SONGS FOR CINCO DE MAYO This is a set of 11 traditional Mexican songs—lasting favorites that will not go out of style in 2 weeks. The songs are in Spanish, with English translations and colorful graphics, and there are historical and cultural notes in English for each song. You can probably guess what at least half of them are.

Here is a link that has recordings of 8 of the traditional Mexican folksongs in the link above. Send this link and the guitarrista link below to students that play the guitar so they can accompany the class as they sing.

CINCO DE MAYO QUIZ & READING ENGLISH is a quiz and reading in English about the holiday—bet there’s some facts in there your colleagues and students won’t know.

PRUEBA y LECTURA DEL CINCO DE MAYO is the same quiz and reading as the English one above in simple Spanish, with glossing of all words and grammar that are above the Novice-High level.

CINCO DE MAYO GUITARRISTA has the lyrics in Spanish with guitar chords. All chords are set in a key that groups can sing. Most chords are simple enough that an advanced beginner can play them with just a bit of practice. If you don’t play the guitar, ask for student volunteers–they would be thrilled to help you out.

The materials above will help you celebrate and explain this quintessential Mexican holiday, dispel some myths about it, and have a rollicking good time.

Why not acquire Spanish as you learn about culture and history in the language? This Cinco de Mayo unit contains the highly desirable combination of LANGUAGE, FUN, and CULTURE. It is more than a world language triple play for these additional reasons: 

1)  It feels like one big brain break, not tedious study. This lowering of the affective filter is important in acquiring language.

2)  It is self-differentiating. Students can glance at the English translations of the lyrics as needed, plus those that don’t want to sing right away can wait and listen, getting more input and joining in when they are comfortable.

3)  There is plenty of high-frequency vocabulary. Many traditional songs naturally use the all-important most commonly-used words. This sets up language learners to acquire the most useful vocabulary and have it ready when they want to communicate.

Please let us know how this works for you.

Happy singing!

¡Viva México!