The African Queen
Before Reading
before reading activities (page 77)
ACTIVITY 1 BEFORE READING
1T 2F 3F 4T 5F
ACTIVITY 2 BEFORE READING
Encourage students to speculate and to make
guesses, but do not tell them the answers. They will
find out as they read that the answers are 1b, 2b,
3a.
While Reading
ChApTers 1 And 2 whIlE READING
Rose was the unmarried sister of a missionary.
She admired her brother and always followed his
advice. When he died, at first she felt afraid, but
her self-confidence soon returned and she began to
feel angry with the Germans. She was a woman of
strong character and was a quick learner, and soon
realized that she could probably persuade Allnutt to
do what she wanted.
Allnutt was a mechanic from London. He lived a
rough kind of life and was not well educated, but he
was very good with machinery and engines, and had
a lot of experience of African rivers. He had a weak
character and did not like arguing, so he thought it
was best to agree with Rose’s plan for a while.
Before reAdIng ChApTer 3
Encourage students to guess, but do not tell them
the answers. They will find out as they read that the
answers are Rose’s plan, two days, and Rose.
ChApTers 3 And 4 whIlE READING
1 Why . . .? Because it was more trouble to argue with
her than to obey her.
2 What . . .? About taking the boat past Shona and
down the rapids.
3 Who . . .? Rose
4 What . . .? She emptied all the gin bottles over the
side of the boat.
5 Who . . .? Allnutt
6 Why . . .? Because he could not live with Rose’s
silence, and he wasn’t intelligent enough to win the
battle against her.
7 What . . .? He thought Rose and Allnutt were
coming to surrender.
8 Why . . .? Because they had got past Shona, escaped
the Germans, and survived the first rapids.
oxford bookworms library stage 4
Stage 4
Before reAdIng ChApTer 5
Encourage students to guess, but do not tell them
activities answers
the answers. They will find out as they read that the
relevant answers are 1 and 3.
ChApTers 5 And 6 whIlE READING
1+8 Although Rose and Charlie had become lovers,
they both knew they would still continue with
the plan.
2+10 The shaft and the propeller were very badly
damaged, but Rose was confident that Charlie
could mend them.
3+6 When Rose and Charlie set off again down
river, they both said a secret goodbye to each
other.
4+9 In the delta the water was thick with weeds and
roots, which meant they had to pull the boat
along by hand.
5+7 At last they came to the end of the mangrove
swamp and knew that they had succeeded in
reaching the lake.
Before reAdIng ChApTers 7 And 8
Encourage students to guess, but do not tell them
the answers. They will find out as they read that
what happens is 1a, 2c, and 3c.
After Reading
ACTIVITY 1  AFTER READING
1 The British commander at Port Albert (page 69).
A young officer has just told him that the Königin
Luise is steaming towards the port with a white flag
flying.
2 Rose (page 22). She has just emptied all the gin
bottles over the side of the boat, to punish Charlie
for getting drunk and for refusing to agree to her
plan.
3 The German officer at Shona (page 26). He and
his men have just failed to stop the African Queen,
which is now steaming away from Shona down the
river.
4 Samuel (page 4). He has just said prayers with
Rose but is seriously ill with fever, and knows he is
probably going to die.
© Oxford University Press
5 The captain of the Königin Luise (page 71). Shots
from the British motorboats have just hit his engine-
room, and he knows he cannot save his ship.
6 Charlie (page 49). He has just climbed back onto the
boat, after clearing weeds from the propeller, and
discovered that he is covered in leeches.
 the african Queen
 ACTIVITY 2  AFTER READING
Students can complete this conversation how they
like. Some suggestions:
RepoRteR: So, Miss Sayer, you and Mr Allnutt left the
village and set off down the Ulanga. Go on with
your story.
activities answers
Rose: Well, we went down river towards Shona, but
just before we got there, we stopped for a couple of
days. We had – well, we had a bit of an argument,
you see.
RepoRteR: An argument? What was that about, then?
Rose: I wanted to go on past Shona to the lake, and then
use the explosives we had to make some torpedoes,
so that we could attack the German gunboat. But
Charlie thought it was too dangerous. The Germans
would shoot at us as we went past Shona, and even if
we got past, we would never get through the rapids.
But in the end Charlie agreed to-try.
RepoRteR: So you went on and got past Shona. Then
you were in the rapids. Weren’t you frightened, Miss
Sayer?
Rose: Not really. I found it terribly exciting. There
wasn’t time to think about anything except steering
through the rocks. But it was frightening when we
hit a rock and damaged the propeller.
RepoRteR: The propeller? But how did you manage to
fix it in the middle of the forest?
Rose: Oh, Charlie is wonderful at mending things. He
took off the shaft and the propeller under water.
Then he straightened the shaft, and mended the
propeller with a piece of old boiler.
RepoRteR: Well, Mr Allnutt certainly sounds a very
clever mechanic. And what happened when you got
to the delta?
Rose: That was very hard work. We had to pull the
boat by hand through very narrow channels in
the reeds, then through a lake of water-lilies, and
finally through a mangrove swamp.
RepoRteR: But why couldn’t you use the engine?
Rose: Because the water was full of weeds and roots,
and we were afraid of damaging the propeller again.
RepoRteR: What a terrible journey! And then in the lake
you made your torpedoes and planned your attack.
Rose: Yes, but the attack failed. There was a storm on
the lake and the boat sank. The Germans found us
on the islands and took us prisoner, and then took
us to Port Albert and gave us to the British. And
they sent us down to Matadi.
RepoRteR: Well, at least you’re not German prisoners
© Oxford University Press
of war. What are your plans now?
Rose: Charlie and I are getting married tomorrow.
RepoRteR: Tomorrow? Oh, that’s wonderful! May I
come to the wedding and take some photographs?
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oxford bookworms library
library stage
stage 44
ACTIVITY 3  AFTER READING
Acceptable answers to this cloze passage are any
words that have an appropriate meaning and fit
the grammar of the sentences. Students might like
to check each other’s work and discuss alternative
answers. Some alternatives are given below.
Recently Rose Sayer, a British missionary’s sister,
and her friend Charlie Allnutt, a mechanic, brought
the African Queen, an old steamboat, down the
Ulanga into Lake Wittelsbach, where they planned to
destroy the German gunboat, Königin Luise. It was
a very dangerous (difficult, frightening, risky) journey.
Spengler had done it before, but (although) he was in
a canoe, which is (was) easier to take through rapids.
However, these two brave people survived. Their
propeller broke and they had to stop to mend (repair)
it, and in the delta they had to battle through reeds
and a mangrove swamp. When they finally reached
the lake, they fixed their torpedoes onto the boat and
after dark set off to attack (hit, ram, sink) the Königin
Luise. Sadly, they did not succeed. That night there
was a terrible (violent, sudden) storm, and the African
Queen sank before it reached the gunboat.
The attack failed, but the story has a happy ending.
On their journey Rose and Charlie fell in love, and last
week they got (were) married here in Matadi. We all
wish them a long and happy life together (ahead).
ACTIVITY 4 AFTER READING
Open answers. Ask students to explain why they
think some headlines are better than others.
ACTIVITY 5 AFTER READING
Open answers. Encourage discussion.
ACTIVITY 6 AFTER READING
Open answers. Encourage discussion and group
work.
Students might like to know the ending of the famous
1951 Hepburn/Bogart film. The African Queen
overturned in the storm but remained floating upside
down, with the torpedoes still in place. The next
morning the Königin Luise is shown steaming straight
towards the half-submerged Queen, while on board the
Germans are about to hang Rose and Charlie as spies.
As the nooses are prepared, Charlie asks the captain to
marry him and Rose. The captain does so, with a few
terse sentences, and then the ropes are put round Rose’s
and Charlie’s necks. As the order to hang them is given,
the Luise hits the torpedoes. Amid the explosions and
fires, Rose and Charlie jump off the ship. Then the
Luise explodes, and the last scene of the film is of a
laughing and jubilant Mr and Mrs Allnutt swimming
towards the shore of the Belgian Congo.
 the african Queen
xxx