60,000 migrants cross Spanish border: BBC Learning English from the News

0:00 From BBC Learning English, this is Learning English from the News,

0:04 our podcast about the news headlines.

0:06 In this programme, tens of thousands of migrants

0:09 swam around the border into Ceuta, part of Spain.

0:13 But what caused the crisis?

0:19 Hello, I'm Pippa.

0:20 And I'm Georgie.

0:21 In this programme, we look at one big news story

0:24 and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

0:27 You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode,

0:31 as well as a worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

0:35 So let's hear more about this story.

0:44 About 60,000 migrants managed to break through the border

0:48 between Morocco and the Spanish territory of Ceuta last week.

0:52 Many of the migrants swam around the border fence,

0:55 leading to chaos in Ceuta, which only has a population of around 80,000 people.

1:00 At least 72 migrants died attempting to make the journey.

1:04 Spanish authorities say the majority of migrants

1:07 have now been returned to Morocco.

1:09 It's thought viral social media posts declaring 'Spain is open'

1:13 encouraged so many people to try to get to Ceuta.

1:16 Let's have our first headline.

1:18 This one is from AP news, an international news agency.

1:22 'Runaway online rumors sparked a frantic rush

1:25 by migrants to the Spanish territory of Ceuta.

1:28 That headline again from AP news.

1:31 Runaway online rumors sparked frantic rush

1:34 by migrants to the Spanish territory of Ceuta.

1:38 This headline says that online rumours,

1:40 spelt using the American English spelling here,

1:43 sparked migrants to travel to Ceuta.

1:45 In other words, it encouraged them to suddenly take action.

1:49 We're interested in the description of the rumours as runaway.

1:53 You're probably familiar with the phrasal verb run away,

1:56 which means to leave somewhere suddenly.

1:58 But here we have the adjective runaway, which is one word.

2:02 Yes, in this context, runaway means out of control.

2:06 For example, literally a runaway train is a train

2:09 that is travelling fast and out of control.

2:12 In the headline, runaway is metaphorical.

2:15 The rumours about Ceuta spread quickly and were out of control,

2:19 leading to lots of people attempting to travel there.

2:22 They were runaway rumours.

2:24 We don't always have to use runaway in negative situations.

2:27 We can also use it to talk about success.

2:30 A runaway success is a success beyond expectations.

2:34 Yes.

2:35 For example, the director was pleased his film was a runaway hit with audiences.

2:43 We've had runaway, out of control or beyond expectations.

2:51 For example, the marketing campaign for the cereal was a runaway success.

2:56 So many people bought it.

3:01 This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

3:06 Today we're talking about the migrant crisis in Ceuta and what caused it.

3:10 The images of tens of thousands of migrants climbing

3:13 up the rocks to Ceuta quickly spread around the world,

3:17 on social media and on news sites,

3:19 and the crisis led to disagreement between Spain and other countries in the EU.

3:24 For example, Italy's prime minister announced the country

3:27 would suspend the Schengen Agreement with Spain,

3:29 which allows for the free movement of people

3:32 between many mainland countries in the EU.

3:34 Many EU leaders also called for an urgent meeting,

3:38 asking for the end of policies they believe could be pull factors to Europe.

3:42 This means policies that could encourage illegal migration.

3:46 But Spain says the problems in Ceuta are not caused by its immigration policies,

3:52 and that Ceuta is not part of mainland Spain,

3:54 so there was never a security threat to other EU countries.

3:57 Let's have another headline.

3:59 This one is from BBC News.

4:01 How Spain's migrant crisis created a political

4:04 storm- whipped up by social media.

4:07 That headline, again from BBC News.

4:09 How Spain's migrant crisis created a political

4:12 storm- whipped up by social media.

4:15 So this headline says the crisis in Ceuta created a political storm.

4:20 Storm in this context means a situation

4:23 where there is lots of argument and disagreement.

4:25 And the storm was whipped up by social media.

4:29 What does this mean, Georgie?

4:30 Well, whipped up by means caused or made stronger by.

4:34 So in this story, the political storm,

4:37 the arguments between Spain and other EU countries,

4:40 were caused or made stronger by social media, according to the headline.

4:44 They were whipped up by social media.

4:46 Yes.

4:46 Remember, videos of thousands of migrants arriving in Ceuta spread

4:50 quickly and politicians shared and commented on them on social media.

4:55 We can use whipped up to talk about arguments and controversy,

4:58 but also excitement.

5:00 For example, the excitement of a crowd could

5:02 be whipped up by a singer at a concert.

5:05 We can also use whip up slightly differently to mean

5:08 create something quickly and seemingly with very little effort.

5:12 For example, in cooking, I didn't have much left in my fridge,

5:15 but I managed to whip up some dinner from a few ingredients.

5:22 We've had whipped up, caused, or made stronger.

5:27 For example, the footballer whipped up anger in the crowds

5:30 by celebrating in front of the losing team.

5:35 This is Learning English from the News from BBC Learning English.

5:39 We're talking about the migrant crisis in Ceuta.

5:42 As we've heard, tens of thousands of migrants

5:45 crossed the border into Ceuta from Morocco,

5:48 and it's thought many were encouraged by viral social media posts.

5:52 At least 72 people died trying to swim around the fences.

5:56 The small Spanish territory was unprepared for so many people entering at once.

6:01 Many migrants turned around and went back to Morocco.

6:04 Spain says most migrants have now been returned,

6:07 and it is working to extend the border fence

6:09 into the sea to stop people attempting the swim in the future.

6:13 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for EU countries

6:18 to work together to strengthen borders and tackle people smuggling gangs.

6:22 Let's have another headline.

6:24 This one is from Politico, a politics news site.

6:27 EU ministers to back Spain as Ceuta crisis pushes migration up the agenda.

6:33 That headline again from Politico:

6:36 EU ministers to back Spain as Ceuta crisis pushes migration up the agenda.

6:41 So this headline is about the impact of the crisis on Spain and the EU.

6:46 It says the crisis has pushed migration up the agenda.

6:49 Pippa, can you explain this?

6:51 Well, an agenda is what we call the list of things to discuss in a meeting.

6:56 But we can also use agenda more generally to talk about

6:59 the list of things that need to be discussed or debated.

7:03 Right.

7:03 We would expect the most important issues to be at the top of the agenda,

7:07 to be discussed first.

7:09 And so if something is pushed up the agenda,

7:11 it's become more important and needs to be discussed more urgently.

7:15 OK.

7:16 In this story, the situation in Ceuta has meant

7:19 many more EU politicians want to talk about migration.

7:22 The crisis has pushed migration up the agenda.

7:27 We've had push something up the agenda,

7:29 bring forward discussion of something because of its importance.

7:34 For example, campaigners say the recent heatwaves

7:37 in the UK are pushing climate change up the agenda.

7:41 More people want to talk about it.

7:44 That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

7:47 We'll be back next week with another news story.

7:50 Don't forget to try the worksheet on our website

7:53 to test the vocabulary from this episode.

7:55 There's a link in the notes below this programme.

7:57 Bye for now.

7:59 Goodbye.