Following the Equator

Group Leader Spotlight: Joyce Schaller

EF Group Leader Joyce Schaller, a high school English teacher from Nokesville, Virginia, knows there is nothing quite as exciting as learning about literature by experiencing it firsthand. That's why she takes her students on educational tours with EF.

Joyce—pictured above with her students at Hadrian's Wall in Scotland—took the time to tell us more about why travel is so important for her students, connecting her curriculum to her tours and where she wants to go next:

Maple Leaf Monopoly

Montreal is the new Boardwalk.

Monopoly finally revealed the winning cities in its new World Edition this week, and the Canadian city earned the global game's most prestigious position, as we predicted in February.

In fact, Canada monopolizes the new Monopoly board. In addition to Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto also earned spots. The other dominant country is China, which placed Beijing and Shanghai, plus Hong Kong, on the board. Only one U.S. city (New York) made the game.

More than 5.6 million votes were cast to select the 22 cities in the new edition, which goes on sale next week in 50 countries.

Friday Fun Fact: Olympic torch

The Olympic torch was lit in ancient Olympia this week amid protests, beginning an around-the-world relay that will culminate at the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics on August 8. The torch route covers more than 85,000 miles across 20 countries.

Keeping the torch lit at all times can be a challenge, especially in bad weather and on airplanes. Backup flames and cans of pressurized liquid fuel are always carried alongside the official torch, in case it goes out. And on airline flights, where open flames obviously are forbidden, the flame is usually stored inside an enclosed lamp.