Christ Redeemer

Christ Redeemer, by Monica de Biase.

And so our Corcovado wins. Or, is one of the winners. As I wrote in the blog a couple of weeks ago, I did not vote on it, as I didn’t know which wonder to vote for and as I didn’t want to give a vote for “our” monument just because I am Brazilian. Anyways, I am happy with the results announced on July 7th, 2007 and hope it expresses the world’s true opinion, not just one nation’s. The official New7Wonders site shows all the seven modern wonders.

Here in Brazil, there was a revitalization project in 2003 to give the Christ Redeemer new life and a little modernity: escalators and elevators, as until before then, you could only climb to the top by stairs. The site of the project, entitled Projeto Cristo Redentor (Christ Redeemer Project) talks about the the project, the monument and its history.

Now, enjoy the beautiful images in the sites and read the info about it, while you practice English. Don’t you dare read it in the Portuguese or Spanish version! Hehehe… And let’s hope we’ll all get a chance to visit the Wonder, I just wish our country gets to solve all the problems with crime and drug in Rio…

Pan-American Games

Photo taken by Pedro Ignácio Guridi.

The Pan Am Games will be taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this year, from July 13^th to July 29^th. The city is ready to receive all athletes and visitors. So are the wonderful beaches.

The official site (link to the English version, of course) has lots of information about the Pan Am Games.

Suggestions for teachers and students:

- A list of all the countries that will participate in the event can also be found – a good resource to study countries and nationalities, isn’t it?

- A list of all the sports that will be giving medals to the best athletes – the student can use the list to simply practice the names of the sports in English; for intermediate students, the teacher can use the list to make students talk about the rules of each sport: the should guide the ‘conversation’ on the topic and be well-prepared (I’d recommend him or her to have the rules printed.

New 7 Wonders…

Most of you have probably already heard of or even entered their site, or haven’t you? But have you placed your vote? Well I haven’t. And I don’t inted to do so. Let me explain why. As a Brazilian, I would like to vote on the Christ Redeemer. However, I don’t think it really is one of the world’s7 wonders. And as we have a big nation, about 200 million inhabitants, I think that if all Brazilians voted on us, just because we are Brazilians and want “our” monument there, we could even win, but this wouldn’t be fair.

Now why am I not voting on another wonder, instead? The one I think is the most wonderful and that can represent the new 7 wonders properly. Because I don’t know which one is the best. I love several. I think several of them are amazing, incredible, fantastic, etc… but I just can’t choose one. (Too bad…)

BTW, I started this post because I think the site contains interesint information about the sites, with interesting content and vocabulary that are very useful for ESL teachers and students. For examples, you can explore the numbers to talk about height, or the adjetives to talk about superlatives or comparatives. Another option is to create a slogan in English for the New 7 Wonders.

Well, 8 days to go. We all still got time to vote for our favorite New 7 Wonder. After that, let’s enjoy the result and the material in the site.