It’s October, and if you’re a Spanish teacher that means getting ready for Halloween and the Day of the Dead. We’ve compiled some of the best resources around to give you a one stop shop for great teaching materials.

Readings

We’ve recently added 2 products featuring excerpts from a Colombian magazine. The first one talks about Hollywood stars such as Justin Beiber and Lady Gaga’s experiences with ghosts. The second one features teen asking questions about their fears with responses from the magazine. Each features questions so you can use print them and use them in your classes right away.

example:

This twiccionario de Zachary Jones features authentic tweets in Spanish about fears.

Our favorite reading has been this article from Univision that compares Halloween and Day of the Dead titled Calaveras contra calabazas.

This reading is in English, but it discusses Disney’s request to copyright the name “Day of the Dead” which may provoke some interesting discussion in class.

Actividades:

We practiced Clothing Vocabulary as we talked about Costumes. Students had to describe what clothing made up each costume. You can download a free powerpoint of 12 Halloween Disfraces and then have students make up their own to describe to the class. For upper levels, you could even make up a game by having students guess what the costume is.

Chistes Graficos e Imagenes:

The blog Confesiones y Realidades has composed a post of 15 comics including the one to

the right.

Day of the Dead Galleries: Look at pictures taken in Mexican cemeteries as people practice the traditions of Día de los Muertos.

2 Infographics, including one which compares Day of the Dead with Halloween.

Videos:

Día de los Muertos video from misCositas.com (Download the script of this video).
Muertos Vivientes

Links:

Language Teachers’ Cafe blog has a post of 5 Ways to Celebrate Día de los Muertos.

The blog Teaching Spanish w/ Comprehensible Input has a list of 23+ Activities for Halloween and Day of the Dead.

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^Article from univision.com “Calaveras contra calabazas“. This article discusses how Día de los Muertos is being overshadowed by the North American celebration of Halloween, especially in the younger generations. The 3 page article is definitely manageable for all levels of Spanish. Although upper levels would have an easier time with it, I plan on having my level 1 students read it and look for cognates and read for context.

^Day of the Dead Galleries: Look at pictures taken in Mexican cemeteries as people practice the traditions of Día de los Muertos.

^Make your own sugar skulls: Follow this recipe and learn about making las calveritas.
^Make your own pan de muerto: Follow this receipe to make your own “dead bread”.

How will you celebrate “Día de los Muertos” in your class? Please post a comment below with your lesson for the day or any other resources you wish to share!