¿Estás listo? Casi es El día de Independencia de México. Although more Americans can pronounce “Cinco de Mayo”, el dieciséis de septiembre is actually a national Mexican holiday. And not just ANY holiday; THE biggest national holiday in Mexico. So big that is gets two days of celebration.

Most Mexicans will be celebrating El Grito de Independencia on the 15th, and Día de Independencia on September 16th. September 15th is actually Independence Day for Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. It also kicks starts the month long Hispanic Heritage month in the United States which runs until October 15th.

This is “El Grito” that the President of Mexico will make from El Palacio Nacional:
To see a live shot of El Zócalo in Mexico City, as well as a look at the past 24 hours, check out these live webcam shots.

You may want to check out FluencyProf’s Comic with accompanying audio describing the historic events or their cloze activity.

If you are looking for some thoughts about these days events, you can find authentic language on twitter. I like to change my “Trending Topics” location to see what are the hot topics from Mexico.

On the right column, select “Change” next to the “Trends”

For Mexico, you can either select the trends from all of Mexico or the cities of Mexico City or Monterrey.

Where you can read:
-⌚ 14 de septiembre de 1813 – José María Morelos y Pavón proclama en Chilpancingo el documento “Sentimientos de la Nación”
-SabiasQue 14/09/1813: en México, José María Morelos y Pavón escribe el documento Sentimientos de la Nación.
-“No estoy llorando, son los Sentimientos de la Nación” Eso hubiera tuitteado Morelos si hubiese existido Twitter en esos tiempos.
–#gritosmexicanos Mamaaaaa, no hay papeeeeeeeel…..!!!!
–#gritosmexicanos. -Mamá, va a llover… -¡LA ROPAAAAAAAA!
-Nunca creí que el #martes13 fuera día de mala suerte y hoy mucho menos,la vida es demasiado importante como para dejarla a “la suerte” …

Simbolos Patrios: From revista “Muy Interesante Junior”

Click to view/download PDF

Anyway, if you are looking for some resources to use with your class for Mexican Independence, for less than a few dollars you can purchase: Mexican Independence Resource Pack:

Celebrate Mexico’s biggest holiday: September 16 with this Independence Day resource pack. 6 pages include the History of the Independence, How it is celebrated in Mexico (El Grito and los Desfiles) Information about the Flag and Coat of Seals, and Facts about Mexico. Also includes links of videos to show in class and how to show youtube videos even if you school has it blocked!

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Or this free download, 10 Common Misconceptions about the Spanish language and the People who Speak it:

This 12 slide powerpoint features 10 statements which ask students to decide if they are true or false. Click ahead, and it will tell you the answer and also give an explanation.These are 10 things that a lot of students don’t know, but they definitely should. Features common misconceptions about the Spanish language worldwide and in the US as well as about the people who speak Spanish.This powerpoint should last a 50 minute class period. Some slides also include additional links in the “notes” section for more information.

¡Viva México!