El cinco de junio/June 5th

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Photo from women.volleyball-movies.net.
Click HERE. 
¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Brenda Castillo! (1992-        )

A volleyball player and member of the Dominican Republic national team that reached 5th place at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Castillo has consistently been rated the Best Libero (or one of the best) in the world. In the 2018 NORCECA FIVB World Championship qualification tournament in Santo Domingo, she won the tournament's Most Valuable Player, Best Libero, Best Digger, and Best Receiver awards. Her nickname, Chin Chin, is a nod to her small size (5'6") for volleyball. In 2015, Castillo married Julio Enrique de los Santos. She credits him with showing her what it means to have faith (she converted to christianity in 2011 and often tweets Bible verses from her account @BCastillo05), and in turn credits her faith with what she has been able to accomplish in volleyball despite her small size. The account below comes from El Caribe in the Dominican Republic (click HERE):

"Hoy la vida es diferente en mí. Siempre tengo una sonrisa para todo el mundo. Todo ese impulso me lo dio Dios, que sin él no seríamos nada en el mundo. Él fue quien nos creó y se lo debemos todo. Le agradezco mucho a mi esposo, quien fue la persona que me introdujo a este nuevo cambio de vida, del cual nunca me arrepentiré de entrar a él," manifestó Brenda.

Indicó que nunca se imaginó estar en la cima del voleibol mundial, a pesar de ser un deporte donde la estatura, en especial la alta, juega un papel primordial para integrar o no una selección.

"Es por eso que siempre digo que Dios te tiene buenas cosas. Si uno se concentra y tiene metas, uno puede lograr todos esos objetivos, siempre en manos de Señor."

For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Other June 5th birthdays of note:

Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936): Perhaps the best known writer from Spain after Cervantes, Lorca was a poet and playwright from Granada. He was killed at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War (taken from his house and shot), which many believe was because he was homosexual (Franco's Nationalists were known for their extreme, conservative beliefs). Lorca's play La Casa de Bernarda Alba is regularly performed around the world, including in New York City, where my students and I have gone to see it (excellent and recommended!).




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