Vidas impactantes contains six biographies of people from Spanish-speaking countries who have led or still lead interesting and inspiring lives: baseball player Roberto Clemente, researcher Maria Reiche, the singers Julio Iglesias and Celia Cruz, the organiser of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo Azucena Villaflor and Luís Urzúa, a mine worker who was trapped in a mine in Chile. While reading you will learn about the different countries and the spirit of the times. 

Each and everyone of these stories is worthwhile. They are about people whose life and work  have had a major impact. The names may not immediately ring a bell, but who has not heard of the  "Mad Mothers" in Argentina and the huge, mysterious line drawings in the pampas of Peru. And in 2010 we were all glued to the internet to know how the Chilean miners were doing, who were locked up in a partially collapsed copper mine. Their shift supervisor, Luis Urzúa, who came up last during the rescue operation, comes back to life in this booklet.

Specifications

• 250 unique words; total word count: 8000
• 67 pages of text
• written in past tense
• Neutral Spanish with several Latin-American characteristics: more use of personal pronouns than in Spain, and the use of 'ustedes' instead of 'vosotros'.
• setting: several Spanish-speaking countries

For Teachers
Vidas Impactantes is aimed at lower intermediate students, about A2 level. There is a glossary Spanish-English at the back of the book and unfamiliar words and complicated constructions are translated in English at the bottom of the page. The stories are isolated units and can be read on their own or in any particular order, both individually and in the class. They make good material to cover a certain country or timeframe.