The Mexican holiday el Día de Muertos, the Day of the Dead, takes place every year on the first two days of November and remembers those who have died. One way people honour the dead is with edible skulls made of sugar.
You can bring el Día de Muertos into the classroom by asking students to:
- Examine the significance of the calavera, or human skull, in el Día de Muertos and in Mexican culture more generally.
- Explore other festivals, holidays, celebrations and traditions in Mexico and Spanish-speaking countries.
Robert Sykes, Head of Modern Languages and Spanish at North London Collegiate School, was inspired to suggest this teaching idea after hearing Dr Luis Rebaza Soraluz (King's College London) talk about the role of visual media in Mexico at the Modern Languages Summer Residential 2016.
Schools Programme members can download the resources from the event in the PTI Staffroom.
Want to discover more inspiring subject knowledge? See our upcoming events and courses for 2016/17, including our New Teacher Subject Days for Spanish and French, and CPD Subject Day: The Golden Age and the Spanish Civil War.
Find more knowledge nuggets here.
Image: By Guillerminargp (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons