Looking for a novel way to teach about the legend of El Cucuy, but don’t want to do the traditional activities of CI? I had to think about how I could get my students to be familiar with the story and be able to provided super simple Spanish input. A book by Joe Hayes was the answer.


This is an activity I did years ago and always thought I blogged about it, but never did… until now.

Students will listen to a readaloud of the book “El Cucuy” by Joe Hayes. They do not need to be familiar with the story of the Cucuy; they will learn about the story as they listen and read the sentences.

You can either play the video for the whole class to listen to or you can have each student listen individually.

We recommend the English readaloud so that students a) understand the story if they are unfamiliar with it and b) is more interpretive rather than just listening for the words that they see in the text.

As students listen to the story, they read super simple sentences and have to choose which is the correct answer. For example, the first three questions are:

In the readaloud students will hear the English “They say El Cucuy is an old man with a back as crooked as a bent cedar branch. He lives in a cave in the mountains. His right ear looks just like everyone else’s, but his left ear is big and red….” and on their worksheet they will see the following options:

1. El Cucuy es un hombre joven.           /     El Cucuy es un hombre viejo.
2. Vive en una montaña / Vive en la cuidad.
3. Una oreja es muy grande y roja. / Una oreja es muy pequeña y azul

Even if students don’t know the word “oreja”, they can pick out the color and know which is true. Since they are listening to the English they know now that his ear is different.

We’ve put together 4 versions in an editable format (Microsoft Word) so that you can adjust the text based on the vocabulary needs of your own students.

The first text is accessible for level 1 students. The second version would suit level 2 or 3, where students fill in the missing word.

This resource is ready to print and use immediately.

This lesson is perfect for one class period. If you want a longer leyenda lesson, try our La Llorona Lesson which includes the background story of María and a fun MovieTalk (ClipChat).