Antoni Gaudí was a famous Spanish architect born in 1852. He was from the Catalunya region and the majority of his works are located in Barcelona. Gaudí was very proud of his Catalan heritage. He was an artist on a large scale who used his passions of nature and religion to create his works. The buildings he helped to create are extremely unique in their style and known throughout the world. Even his last name has become synonymous with an over-the-top decorative style.
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Pablo Neruda was the pen name of Chilean poet Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. Pablo Neruda was born in Chile in 1904 in a small town called Parral some 350 km south of the capital Santiago. His mother died shortly after his birth and his father remarried and moved the family.
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Diego Rivera (1886-1957) was a famous Mexican artist. He specialized in the painting of murals in both Mexico and in the United States. From a young age, Rivera liked to draw and by the age of 10 he was enrolled in an Academy of Art in Mexico City. By 1907 he was studying in Madrid, Spain.
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I have had many requests from students to publish something in their target language. So this month my blog is A biography written in Spanish about the social activist Rigoberto Menchú. This extraordinary woman came from a poor background as an indigenous person in Guatemala. She suffered greatly at the hands of the military during the Guatemalan Civil War. She went on to learn the Spanish language, write a best-selling book, win a Nobel Peace Prize and tour the world giving speeches on behalf of the United Nations. The words in bold are included in a glossary below the reading to help with understanding.
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Eva Perón was born María Eva Duarte in 1919 in a small village in Argentina. Her early life was difficult because her mother was the mistress of her already married father. During her life, he failed to recognize her as his legitimate daughter. From a young age, Eva was interested in dancing, acting and modeling and at 16 she moved on her own to the capital city of Buenos Aires. It was her dream to be a cinema star. She was a very attractive young woman and was soon turning heads in in the capital city. She received work immediately and began traveling in the upper social circles of the city shortly thereafter.
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