Cinco de Mayo is almost here. Sadly, it won’t be as big of a celebration this year, but we can still teach students a bit about it. Wouldn’t you bet that most of them think it is Mexican Independence Day?

Here is a quiz and a reading in Spanish with much high frequency vocabulary. Words that novice students may not know are glossed below each paragraph. The vocabulary is sheltered, but not the grammar. Students will understand most of the text due to context and familiar vocabulary, even though much of it is written in the past tense and there is some subjunctive usage.

Follow these steps in your remote teaching:

  1. Ask students what they already know about Cinco de mayo.
  2. Direct them to take the quiz as a pre-reading activity to get them familiar with some points to look for.
  3. Read the text aloud with students, as they follow along with their own copy. You have permission to download it and send it to your students. Students in upper levels will be able to read it on their own.
  4. Ask some comprehension check questions as you go.
  5. Ask students to take the quiz again after reading and discussion to see how much they got out of it.

Here is the Cinco de Mayo quiz in English to prime the pump if your students would have trouble reading it in Spanish.

You have permission to download, print or electronically share this Cinco de Mayo quiz and reading to use with your students, so long as it is a not-for-profit use.

The reading is from the book Conexiones: Making Connections with the Spanish-Speaking World, which is the book-of-the-month for May.