are beckonin’
40 Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.
About the Poet
Pam Ayres (1947- ) is a contemporary writer, a great entertainer who writes and
performs comic verse. She started writing poems and verses as a hobby and has
appeared in every major TV show in the U.K. She has published six books of poems,
and cut seven record albums including a collection of 50 best known poems.
Poetry
Page 3


89
1. Parents  alone are responsible for inculcating a good sense of dental  hygiene
amongst children. Do you agree/disagree? Discuss with your partner.
2. Listen to the poem.
1 Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth,
And spotted the perils beneath.
All the toffees I chewed,
And the sweet sticky food,
5 Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.
I wish I’d been that much more willin’
When I had more tooth there than fillin’
To pass up gobstoppers.
From respect to me choppers,
10 And to buy something else with me shillin’.
When I think of the lollies I licked,
And the liquorice all sorts I picked,
Sherbet dabs, big and little,
All that hard peanut brittle,
15 My conscience gets horribly pricked.
My mother, she told me no end.
‘If you got a tooth, you got a friend.’
I was young then, and careless,
me teeth: my teeth
gobstoppers: a large, hard sweet
liquorice: candy made with the dried root of the liquorice plant
sherbet dabs: tiny sweets
P .5   Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth
                                                                        by  Pam Ayres
POETRY
Unit
90
pokin’  and fussin’: checking carefully
amalgum;  a vowel changed for better impact- a mixture of mercury and silver used to make fillings
My toothbrush was hairless,
I never had much time to spend.
Oh, I showed them the toothpaste all right,
I flashed it about late at night,
But up-and-down brushin’
And pokin’  and fussin’
25 Didn’t seem worth the time-I could bite!
If I’d known, I was paving the way
To cavities, caps and decay,
The murder of fillin’s
Injections and drillin’s,
30 I’d have thrown all me sherbet away.
So I lay in the old dentist’s chair,
And I gaze up his nose in despair,
And his drill it do whine,
In these molars of mine.
35 “Two amalgum,” he’ll say, “for in there.”
How I laughed at my mother’s false teeth,
As they foamed in the waters beneath.
But now comes the reckonin’
It’s me they are beckonin’
40 Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.
About the Poet
Pam Ayres (1947- ) is a contemporary writer, a great entertainer who writes and
performs comic verse. She started writing poems and verses as a hobby and has
appeared in every major TV show in the U.K. She has published six books of poems,
and cut seven record albums including a collection of 50 best known poems.
Poetry
91
3. On the basis of your reading of the poem, complete the following table.
Stages in the life of the poet Indulgence Consequences
(a) Youth eating toffees __________________
_________________ __________________
_________________ __________________
_________________ __________________
_________________ __________________
(b) Adult hood _________________ gazing at the dentist in
_________________ despair.
_________________
4. On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions
by ticking the correct choice.
(a) The title ‘Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth’ expresses  __________.
(i) regret
(ii) humour
(iii) longing
(iv) pleasure
(b) The conscience of the speaker pricks her as she has __________.
(i) been careless
(ii) been ignorant
(iii) been fun loving
(iv) been rude
(c) The speaker says that she has paved the way for cavities and decay by  __________.
(i) eating the wrong food and not brushing.
(ii) not listening to her mother
(iii) laughing at her mother’s false teeth
(iv) not listening to the dentist
(d) The tone of the narrator is one of __________.
(i) joy
(ii) nostalgia
(iii) regret
(iv) sorrow
Poetry
Page 4


89
1. Parents  alone are responsible for inculcating a good sense of dental  hygiene
amongst children. Do you agree/disagree? Discuss with your partner.
2. Listen to the poem.
1 Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth,
And spotted the perils beneath.
All the toffees I chewed,
And the sweet sticky food,
5 Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.
I wish I’d been that much more willin’
When I had more tooth there than fillin’
To pass up gobstoppers.
From respect to me choppers,
10 And to buy something else with me shillin’.
When I think of the lollies I licked,
And the liquorice all sorts I picked,
Sherbet dabs, big and little,
All that hard peanut brittle,
15 My conscience gets horribly pricked.
My mother, she told me no end.
‘If you got a tooth, you got a friend.’
I was young then, and careless,
me teeth: my teeth
gobstoppers: a large, hard sweet
liquorice: candy made with the dried root of the liquorice plant
sherbet dabs: tiny sweets
P .5   Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth
                                                                        by  Pam Ayres
POETRY
Unit
90
pokin’  and fussin’: checking carefully
amalgum;  a vowel changed for better impact- a mixture of mercury and silver used to make fillings
My toothbrush was hairless,
I never had much time to spend.
Oh, I showed them the toothpaste all right,
I flashed it about late at night,
But up-and-down brushin’
And pokin’  and fussin’
25 Didn’t seem worth the time-I could bite!
If I’d known, I was paving the way
To cavities, caps and decay,
The murder of fillin’s
Injections and drillin’s,
30 I’d have thrown all me sherbet away.
So I lay in the old dentist’s chair,
And I gaze up his nose in despair,
And his drill it do whine,
In these molars of mine.
35 “Two amalgum,” he’ll say, “for in there.”
How I laughed at my mother’s false teeth,
As they foamed in the waters beneath.
But now comes the reckonin’
It’s me they are beckonin’
40 Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.
About the Poet
Pam Ayres (1947- ) is a contemporary writer, a great entertainer who writes and
performs comic verse. She started writing poems and verses as a hobby and has
appeared in every major TV show in the U.K. She has published six books of poems,
and cut seven record albums including a collection of 50 best known poems.
Poetry
91
3. On the basis of your reading of the poem, complete the following table.
Stages in the life of the poet Indulgence Consequences
(a) Youth eating toffees __________________
_________________ __________________
_________________ __________________
_________________ __________________
_________________ __________________
(b) Adult hood _________________ gazing at the dentist in
_________________ despair.
_________________
4. On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions
by ticking the correct choice.
(a) The title ‘Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth’ expresses  __________.
(i) regret
(ii) humour
(iii) longing
(iv) pleasure
(b) The conscience of the speaker pricks her as she has __________.
(i) been careless
(ii) been ignorant
(iii) been fun loving
(iv) been rude
(c) The speaker says that she has paved the way for cavities and decay by  __________.
(i) eating the wrong food and not brushing.
(ii) not listening to her mother
(iii) laughing at her mother’s false teeth
(iv) not listening to the dentist
(d) The tone of the narrator is one of __________.
(i) joy
(ii) nostalgia
(iii) regret
(iv) sorrow
Poetry
92
5. Answer the following questions.
a) “…But up-and-down brushin’
And pokin’ and fussin’
Didn’t seem worth the time-I could bite!”
What do these lines convey?
b) Why did the poet go to the dentist? How could she have avoided it?
c) “If you got a tooth, you got a friend”, what do you understand from the line?
d) With reference to the poem, how can you look after your teeth?
e) Give an appropriate proverb that conveys the message that this poem carries.
6. From page 150, your teacher will read out the conversation between Doki and
his sister, Moki. As you listen complete the idioms and expressions listed below.
1. sleep…...….............………….
2. ………....……….me the willies
3. crack the…………..............….
4. take the……………….to water
5. …………...................…….tail.
6. wonders will……….........…….
7. ……………….can’t be undone.
8. reap what I …………………….
Idioms are metaphorical expressions rather than literal. For example ‘give someone
the willies’ does not simply mean ‘to handover something called willies to someone’,
but ‘to make someone feel nervous’. It is important for learners of English to
understand them and be able to use them.
7. Read the following statement and imagine you are Jack.
“I can’t afford to, after what Jack’s done to his teeth.”
What is it, you think, you can not afford to do and why? Write a diary entry of
not less than 125 words.
(In-class activity; not to be set up as homework).
JUST THINK
8. In line 35, the poet has misspelt the word ‘amalgum’.  Why do you think she has
done that? Discuss.
Poetry