Penguin Readers Factsheets

Teacher’s Notes

The Mummy Returns

by John Whitman

based on the motion picture screenplay written by Stephen Sommers Summary

In The Mummy Returns there are characters who once lived in the past, in ancient Egypt. They are now living in the modern world. The archeologist, Evelyn O’Connell, (who was Nefertiri in the past) is married to the archeologist Rick O’Connell (an important man in the past with great powers). They met in Egypt in 1923 when they were working in temples in Egypt and found the mummy of Imhotep, who had been sleeping for 3,000 years. When Imhotep woke up, he tried to kill Evelyn, but Rick saved her. Then Rick and Evelyn returned to England, they married and had a son, Alex. Now it is 1933 and they are back in Egypt with Alex, who is eight years old. They are looking for the Bracelet of Anubis. Anubis is a god of the dead and his bracelet gives great power to anyone who wears it. The Scorpion King has the bracelet. He did not die 6,000 years ago because he had the bracelet. Now he will be waking up very soon in the Year of the Scorpion. He wants to control the world and kill everyone unless someone can kill him first. Meela, whose name in the past was Anck-su-namun and LockNah also want the bracelet. He wants to rule the world. Meela wants to wake up Imhotep, who was her lover. They have help from three men who are there when Evelyn finds The Scorpion King’s box, with the bracelet in it. They take the box back to England, but the three men follow them. They kidnap Evelyn. However it is Alex who has the bracelet on his arm. There are great chases through the streets of London, with Evelyn’s brother Jonathan driving and Evelyn is nearly killed inside the British Museum.

Imhotep wakes up and there are other mummies too. There are terrible battles. Alex, still wearing the bracelet, is taken by a mummy back to Egypt and he is forced to lead Meela and LockNah to the resting place of the Scorpion King. Rick’s ancient friend, Ardeth Bay and his soldiers help the O’Connells and Rick’s friend Izzy takes them across Egypt in a balloon to help them find Alex. Alex gets the bracelet off and they throw it away. It has caused a lot of trouble! Meela meets Evelyn, but really they are Anck-sunamun and Neferiti again. They fight together and Rick and Imhotep are also fighting. There were battles between soldiers of Anubis and the guards of the mummies. In the end, Imhotep and the Scorpion King both die. Anck-su-namun also dies when thousands of scorpions eat her. Rick, Evelyn and Alex left in Izzy’s balloon and return home. in Morocco, Jordan, and in London. Brendan Fraser plays Rick O’Connell, Rachel Weisz plays his wife Evelyn. Patricia Velazquez plays Anck-su-namun, and Arnold Vosloo plays her lover, Imhotep. Freddie Boath plays Alex and adds both suspense and comedy to the movie. The professional wrestler the Rock plays the Scorpion King. The movie uses lots of Indiana Jones-style adventures and Star Wars-style special effects. It is fast-paced, with lots of surprises, battles, love scenes, and horror. And like Indiana Jones, there are lots of jokes and funny moments that break the suspense, especially when Evelyn’s brother Jonathan is around. It was rated PG 13 because of the adventure action and violence. In this sequel, Anck-su-namun takes the central villain role. She was to be the wife of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, but when the Pharaoh found her in the bedroom with Imhotep, the Pharaoh was killed by his future wife and her lover. The Pharaoh’s daughter, Nefertiri (later Evelyn) knew about Anck-su-namun and Imhotep and hated them. The old enemies battle it out, but Evelyn does not kill Meela. In the end, Meela is eaten by scorpions.
There is also a very popular animated TV series of The Mummy.

Background and themes

There have been many Mummy movies over the years, but the classic horror movie of The Mummy with Boris Karloff as Imhotep was made in 1932. In the original movie, an English archeologist mistakenly wakes the mummy of Imhotep, which he has discovered in Egypt. (Imhotep was a scribe and architect in ancient Egypt and is credited with designing the world’s first step pyramid.) Imhotep begins searching for his one true love, Princess Anck-sunamun. He finds her in Cairo in the 1930s and sets out to make sure she is his forever. Does the mummy get his lover or is this century to be as unkind to him as the last? The Return of the Mummy combines the gruesome horror of the original with the flamboyant style made popular by the more recent Indiana Jones movies.

The main themes are, the history and archaeology of Ancient Egypt: good over evil, man’s struggle for power, and love and hate.

About the movie

The Mummy Returns , made in 2001 by Universal Pictures, is a sequel to the very successful 1999 movie The Mummy. Both movies were directed by Stephen Sommers. This one was filmed

Penguin Readers Factsheets

Teacher’s Notes

Communicative activities

The following teacher-led activities cover the same sections of text as the exercises at the back of the reader, and supplement those exercises. Further supplementary exercises, covering shorter sections of the book, can be found on the photocopiable Student’s Activities pages of this Factsheet. These are primarily for use with class readers, but with the exception of pair/groupwork questions, can also be used by students working alone in a self-access centre.
ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK

1Find out how many of your students have seen the movie The Mummy Returns. Divide the students into small groups, putting students who have seen the movie with ones who have not. The students who have seen the movie should tell the others about the characters and their relationships. 2Write these words on the board: battle, bracelet, desert, gold, king, mummy, pyramid, scorpion, soldier. Ask the students to find these words in their dictionaries and to write the words on one side of a sheet of paper, then turn the paper over and write the definitions and/or translation of the words. After they have done this, give them ten minutes to work in pairs learning these words. Then tell them to put their papers away and answer these questions. Ask them: Which word or words on the board are words for people? Which word or words do we read when we read about Egypt? Why? 3Write these names on the board: Scorpion King Lock-Nah Alex Ardeth Bay the mummy Imhotep Anck-su-namun Izzy. Help the students to learn the pronunciation of these names, then ask them to work in pairs and find pictures of the these characters in their reader. In pairs they should discuss what they know about each character from the pictures and the captions. Then have a whole class discussion about mummies: where they can be found, why people are interested in them, and why they have been so popular in the movie industry.

2 Ask the students to discuss in small groups what they thought about Chapter 3. What did they find scary, funny, stupid, impossible, cool? Which character did they like the most in this chapter? Why? Who was the bravest? Which character would they like to play if they were in the movie? 3 After students have read Chapter 4, ask them to work in pairs or small groups and to draw a time-line with the events from the chapter in the correct chronological order. When they have finished, they should compare their time-lines with those of the other students. If there are any differences, they should decide who has the events in the correct order and who does not. In the end, all of the time-lines should look the same.
Chapter 5

1Write these names in big black letters on pieces of paper or cards: Imhotep, Anck-su-namun, Nefertiri, Jonathan, Ardeth Bay, Izzy, Rick, Lock-Nah. Explain to the class that you are going to put a chair in front of the class and ask one student to sit on the chair with his back to the others. Then you will stick a name on the back of the chair so the rest of the class can see it. The student in the chair has to ask Yes/No questions to try and find out his identity. The students in the class can only answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and the student in the chair must find out his identity within twenty questions. The student who finds out his identity by asking the fewest number of questions is the winner. 2 Put the students in groups of four. They each take the role of one of these four characters: Rick, Evelyn, Alex, or Izzy. They must imagine that they are in Izzy’s balloon at the end of the story. What do they say to each other as they return home? Students should write the conversation and then role play it for the rest of the class. The students can then vote for the best role-play.

Glossary

ACTIVITIES AFTER READING A SECTION Chapters 1–2 1 Ask the students to work in pairs. They should imagine it is now 1933. Ask them to write a conversation between an Egyptian father and his son. The son wants to know who the Scorpion King is and what is going to happen. The father tells him. After the students write their conversations, check them, then ask them to role play their conversations for the rest of the class. 2 Put the students into groups of three. What do they think Red, Lock-Nah, and Meela said to each other after the last line in Chapter 2? The students should write a continuation of the conversation, then role play it for the rest of the class.
Chapters 3–4

1 Put the students in pairs and ask them to prepare a role-play of the conversation between Rick and Evelyn on page 8. But before they start, read it out to them (or play the cassette if you have it) so they can hear the stress on important words and can hear the intonation being used. Then read/play it again, line by line, pausing so the students can repeat after you/the cassette. The student who takes Rick’s role must try to sound worried. ‘Evelyn’ must sound excited and hopeful.

It will be useful for your students to know the following new words. They are practised in the ‘Before You Read’ sections of exercises at the back of the book. (Definitions are based on those in the Longman Active Study Dictionary.)

Chapters 1–2 battle (n) a fight between enemy forces

bracelet (n) a band or ring worn around the wrist or arm as a decoration desert (n) a large sandy piece of land where there is very little rain and not many plants god (n) a being who is worshiped, especially for ruling over the world gold (n) valuable soft yellow metal that is used for making coins and jewelry hole (n) an empty space inside something solid king (n) (the title of) the male ruler of a country mummy (n) a dead body, especially in ancient Egypt power (n) control over other people pyramid (n) a large stone structure with a square base and three sides that meet at a point

return (v) to come or go back to a place, condition, or activity scorpion (n) a tropical insect-like creature with a long body and a poisonous tail soldier (n) a member of an army tattoo (n) a picture on the skin made with colors and a needle temple (n) a building or a place for the worship of a god or gods
Chapters 3–4

balloon (n) a large bag filled with gas or heated air that people use to travel across the sky

guard (v) a soldier who watches over a place heart (n) the organ inside the chest that controls the flow of blood in the body museum (n) a building where objects are kept and are shown to the public stranger (n) a person who is unfamiliar
© Pearson Education Limited 2002

Published and distributed by Pearson Education Factsheet written by Coleen Degnan-Veness

Penguin Readers Factsheets

Student’s activities

The Mummy Returns

by John Whitman

based on the motion picture screenplay written by Stephen Sommers

ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK 1 Read the Introduction and answer these questions.

(a) What is Ahm Shere? (b) What year is the Year of the Scorpion? (c) Who has a plan? (d) What is the mummy’s name? (e) What does Evelyn O’Connell find in the temple? (f) Why do Lock-Nah, Meela, and Imhotep want this bracelet?
2Write these words in the sentences below.

powers mummy king soldiers Scorpion King wake up…

In 1933, the Scorpion King is going to (a) __________. He and his (b) __________ are asleep under the desert. Meela and Lock-Nah want to bring the (c) __________ back to life. He will show them the way to Ahm Shere and they will find the (d) __________. They want to take his (e) __________. Imhotep wants to be (f) __________ of the world. (h) ___ Evelyn took the bracelet out of the box and showed

it to Rick. (i) ___ Alex watched the three men as they went down the

stairs. (j) ___ The box opened easily.
3What do you know about

(a) Hamunaptra? (b) Rick’s tattoo? (c) Spivey, Red, and Jacques? (d) Lock-Nah? (e) the Bracelet of Anubis?

Chapters 3–4 1 Match A with B to make complete sentences. A (a) ‘I have to get this bracelet off

(b) ‘Get out of my house (c) Rick threw one knife to Jonathan (d) ‘They have Mom, but (e) ‘Give me the box with the Bracelet of Anubis ACTIVITIES WHILE READING THE BOOK
Chapters 1–2

1 Are these sentences right or wrong? Correct the wrong sentences.

(a) The Scorpion King is the king from Akkad. (b) Anubis is the god of the dead and his soldiers have

faces of dogs. (c) For one year, the Scorpion King and the dog-faced

soldiers kill Egyptians. (d) Rick and Evelyn met in 1933. (e) When Imhotep woke up after 300 years, he tried to kill

Evelyn. (f) Rick has a tattoo of a pyramid on his arm with the Egyptian god of the sun in the center.
2 Put the sentences into the correct order.

(a) ___ The temple fell down. (b) ___ Rick tried to open the box with his knife, but the top

didn’t move. (c) ___ Evelyn saw one of the women from the picture on

the door put a box on the table. (d) ___ Rick put the box in his bag and ran up the stairs with

his wife. (e) ___ Rick and Evelyn followed their son to the nearest

door and outside into the sunlight. (f) ___ Evelyn moved into the next dark room, and suddenly

it was 1290 BC. (g) ___ Evelyn put her hand on the box and turned the Scorpion King’s head to the east. (f) Ardeth Bay was the greatest of the Med-Jai soldiers and

B ___1 before my mother opens the box again,’Alex thought. ___2 and killed the Egyptian next to him with the other. ___3 he first met Rick and Evelyn in 1923. ___4 or these men will kill you and this stupid little man,’ said

Meela. ___5 I have the bracelet,’Alex said to his dad. ___6 or I’ll call the police,’ Evelyn said to Lock-Nah and his men.
2 Answer these questions.

(a) Why did Lock-Nah, Meela and the soldiers take Evelyn? (b) Why was Ardeth Bay afraid when he saw the bracelet on

Alex’s arm? (c) Why did Rick want to go to the British Museum? (d) Why is Ardeth Bay interested in Rick’s tattoo? (e) Who is Anck-su-namun and who does she love?

3Movies about mummies show many ugly things because they want us to be afraid. What happens when

(a) Rick shot a mummy in the face? (b) Ardeth Bay shot off the legs of two mummies? (c) When two mummies fell on Ardeth Bay? (d) Evelyn took Ardeth Bay’s gun and shot at the mummies? (e) Alex smiled at his dad and sat down next to a window in the bus?

Penguin Readers Factsheets

Student’s activities
4Who is the speaker and who are they speaking to?

(a) ‘Do you have the Book of the Dead?’ (b) ‘We got your box for you. Here it is. But we want ten

thousand pounds for it, not five.’ (c) ‘You have the bracelet. You can take me to Ahm Shere.’ (d) ‘I only have five more days!’ (e) ‘When I do a job with you, I almost die. Every time!’ (f) ‘It’s a balloon!’
5Circle the correct name in each sentence.

(a) Imhotep’s mummy pulled the heart out of Red/Spivey. (b) Rick/Alex is a Masonic Templar with great powers. (c) Meela/ Evelyn was Nefertiri back in 1290 BC. (d) Anck-sunamun/Nefertiri was the Pharaoh’s daughter. (e) Anck-su-namun loved the Pharaoh/Imhotep. (f) Anck-su-namun and Imhotep killed Nefertiri/the Pharaoh. (g) Alex built a little temple when he was inside the Temple of Karnak/Philae.

Chapters 5 1Read each question, and circle Yes or No.

(a) Did Imhotep send a wall of water to stop Alex’s parents?

YES NO (b) Did the wall of water return and throw the balloon into

the Nile? YES NO (c) Did anyone ever return home after they visited Ahm

Shere? YES NO (d) Did Imhotep want Lock-Nah to kill Alex?

YES NO (e) Did the little mummies want to take the bracelet from

Anck-su-namun? YES NO (f) Did Ardeth Bay cut Lock-Nah in two parts?

YES NO (g) Did the little mummies see the bracelet on Alex’s arm?

YES NO (h) Did Alex arrive at the pyramid after the sun came up?

YES NO (i) Did Anck-su-namun kill Evelyn with a knife?

YES NO (j) Did Imhotep lose his power when he stood on the square? YES NO
2Write Why questions for each of these answers.

(a) Because he wanted to find his future. (b) Because his mother was dead. (c) Because Anck-su-namun killed his younger sister. (d) Because Alex read from the Book of the Dead. (e) Because she could not kill another person in that way.
3What happens in the end to

(a) Imhotep? (b) Anck-su-namun? (c) Ahm Shere? (d) Ardeth Bay and his soldiers? ACTIVITIES AFTER READING THE BOOK 1You are Alex and you are now back home and writing about what happened in Egypt. Choose one chapter from the book and write about it. 2Write about this movie for your newspaper at school. Who is your favorite character in the story? Why? What did you like most in the story? Why? What didn’t you like? Why? Do you think other students should read this book?
© Pearson Education Limited 2002

Published and distributed by Pearson Education Factsheet written by Coleen Degnan-Veness

Penguin Readers Answer key The Mummy Returns

Answers to Book Activities
1 Open answers.

2a arm b dry c expensive da man e old f an animal g guns 3a right b wrong c right d wrong e right f right g wrong 4a the Scorpion King b Anubis c Imhotep d Alex e Spivey, Red, Jacques f Lock-Nah 5a First, the Scorpion King didn’t die with his men because he wore the Bracelet of Anubis. Second, the bracelet can take people to Ahm Shere.

b The desert of Ahm Shere is the home of the Scorpion King, the soldiers of Anubis, and the pyramid of Anubis. But, nobody can find it.

c In the Year of the Scorpion (1933; the year of the story), the Scorpion King and his soldiers will wake up. They will begin their battles again, and this time they will kill everybody and everything. The world will end.

d The person with the Book of the Dead can bring people back to life.

e Imhotep is a mummy with great powers. With the Book of the Dead, Meela wants to bring him back to life. Then he can kill the Scorpion King and be king of the world.
6–7 Open answers.

8 London: c, d, e, h Egypt: a, b, f, g a Imhotep pulls the life out of him. b It is a “map” for his parents. They follow

Alex to the Temple of Philae. c With the bracelet on Alex’s arm, there are only seven days before the Scorpion King wakes up.

d Because Alex is wearing the Bracelet of Anubis.

e It is the tattoo of a Masonic Templar. Rick is a soldier for God. He will help many people.

f Because Alex says, “But I don’t want to help you!” He is not afraid of Imhotep. g In 1290 BC, Evelyn was Nefertiri. h Imhotep wants to kill the Scorpion King and then be king of the world.
9 Open answers

10 a Imhotep kicks Alex’s little temple. Then he sends a large wall of water down the Nile. He wants to kill the O’Connells.

b Alex and Rick run inside the pyramid before the sun is on the outside wall. Alex doesn’t die. c Anck-su-namun kills Evelyn. d Alex gets the Book of the Dead from Anck-su-namun. He stands over his mother and reads from the book. He brings her back to life. e Rick kills the Scorpion King.

f Anck-su-namun runs out of the room and through the pyramid. Imhotep falls into the hole in the floor and dies. 11 a Imhotep b Izzy c Evelyn O’Connell d Anck-su-namun e Ardeth Bay
12–15 Open answers.

Answers to Factsheet Activities Student’s activities Activities before reading the book

1(a) the desert (b) 1933 (c) Meela and Lock-Nah (d) Imhotep (e) the Bracelet of Anubis (f) It will show them the way to Ahm Shere 2(a) wake up (b) soldiers (c) mummy (d) Scorpion King (e) powers (f) king

Activities while reading the book Chapters 1–2 1(a) right (b) right (c) right (d) wrong/1923 (e) wrong/3,000
(f) wrong/hand

21 (f) 2 (c) 3 (i) 4 (b) 5 (g)
6 (j) 7 (h) 8 (d) 9 (e) 10 (a) 3(a) It’s a place in the desert where Rick and Evelyn found the mummy of Imhotep. It’s the City of the Dead.

(b) It’s a pyramid with the Eye of Horus in the center. He doesn’t know anything about it, but he has had it on his hand all his life.

(c) Lock-Nah has paid them to go into the temple and bring back the box with the bracelet.. (d) Lock-Nah wants the bracelet. (e) It is gold, very important, and has strange powers.

Chapters 3–4
1(a) 1 (b) 6 (c) 2 (d) 5 (e) 4 (f) 3

2(a) Because she had the box and they thought she had the bracelet.

(b) Meela and Lock-Nah will do anything to get the bracelet and maybe kill Alex.

(c) The mummy of Imhotep is there and Lock-Nah and Meela are going there with Evelyn to wake him up. With the bracelet, the world will be theirs.

(d) Ardeth Bay knows that Rick is an important soldier from old times. Rick can help Ardeth Bay and his people.

(e) Anck-su-namun is Meela and she loves Imhotep. 3(a) The mummy looked at Rick with half a face and climbed into the bus through a window.

(b) The legs fell into the street, but the mummies moved down the bus with their hands.

(c) They cut his arms and face with their long ugly teeth. (d) Their heads flew out the window. (e) A mummy’s arm came through the window and pulled Alex out of the bus.

4(a) Lock-Nah to Meela (b) Red to Meela (c) Imhotep to Alex (d) Alex to Imhotep (e) Izzy to Rick (f) Rick to Izzy 5(a) Spivey (b) Rick (c) Evelyn (d) Nefertiri (e) Imhotep (f) the Pharaoh (g) Karnak

Chapter 5
1(a) Yes (b) No (c) No (d) Yes (e) No (f) Yes (g) Yes (h) No (i) Yes (j) Yes
2(a) Why did Imhotep leave his lover? (b) Why did Alex cry? (c) Why did Jonathan cut Anck-su-namun’s

arm? (d) Why did Evelyn come back from the

dead? (e) Why didn’t Evelyn put the knife into Anck-su-namun’s heart? 3(a) He fell into the hole. (b) Scorpions ate her. (c) The pyramid fell into the hole and there

was no Ahm Shere. (d) They returned to their work in the desert.
Activities after reading the book
1–2 Open answers
© Pearson Education Limited 2002

Published and distributed by Pearson Education Factsheet written by Coleen Degnan-Veness