READ THE TEXT AND DO THE EXERCISES THAT FOLLOW:

The trip of a lifetime

Can you imagine leaving your home, friends and school for eighteen months to travel the world with
your family? This is exactly what Jack Clarke did in July 2005 when at the age of sixteen he set off
from his home in London with his parents and brothers, George, twelve, Nick, seven, and his sister
Molly, nine.

Instead of flying between locations, they drove in a specially converted coach, which was their home
for the entire trip. Jack’s father had designed and built the interior of the coach which included six
beds at its rear, and four desks at the front where the children could study. The desks were hooked
up to an internet connection so that the children could access an online learning programme
wherever they were.

During their trip, they travelled through Europe, down the east coast of Africa to South Africa, where
they took a boat to South America. They drove up through the Americas and Canada, took a boat to
Australia and then headed home via Thailand and India.

Jack said, ‘It was the most amazing experience. We had all made a list of the places we wanted to
see, but we didn’t have a completely fixed plan – if we really liked somewhere, we stayed there
longer. Some people were concerned about our education, but our parents taught us themselves and
they incorporated our travel experiences into lessons. So dealing with foreign money was part of
maths, we learned lots of foreign languages and you couldn’t have better history and geography
lessons than actually seeing these places first hand.’ ‘The hardest part of the trip,’ he continued, ‘was
not being able to see our friends for eighteen months, but we had invited them to come to visit us in
different places, and two or three friends took us up on that offer, which was brilliant.’

a.- Answer the questions using your own words.

1 Who had chosen the destinations for the trip?

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

2 How did they get from South Africa to Canada?

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

3 In what two ways did the children continue their education during the trip?

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

b.- Find words and phrases in the text which mean:

1 changed from one thing into something else ……………………

2 connected ………………………..
3 worried ……………………..
4 included …………………..
5 with our own eyes (not from books or TV) …………………………
Answers:

a.- Answer the questions using your own words.

1 Who had chosen the destinations for the trip? All the members of the family (Jack, George,
Nick, Molly and their parents) had made a list of the places they wanted to visit.

2 How did they get from South Africa to Canada? First they went to South America on a
boat, and they drove from South America to Canada

3 In what two ways did the children continue their education during the trip? They followed
an online learning programme from their desks on the coach, and their parents also taught
them by incorporating travel experiences into lessons.

b.- Find words and phrases in the text which mean:

1 changed from one thing into something else: converted
2 connected: hooked up
3 worried: concerned
4 included: incorporated
5 with our own eyes (not from books or TV): first hand