(source: Harper Collins)

Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face

Be glad your nose is on your face,
not pasted on some other place,
for if it were where it is not,
you might dislike your nose a lot.

Imagine if your precious nose

were sandwiched in between your toes,
that clearly would not be a treat,
for you'd be forced to smell your feet.

Your nose would be a source of dread

were it attached atop your head,
it soon would drive you to despair,
forever tickled by your hair.

Within your ear, your nose would be

an absolute catastrophe,
for when you were obliged to sneeze,
your brain would rattle from the breeze.

Your nose, instead, through thick and thin,

remains between your eyes and chin,
not pasted on some other place--
be glad your nose is on your face!
_________________________________________________________________

1. Which body parts can you find in the poem?

1…………………………………….. 6…………………………….…..….

2…………………………………….. 7…………………………….….……

3…………………………………….. 8……………………………………..

4…………………………………….. 9…………………………………..…

5…………………………………….. 10……………………….……………
2. Listen and draw
Listen to the descriptions and then draw them into the picture below.

3. Expressions
Which word fits which face best? When you have matched all the words:
work in pairs. One of you acts out an expression and the other one guesses
which one, of course in English!

Arrogant-Blissful-Cautious-Cold-Curious-Confident-Agonised-Bitter-
Disapproving-Determined-Concentrating-Bored-Angy-Disgusted-Confident-
Disappointed-Anxious
4. Fill in the missing words
Listen to the song and fill in the missing words
5. Would you change your body?
Watch the trailer, then answer these questions. Then work in pairs: talk
about each other’s answers

1. What do you think about plastic surgery?

2. Why do you think a lot of famous people have plastic surgery?

3. Would you like getting plastic surgery? Why/why not?

6. Find the body parts in the puzzle

Arm Hand Nose

Bladder Head Skin
Bone Heart Spine
Brain Kidney Toe
Ears Leg Tongue
Eyes Liver Veins
Foot Lungs
Finger Muscles
FOR THE TEACHER
Level: 1/2/3 vmbo-t/havo

About the author

Jack Prelutsky

In 1940, Jack Prelutsky was born in Brooklyn, and attended Hunter

College in New York City. Although he claims to have hated poetry
through most of his childhood, he rediscovered poetry later in life, and
has devoted many years since to writing fresh, humorous poetry aimed
specifically at kids.

"I realized poetry was a means of communication, that it could be as

exciting or as boring as that person or that experience."

After stints as a truckdriver, photographer, folksinger, and more, he is now the author of
more than thirty collections of original verse and anthologies of children's poetry, including:
Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Facey And Other Poems (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins,
2008); Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems (2006); The Beauty of the Beast:
Poems from the Animal Kingdom (2006); The Random House Book of Poetry for Children
(1983); Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep (1978), and The Queen of Eene (1976).

In 2006, Prelutsky was named the first Children’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation.
He lives in Seattle, Washington, and spends much of his time presenting poems to children in
schools and libraries throughout the United States . (source: poets.org)

The poem
- Pupils watch and listen to the poem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=T9K0DoVMZvs
- Hand out the worksheets
- Now play it again while the pupils read along

Exercises

1. Which body parts can you find in the poem?

1. nose. 6. hair
2. face 7. ear
3. toes 8. brain
4. feet 9. eyes
5. head 10. chin
2. Listen and draw
descriptions: big ears; small eyes; curly hair; thin eyebrows; round nose; big mouth with
square teeth.

3. Expressions
Which word fits which face best? When pupils work in pairs (acting out and guessing
expressions): walk around the classroom to encourage them, help them and join in!

4.

Fill in the missing words

 Play the song: http://youtu.be/eAfyFTzZDMM
Pupils fill in the missing words while they listen

5. Change your body?

 Pupils watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pJCSnjHa4Q
They answer the questions and then discuss them in pairs. Walk around to help them.
Encourage them to speak English.

6. Find the body parts in the puzzle

Pupils who are finished can work on the puzzle.

Arm Hand Nose

Bladder Head Skin
Bone Heart Spine
Brain Kidney Toe
Ears Leg Tongue
Eyes Liver Veins
Foot Lungs
Finger Muscles
(source: sarafurlong.worldpress.com)