The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent

Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate

1 Warmer
Would you sing in public to a group of strangers? Why? Why not?

2 Key words
Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text. The paragraph numbers will help you.

moving referendum motor home random epic

1. A ___________________ is a large road vehicle that you live in while travelling. (para 1)

2. An ___________________ journey is very long and difficult. (para 1)

3. ___________________ things or people are chosen without any particular method or pattern. (para 1)
4. In a ___________________, everyone in a country can vote to make a decision about a particular subject.
(para 3)
5. If something is ___________________, it makes people feel emotional. (para 4)

gear worldview folk song diverse refugee

6. A ___________________ is someone who leaves their country, especially during a war. (para 4)

7. A ___________________ is the part of an engine that changes engine power into movement. Most cars have
five or six. (para 6)

8. A person’s ___________________ is the way that they see and understand global events. (para 7)

9. A ___________________ place includes people from many different cultures or races. (para 7)

10. A ___________________ is a traditional song from a particular region or community. (para 8)

3 Find the information

Find the following information in the text as quickly as possible.

1. How many countries did Paintin and Stenhouse visit during their Oh Europa journey in 2018?
2. How far did they travel on their epic journey?
3. How many songs did they record on their journey?
4. How many languages were represented in the songs?
5. How much did their motor home cost?
6. Where did they travel without gears?
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NEWS LESSONS / The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
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The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
731 love songs for Europe: the
couple who drove 20,000 miles to
unite the continent
Dave Simpson
26 April, 2019
1 “People asked us, ‘Are you mad?’” says Gemma
Paintin. She can understand why. Paintin and
James Stenhouse, both artists from Bristol, spent
half of 2018 travelling around Europe in an old
motor home. They were recording love songs.
Their epic journey was almost 20,000 miles long
and included 33 countries, 46 languages and 731
songs – each sung in their motor home, mostly
by random strangers.
2 The 731 songs are part of Oh Europa, a project in
which the songs will be broadcast around Europe
(via an app). It opened at a festival in Leeds,
where visitors were able to hear up to 20 hours of
recordings, go inside the motor home and even
add a song to the library.
3 They wanted to examine “what Europe is and
how we’re all interconnected”, Paintin explains.
“But after the EU referendum, we thought, ‘We
have to do it now.’ Whether we’re in or out of the
EU, we’re all going to have to find a way to live
together. But we didn’t want to ask, ‘What are
your views on the European Union?’ We wanted
to connect in a different way.”
4 And it has worked: the pair are amazed by how
many people participated after they saw the signs
outside their motor home, which said: “Do you
know a love song?” They were also surprised
by how emotional the experience became.
“People found it very moving,” Paintin says. “We
explained, ‘Your voice will be broadcast with
lots of other voices.’ So a voice from Norway
goes to Athens. A song recorded in Finland
goes to Spain. A recording by Syrian refugees
in Germany goes to the Russian border. People
seemed to realize that they can be part of
something very powerful.”
5 The money came from Arts Council England,
European culture foundations and the studio in
Bristol where the project was developed. The
initial and biggest cost – £12,500 – was the motor
home, which they bought online.
© Springer Nature Limited 2019. Macmillan Education is part of the Springer Nature Group.
NEWS LESSONS / The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
6 Everything was going really well – until August.
“We’d just crossed the Swiss Alps when the gears
stopped working,” says Paintin. “Only first and
fifth gear worked.” They took the motor home to
a garage and the mechanic told them that fixing it
would be a very big job. “But he showed us how
to change gear without the gear stick. We had to
do that for three weeks – from the Netherlands to
Romania and back.”
7 Has the project changed their worldviews? “It
made me realize how diverse the continent is,”
says Paintin. “Britain, Norway, Lithuania, Serbia,
Macedonia … These countries feel so different
historically and culturally, but there’s something
between us. People say, ‘Everything’s so similar
nowadays. Everywhere’s the same.’ That’s not
true at all.”
8 Paintin was surprised by which songs proved
most popular – not the expected Beatles or
Queen songs but German folk songs and
Hungarian love songs. Some people sang in
forgotten languages – and in France, a group of
teenagers from Ivory Coast sang in their native
language. “Kids of 15, 16, who’d arrived in the
country without an adult. It becomes about the
journey of these languages.”
9 Perhaps surprisingly, Brexit wasn’t discussed
much on their travels. “I get the impression that
most people don’t want us to leave,” says Paintin.
“When we were passing between Hungary and
Croatia, the border guard asked me if I voted for
it, and I said I didn’t but that lots of people did. He
kept saying, ‘Very bad situation,’ and then just let
us go through.”
10 Paintin says she could do Oh Europa for ever.
The motor home is repaired, and there are plans
for more trips.
© Guardian News and Media 2019
First published in The Guardian, 26/04/19
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The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
4 Comprehension check
Match the beginnings and endings to make statements about the text.

1. Stenhouse and Paintin travelled round Europe a. … the gears on their motor home stopped working.
to record love songs …
2. The 731 love songs … b. … not many people wanted to talk about Brexit.
3. They had a problem when … c. … because they wanted to find out how people in
Europe are interconnected.
4. The most popular songs … d. … are planning to do some more trips.
5. They were also surprised that … e. … will be broadcast around Europe via an app.
6. They have now repaired the gears and … f. … were not the ones they expected.

5 Chunks
Rearrange the words to make phrases from the text.

1. powerful part very something of

2. the and from back Romania Netherlands to
3. old travelling Europe in motor home around an
4. twenty miles almost thousand
5. one and seven songs thirty hundred
6. hours of twenty recordings to up

6 Prepositions
Complete the phrases and sentences from the text using these prepositions.

in via at for on of

1. What are your views ___________________ the European Union?

2. They can be part ___________________ something very powerful.
3. They sang ___________________ their native language.
4. The border guard asked me if I voted ___________________ it.
5. The songs will be broadcast ___________________ an app.
6. The project opened ___________________ a festival in Leeds.
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NEWS LESSONS / The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
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 The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
7 Spelling
Add vowels to complete the spelling of these words from the text.

1. d __ v __ r s __
2. b r __ __ d c __ s t
3. __ m __ t __ __ n __ l
4. r __ f __ g __ __
5. p __ w __ r f __ l
6. __ n t __ r c __ n n __ c t __ d

8 Discussion
• Do you think this project is interesting and useful? Why? Why not?

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© Springer Nature Limited 2019. Macmillan Education is part of the Springer Nature Group.
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NEWS LESSONS / The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
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The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
KEY

2 Key words 5 Chunks

1. motor home 1. part of something very powerful

2. epic 2. from the Netherlands to Romania and back
3. random 3. travelling around Europe in an old motor home
4. referendum 4. almost twenty thousand miles
5. moving 5. seven hundred and thirty one songs
6. refugee 6. up to twenty hours of recordings
7. gear
8. worldview
9. diverse 6 Prepositions
10. folk song
1. on
2. of
3 Find the information 3. in
4. for
1. 33 5. via
2. almost 20,000 miles 6. at
3. 731
4. 46
5. £12,500 7 Spelling
6. from the Netherlands to Romania and back
1. diverse
2. broadcast
4 Comprehension check 3. emotional
4. refugee
1. c 5. powerful
2. e 6. interconnected
3. a
4. f
5. b
6. d
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© Springer Nature Limited 2019. Macmillan Education is part of the Springer Nature Group.
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NEWS LESSONS / The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
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