2

2º ESO
DBH 2
2n ESO
B Burlington Books

Queen Arthur
Nicola Prentis

T E A C H E R ’ S M AT E R I A L

CONTENTS

To the Teacher 2

Before Reading 3

After Reading 4

Final Test 5

Answers to Final Test 6

Answers to Activities in the Reader 6

Answers to Cross-Curricular Focus 7

Before using the following teacher’s material, we recommend that you visit the Teacher’s Zone
at www.burlingtonbooks.es and consult the Burlington Activity Reader Series general
information leaflet. The Final Test in this teacher’s material is also available in editable
Word format from the website. The Student’s Zone on the site offers additional activities.

© B Burlington Books
 Queen Arthur
to the teacher
List of Main Characters

Gwen: a 15-year-old schoolgirl from the present day. Merlin: a wizard.

Arthur: a 15-year-old boy in Medieval England. Morgana: Arthur’s half-sister.

Plot Summary

While Gwen is running away from some school bullies, she finds herself trapped in an alley behind Avalon
High School. As she is trying to climb over a fence, she pulls a long object from a mysteriously placed stone
which magically transports her to the time of King Arthur. The object she pulled from the stone turns out to be
the sword in the stone from the legends of King Arthur.
Gwen finds herself face to face with the wizard Merlin and young Arthur. Merlin has been protecting Arthur
since his father, King Uther, died when he was a baby. But Gwen pulled the sword from the stone, which
means she must now pretend to be a boy and become king instead of Arthur. Arthur is extremely angry that
Gwen will become king and that he has to bow to her. He’s even angrier that he has to be her squire and that
she is given the sword Excalibur by the Lady of the Lake. He is not satisfied when Gwen gives him the sword
from the stone, but he has no choice and must do his duties as squire and teach her sword-fighting.
Morgana, Arthur’s half-sister, arrives to speak to the king. She is angry because Merlin took Arthur away and
left her all alone when she was a child. At first, Gwen is sympathetic, until Morgana tries to kill her. When
this fails, Morgana turns herself into a dragon and burns fields and houses in the kingdom. Together, Arthur
and Gwen go to find the dragon and protect the kingdom. Their relationship improves on the journey and they
share stories about their lives, including Gwen’s problems with the school bullies. Gwen confesses that her
name is short for Guinevere and that according to the legends, Arthur and Guinevere were a great team. When
they find Morgana, they work together to kill the dragon. As they are fighting, Arthur’s sword gets stuck in
the stone. The dragon turns to Arthur and Gwen cuts off the dragon’s head.
Gwen makes Arthur see that Morgana has never been treated fairly because she was a girl and therefore not
allowed to become queen after the death of her father. This was the reason she was so angry. Merlin reappears
and points out that the sword is back in the stone again. If Gwen pulls the sword, she will remain king, but if
Arthur pulls the sword, he will be king and Gwen will return to her previous life. At first, Arthur is excited,
but then he realises Gwen will have to go back and face the bullies. He thinks she deserves to stay and be
king. Gwen realises that this new, caring Arthur is now ready to be king, which was Merlin’s plan all along,
and she chooses to go back and face the bullies.
When she does, her new courage sends the bullies running away and she never has a problem with them
again. Some time later, a new boy who looks familiar starts at Avalon High School. The new boy is, in fact,
Arthur and they recognise each other.

Background

• T
 he legends of King Arthur: The legends of a fictional King Uther Pendragon, who died and left a baby
son, go back hundreds of years. A prophecy said that whoever could pull the sword from the stone would be
king. No-one succeeded until King Uther’s son Arthur was old enough to claim his throne. One of the most
popular modern stories was The Sword in the Stone by T H White, which is based on this legend. Disney
adapted it into an animated film in 1963.
• A
 rthur: According to the legend, when Arthur became king, everyone accepted him and his reign brought
peace. He married Guinevere and established the fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table.
• Merlin: He usually appears in the legends as Arthur’s advisor and protector.

2 © B Burlington Books
 Queen Arthur
Before reading
These activities are designed to help the students’ reading comprehension. They help to activate the students’
background knowledge and ability to predict. At this level, these activities will usually be conducted in the
students’ mother tongue. Students with a strong vocabulary can do some of these activities in English.

Suggestions for Lead-in Activities

Ask the questions and elicit the answers from the whole class. Some possible answers are provided in italics.
If you prefer, students can work in pairs or small groups.
1. The girl in the story is being bullied. What should you do if you or someone you know is being bullied?
(Tell a teacher or an adult you trust. / Fight back. / Talk to the bullies.)
2. Do you think it’s possible to travel back in time? Why / Why not? (Yes, because we don’t know everything
about time and matter. / No, it’s just impossible.)
3. Who usually gets the crown when a king or queen dies? (The oldest son or, in some countries, daughter.)
4. Do you think girls can do everything boys can? (Yes, everyone is equal. / No, boys are physically stronger
than girls. / It depends on the society and country you live in.)
5. Would you like to be a king or queen? (Yes, because they’re very rich and have many advantages. / No,
because they haven’t got any privacy.)
6. Sometimes, brothers and sisters are jealous of each other. Why do you think that happens? (Because the
parents have a favourite. Because one of them is more successful or popular than the other/s)

Before Reading Activities

The Before Reading tasks in the Burlington Activity Readers general information leaflet, pages 9-12, can be
applied to Queen Arthur.
1. Look at the picture of the girl on page 8. Who is she running from? (four girls from her school) How do
you think she feels? (She is afraid.)
2. Compare the picture of the person holding the sword on page 9 and the person on page 22. How are they
the same? (They’re both pulling a sword from a stone.) How are they different? (On page 9, the person is
wearing a school uniform / modern clothes. On page 22, the person is wearing medieval clothing.)
3. Read the first paragraph on page 10. Describe the boy’s character. (greedy, wants power and money)
4. Look at the picture on page 15 and read the speech bubble. How does the boy feel? (angry) What is the
man doing? (bowing to the girl.)
5. Look at the picture on page 31 and describe it. (A dragon is flying over the castle and trees and breathing
fire.)
6. Read the last four lines on page 37. Why do you think they are waiting for the dragon? (To catch it or kill it.)
LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS
The following is a list of irregular verbs (Past Simple) which appear in the reader. The page number refers
to the page where the Past Simple tense of the verb first appears. Go over the list with your students.
be – was / were (pages 8-9) fight – fought (page 11) hurt – hurt (page 23) sit – sat (page 18)
become – became (page 30) fly – flew (page 31) know – knew (page 8) speak – spoke (page 15)
begin – began (page 23) get – got (page 38) leave – left (page 8) spend – spent (page 36)
bring – brought (page 45) give – gave (page 9) meet – met (page 49) stand – stood (page 14)
burn – burnt (page 31) go – went (page 8) read – read (page 49) take – took (page 8)
catch – caught (page 47) grow – grew (page 30) put – put (page 47) tell – told (page 22)
come – came (page 25) have – had (page 14) ride – rode (page 36) think – thought (page 8)
do – did (page 9) hear – heard (page 8) run – ran (page 8) throw – threw (page 30)
eat – ate (page 32) hide – hid (page 11) say – said (page 10) understand – understood
fall – fell (page 9) hit – hit (page 8) see – saw (page 9) (page 10)
feel – felt (page 24) hold – held (page 38) shine – shone (page 45) wake – woke (page 32)

© B Burlington Books 3

After reading
drama acTivities
Work with a partner. Learn one of the dialogues below and act it out in front of the class.
Arthur is talking to Merlin.
1. 
Arthur: A few more hours of being a nobody.
Then, tomorrow, I’ll pull the sword
from the stone. And finally, after all
these years, I’ll get the crown, the
castle, the servants, the gold …
Merlin: Now, Arthur …
Arthur: Don’t forget to call me King Arthur
tomorrow, Merlin!
Merlin: Ah, yes. King Arthur. I’ll try to
remember.
Arthur: The people of Camelot will shout
‘Long live King Arthur’ tomorrow!
So even an old man like you will
remember.
2. Gwen and Arthur are deciding who will go
and kill the dragon.
Arthur: A real king could deal with dragons.
Gwen:  If you don’t want to help me, then, I
must stop Morgana alone.
Arthur: Look. There’s only one thing we can do.
Gwen: We?
Arthur Well, you can’t do this alone.
Gwen: Why? Because I’m a girl?
Arthur:  No! Because that dragon is dangerous.
We must kill it.
Gwen: But how?
Arthur: Together.
Queen Arthur
3. Gwen and Arthur are talking after they kill the
dragon.
Arthur: Gwen! You saved me!
Gwen:  Well, you tried to save me too. But it’s so
sad she’s dead.
What? Morgana tried to kill you – I mean
Arthur: 
us – twice! She was evil!
Gwen:  She was like that because her life was so
unjust. She suffered because she was a
girl.
Arthur: What do you mean?
Gwen:  Why didn’t Morgana become Queen when
King Uther died? She was older than you.
Merlin only took care of you, not her.
Why was that? That wasn’t fair!
You’re right. It was because she was a girl
Arthur: 
but that’s really a stupid reason!
4. Gwen, Arthur and Merlin are deciding if Gwen
should go back to her time.
Merlin: Are you ready to be King now, Arthur?
Pull the sword from the stone and you
will be King Arthur.
Arthur: Really? [pause] It’s not important if I’m
ready or not. Gwen deserves to be King.
I can’t send her back there to the bullies.
Gwen:  No, Arthur. You must follow your heart.
You are ready to be King – you just
showed that. The old Arthur didn’t think
of others, only himself. But you wanted to
protect me, like a true king.

Project Suggestions

You may wish to present some of these activities in the students’ own language.
1. How were boys’ lives different from girls’ lives at the time of the story? Make a list.
2. Imagine you are a reporter. Write a newspaper report about Queen Arthur’s coronation.
3. Design a poster offering a reward for killing the dragon. Use your imagination.
4. Imagine you are Arthur. Write a list of the jobs that you have to do as a squire.
5. Choose a scene with dialogue from the story. Draw the scene, including speech bubbles.
6. Imagine you are Morgana as a child. Write a diary entry about the day Merlin took Arthur away to
safety and left you all alone. Include how you feel about the situation.
7. Imagine you’re one of the villagers who is afraid of the dragon. Write a letter to the king asking him to
do something about it. Read your letter to the class.
8. Search the Internet for information about another aspect in the King Arthur legends, for example,
Guinevere, the knights of the Round Table, Excalibur or the Lady of the Lake. Write a paragraph about
it and present it to the class.

4 © B Burlington Books
 Queen Arthur
FINAL TEST
A Number the sentences in the correct order according to the story.
a. Gwen travelled back in time.
b. The dragon frightened the people of Camelot.
c. Arthur became Gwen’s squire.
d. Gwen ran away from the bullies.
e. Morgana came to visit her brother.
f. Gwen became King.
g. Gwen received a sword from the Lady in the Lake.
h. Arthur and Gwen fought the dragon.
i. Gwen returned to her own time.
j. Arthur proved he was ready to be king.
k. Morgana became a dragon.
11 points (1 point each)

B Who is it? Tick (3) the correct person. You may tick a person more than once.
Gwen Arthur Merlin Morgana
1. seemed to know the future
2. thought boys were better than girls
3. could change appearance
4. taught a girl to use a sword
5. tried to kill Gwen
6. killed the dragon
12 points (2 points each)

C Complete the sentences according to the story.

1. Gwen pulled the .
2. Arthur was angry because Merlin .
3. Thousands of people came to watch .
4. Arthur taught Gwen to .
5. Morgana tried to push .
6. The dragon lived in .
12 points (2 points each)

D Answer the questions according to the story.

1. What shows us that Arthur was not ready to be king at the beginning of the story?
.
2. What is significant about Gwen’s name?
.
3. Why was Morgana very angry?
.
4. How do we know that Arthur was ready to be king?
.
5. What is the significance of the name of Gwen’s school?
.
15 points (3 points each)

Photocopiable © B Burlington Books 5

 Queen Arthur
answers to final test
A 1. d 3. c 5. g 7. k 9. h 11. i C 1. sword from the stone
2. a 4. f 6. e 8. b 10. j 2. bowed to Gwen / called Gwen ‘king’
3. Gwen’s coronation
B Gwen Arthur Merlin Morgana 4. fight with a sword
1. s eemed to know 5. Gwen from the balcony
3
the future 6. a cave
2. thought boys are
3 D 1. He was arrogant and only cared about
better than girls having gold, a crown, a castle and servants.
3. c ould change 2. It’s short for Guinevere and, in the stories,
3
appearance Guinevere was married to Arthur.
4. taught a girl to 3. Merlin rescued Arthur and didn’t think she
3 was important enough to save because she
use a sword
was a girl.
5. tried to kill
3 4. He thought of other people.
Gwen
5. The Lady of the Lake took Arthur to an
6. killed the dragon 3 island called Avalon.

answers to activities in the reader

Pre-reading activities (page 7) Chapters 3-4 activities (pages 20-21)
1 1. f 2. g 3. e 4. b 5. d 6. c 7. a 8. h 1 1. c 2. f 3. a 4. b 5. e 6. d
2 Possible answer 2 1. predict 4. stood up
It’s a fantasy. 2. short for 5. reasonable
Because there is a wizard in the story. 3. marry 6. spoke
3 1. c 2. c 3. b 4. b
Chapters 1-2 activities (pages 12-13)
4 1. 3 4. 3
1 1. forgets 5. remembers
2. screamed 6. climb Chapters 5-6 ActIvities (pages 28-29)
1. 2.
3. laughed 7. follow 1 r h
3.
4. jump d a n g e r o u s
c r
2 1. c 2. b 3. d 4. a 5. e 4. 5.
s t o p t
3 1. d 2. b 3. a 4. c t g s
6.
4 1. a 2. e 3. c 4. f 5. g 6. b 7. d r n j
7.
a f i o
n e s u
8.
g l e a r l y
9.
e x c i t e d n
10.
r e t u r n
y

The sword in the stone is also called the sword

of d e s t i n y .

6 © B Burlington Books
 Queen Arthur
Answers to Activities in the Reader continued

2 1. The people were very quiet as Gwen went to CHAPTERS 9-10 ACTIVITIES (pages 42-43)
the stone and pulled the sword from it easily.
1 re a s o n nfair
2. “This is a waste of time,” Arthur protested. t e a m ro d e p a i n m e a
“You’re not brave enough to use the sword.”
3. The news of the new king travelled fast, and 1. team 4. pain
the people were excited and curious to see 2. fair 5. rode
him. 3. mean 6. reason
4. She felt bad because Arthur was sitting at a 2 1. I 2. L 3. I 4. L 5. L
corner table with the servants.
5. Excalibur was lighter than her old sword and 3 1. e 2. a 3. d 4. b 5. c
easy to use and soon, Gwen could fight as 4 1. Dragon 5. Arthur
well as Arthur. 2. Arthur 6. Gwen
3 1. c 2. b 3. d 4. e 5. a 3. Gwen 7. Merlin
4. Gwen
1. c 2. b 3. d 4. e 5. a
CHAPTERS 11-12 and epilogue
Chapters 7-8 ActIvities (pages 34-35) ACTIVITIES (pages 50-51)
1 1. frightened 4. destroyed 1 1. empty d 4. wood b
2. neck 5. floor 2. trainers a 5. heart e
3. above 3. stick c
2 1. flew 4. filled 2 1. met 4. belong to
2. threw 5. became 2. ordinary 5. showed
3. grew 3. welcomed 6. went pale
3 1. c 2. a 3. d 4. b 3 1. c 2. a 3. a 4. c
4 1. T 2. T 3. F 4. F 5. T 4 1 the sword 4. the stick
2. Gwen 5. Arthur
3. the bullies

answers to cross-curricular focus

KING ARTHUR – LEGEND OR HISTORY? WHERE DID THE IDEA OF DRAGONS
(page 57) COME FROM? (page 59)
1 1. T 2. F 3. F 4. F 5. T 6. T 3 1. real 4. was a real soldier
2. in the Bible 5. Komodo lizards
2 s i n v a d e r s l
3. hard
o p e i w v a d r d
4 a. Bible d. bones
l r b o r r o w e d
b. armour e. fire
d o p r o s e v f r c. snakes
i v r e t u r n e d
1. snakes 4. armour
e e e n e a o r a t 2. fire 5. bones
r o t h r o n e d o 3. Bible
1. prove 4. borrowed / wrote
2. soldier 5. throne
3. invaders 6. returned

© B Burlington Books 7
E Burlington Books
IH-013-156

0 0 1 3 1 5 6 8

Copyright © 2018
© B Burlington Books