Category Culture & Heritage

Explainers of Hispanic language and culture that teachers can assign, adapt, or draw on.

Culture & Heritage, EduLingo

Mes Patrio: Inside Mexico’s Patriotic Month of September

The monumental Mexican flag flying over the Zocalo in Mexico City during Mes Patrio, its eagle and serpent crest clear against the sky.

September in Mexico has a name of its own: el Mes Patrio, the Patriotic Month. For thirty days the country dresses in green, white, and red. Flags hang from balconies and government…

Dr. Alan Wood
October 20, 2026

Culture & Heritage, EduLingo

El Grito de Dolores: The Shout That Started Mexican Independence

A fireworks castle lit up with the heroes of independence and the words Viva Mexico during El Grito de Dolores celebrations in Dolores, Guanajuato.

Every year on the night of September 15, the Zócalo, the great central square of Mexico City, fills with people until there is barely room to stand. At about eleven o’clock, the…

Dr. Alan Wood
October 20, 2026

Culture & Heritage, EduLingo

Hispanic Religion: The Catholic Traditions at the Heart of Latino Culture

Inside the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, thousands of pilgrims gather beneath the flags of the Americas, a living picture of Hispanic religion.

Walk into a home almost anywhere in the Spanish-speaking world and you will likely find the same quiet arrangement: a cross on the wall, a candle before a small statue of the…

Dr. Alan Wood
October 20, 2026

Culture & Heritage, Education, EduLingo, Teaching Guides

Teaching Día de los Muertos: Not Mexican Halloween

A traditional Día de los Muertos ofrenda with framed family photos, lit veladoras, decorated calaveras, orange cempasúchil marigolds, glasses of water and pan de muerto on a blue cloth

Día de los Muertos is not Mexican Halloween. A Spanish teacher's guide to teaching it accurately: the ofrenda element by element, La Catrina's real story, a two-level reading approach, the comparison that…

Dr. Alan Wood
October 13, 2026

Culture & Heritage, Education, EduLingo, Teaching Guides

Teaching Restaurant Spanish: Beyond Vocabulary Lists

Teaching Restaurant Spanish: From Vocabulary Lists to Real Ordering Skills Ask a Spanish I student to name twenty foods and you’ll get a confident list: la pizza, el pollo, las frutas. Then…

Dr. Alan Wood
September 28, 2026