Learn Spanish Online – Día de Muertos Lesson (IB Theme: Experiences)
This week at Cucu Spanish, our Study With Me Online series takes you to Mexico to explore one of the most fascinating and symbolic traditions: El Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead).
Learning Spanish through cultural topics helps you connect with the real world and understand how people live, feel, and celebrate across Spanish-speaking countries. That’s why this activity fits perfectly into the IB Spanish B and ab initio theme of Experiences, where students learn to describe personal and cultural experiences meaningfully.
Let’s dive into this celebration and learn how to talk about festivities and traditions in Spanish!
What Is Día de Muertos?
El Día de Muertos is a Mexican celebration that honors and remembers loved ones who have passed away. It takes place every year on November 1st and 2nd, coinciding with All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.
Unlike other traditions that see death as something dark or sad, in Mexico this celebration is colorful, joyful, and full of symbolism. Families build ofrendas (altars) decorated with candles, flowers (flores de cempasúchil), photos, food, and objects that belonged to the deceased.
They believe that on these days, the souls of their loved ones return to visit — and the ofrenda helps guide them back home.
Learning about this celebration is not only cultural but deeply linguistic: you’ll discover expressions, verbs, and vocabulary that help you talk about customs, traditions, and emotions in Spanish.
Key Vocabulary and Expressions to Talk About Ab initio Spanish Traditions
- celebrar / conmemorar / honrar a los difuntos
- se suele / se acostumbra / es típico
- las flores de cempasúchil
- la ofrenda / las calaveritas de azúcar
Tip for IB Students: When describing a festival, use impersonal expressions like se celebra, es típico, se acostumbra, la gente suele… to show linguistic range and cultural awareness.
Grammar Focus: Talking About Ab Initio Spanish Experiences
In IB Spanish B and ab initio Spanish, the theme Experiences often includes describing personal memories and traditions. To talk naturally about these topics, you’ll need to use:
- The imperfect tense for descriptions and habits:
Cuando era niño, solíamos poner una ofrenda en casa.
(When I was a child, we used to set up an altar at home.) - The preterite tense for specific actions:
El año pasado visitamos un altar enorme en la plaza del pueblo.
(Last year we visited a huge altar in the town square.) - Expressions of opinion and emotion:
Me parece una tradición muy bonita.
Me gustaría participar en una celebración así.
These structures will help you in IB Spanish orals, written tasks, and real-life conversations about cultural experiences.
Study With Me Online: Día de Muertos Challenge
Now, it’s your turn!
Let’s connect culture, language, and creativity with this mini “Study With Me” activity.
Step 1: Watch and Observe
Watch this short video (you can find many on YouTube by searching “Día de Muertos traditions explained in Spanish”). Focus on vocabulary and expressions that describe what people do and why.
Step 2: Write a Short Paragraph
Write 6–8 lines in Spanish answering these questions:
- ¿Cómo se celebra el Día de Muertos?
- ¿Qué elementos aparecen en las ofrendas?
- ¿Qué piensas de esta tradición?
Step 3: Reflect and Share
If you’re studying Spanish B or ab initio, think about how Día de Muertos relates to your IB theme “Experiences” , what values or emotions does it represent?
You can share your paragraph in class, in a study group, or even in our Cucu Spanish community chat.
Here are some questions to help you go deeper into the topic (great for IB oral practice):
- ¿Por qué crees que esta celebración es importante para la identidad mexicana?
- ¿Qué tradiciones existen en tu país para recordar a los difuntos?
- ¿Qué opinas de la idea de celebrar la muerte con alegría?
Try to use connectors like por un lado, sin embargo, además, en mi opinión, they help you sound more natural and organized when speaking.
Learn Spanish B and AB Initio themes with us!
The Día de Muertos is more than a Mexican celebration — it’s a window into how Spanish-speaking cultures express memory, love, and identity.
When you learn Spanish through culture, you’re not only memorizing words — you’re discovering stories, values, and emotions that make the language come alive.
At Cucu Spanish, our mission is to bring culture into every lesson, helping students of IB Spanish B and ab initio programs connect language with meaning.
Would you like to join our next Study With Me Online?
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