Wearing yellow underwear is a unique tradition that some people in Colombia, and other places where Spanish is spoken, have on December 31st during “La Noche Vieja” on New Year’s Eve. It is believed that wearing yellow underwear will bring good luck in the new year. This tradition is known in Colombia as “Los Cucos Amarillos” or “Los Cucos de la Suerte.” “Cuco” is a word used in some places in Colombia to refer to underwear.
Through this game children will learn about this fun tradition and three simple common expressions in Spanish: ¡Qué buena suerte!, ¡Qué chévere!, ¡Qué mala suerte! You will need good luck to play the game well, of course!
I feel so lucky to have been born in such a diverse country. At this gift-giving and reflective time of year, when I am thinking about what I want and need, I think about the advice that I’ve heard repeatedly and truly believe – that, at least for someone in the middle class like me, life experiences and travel can bring so much more happiness and fulfillment than material things. On that note, I really hope someday I have the time to travel and learn from the different cultures of Colombia. And I would love to start that journey by visiting family first. My parents are from the Caribbean coast (known in Colombia as The Coast, or “La Costa”) and moved to Cali a long time ago. I have extended family in many places in the country so planning a trip that included family connections would be a beautiful experience and allow me to learn more about my own country and heritage.
One of the ways diversity shows up in Colombia is through music. Señal Colombia is a national television channel funded and founded by the government. The channel focuses on content that reflects the different Colombian cultures and populations. The channel also has a space on YouTube. I highly recommend that you explore it if you want to learn more about my beautiful Colombia – its cultures, people, and history!
Colombia is divided into five different regions: the Pacific, Andes, Orinoco, Amazon, and Caribbean. The country is made up of 31 departments (similar to states or provinces), all ethnically distinct from one another to varying degrees. As you can see below, each region is represented in a video, but Colombia’s musical diversity goes way beyond what’s shown here in these Christmas songs.
Song: Los peces en el río. Genre: Bullerengue/chalupa. Group: Las mujeres de mi tierra. Region: Caribean- Cartagena
“Día de Todos los Santos” (All Saints’ Day) is celebrated on November 1st, but if this date falls on a weekend, the celebration is moved to Monday to make it a long holiday weekend. This is known in Colombia as “La Ley Emiliani”, and it happens with some celebrations. As a result, Monday is a day off for many people in the country.
Growing up in Colombia I remember Día de Todos los Santos as a day to go to church or go to the cemetery to bring flowers and remember the loved ones who are no longer with us. Since I grew up in a big city, I could see that nothing big happened on that day. However, there are other places in Colombia where this celebration has a deeper meaning. I recently became aware of these celebrations.
The Misak People and All Saints Day
For the Misak People in the Cauca Department located in the Andes mountains in Southern Colombia, November 1st (as this article states) marks the first day of the new year, and November 2nd is a day to take offerings to the church and the cemetery.
This fun celebration is also known as “Tintilillo” and is celebrated in some areas of the Caribbean Coast of Colombia. I was able to find some videos, and if you watch them all, you can hear that they have a variety of songs. In some places, they are asking for ingredients to make sancocho and in other places, children are asking for candy.
I am sure there are other places in Colombia that have their unique celebrations to remember their loved ones and celebrate their lives.
This is one of the most relaxing activities I have used with my fifth graders. We are close to the break so they really enjoyed learning about Año Viejos. I gave them a little introduction about this tradition and its meaning (see post from previous years). We also watch a video of a girl making an Año Viejo in Colombia, and this leads to a small discussion about the materials needed to make an Año Viejo. Although the girl in the video doesn’t use firecrackers, most people put them in their Años Viejos.
We watched a video of the actual tradition. In the video we saw the excitement on the streets of people counting down. And we could hear the fire crackers and the sounds of a radio station playing the national anthem, a song which is always played on December 31st at midnight:.
After reading the story each student decorated a paper Año Viejo, which you can also find in my store. I also gave each student a small magnet to stick it on the back of the Año Viejo.They placed their Años Viejos on the magnetic board I have in my classroom while I played a video of a Christmas fireplace I found on YouTube.
I also played the traditional Año Viejo song while the students where coloring their Años Viejos.
Last but not least, I placed the Año Viejos on one of the bulletin boards in my room. I used as a title for the bulletin board the name of the song “Yo no olvido el Año Viejo”. Click HERE to download the letters.
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A few years ago I wrote a short story to use with my students to make a curricular connection with the butterfly life cycle in second grade science class. It is a twist on ” The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle, which many of my students are already familiar with, and it’s also a popular title in kindergarten. This new version I created of my own story has more repetition and simple structures.
Before teaching the story you might want to pull out a map and point at the different countries mentioned in it: Colombia, México, La República Dominicana, Cuba, Argentina, and Perú. There are some traditional dishes mentioned in the story. You might want to talk about them. This will also be a great opportunity to talk about your students’ favorite food.
Pre-teach some of the vocabulary using TPR: va, tengo hambre, come, canta, duerme and dice.
Read the story to your class. Some questions you might want to consider while reading the story.
¿Dónde está la oruga? ¿Está en Colombia o Bolivia?
¿Qué come la oruga en Colombia? ¿Come pizza? ¿Come sancocho?
¿Qué hace la oruga? ¿La oruga duerme o corre?
¿La oruga es un perro ahora ? ¿La oruga es un perro o una mariposa?
¿La oruga dice “hola”? ¿La oruga dice “hola” o “adiós”?
After reading the story I like going back and talking about each picture. Talk about the colors in the different flags included in the story.
Act it out! You can have individual actors or have different groups going to different places. Print some masks, pictures of the different foods and flags of the countries included in the story.
Click HEREto download the story “La oruga va Latinoamérica.”
This story is a great follow up of the story I do during the fall called “Monarca va a Michoacán.” I also use this story to create a connection with their science curriculum, as well as to create a cultural connection with “El Día de los Muertos” celebration in Mexico. Read more on how I use “Monarca va a Michoacán” here!
How can we make culture accessible and meaningful in the early years of Spanish learning? For those of us who teach with Comprehensible Input (CI), culture isn’t an “extra” — it’s at the heart of what we do. But helping novice learners connect to cultural topics in ways they can understand takes intention and care.
In this post, I’ll walk you through how I define both Comprehensible Input and culture, how they work together in the elementary classroom, and some practical tips to make it happen.
What Is Comprehensible Input?
The term Comprehensible Input was introduced by linguist Stephen Krashen as part of his theories on language acquisition. Krashen explains that we acquire a new language when the input (what we hear or read) is understood and interesting to the learner — not just a list of words or grammar rules. In other words, students acquire Spanish when they understand the message. The content should be relevant, engaging, and connected to their own lives.
What Do We Mean by “Culture”?
The word culture can mean many things depending on who defines it. Anthropologist Clifford Geertz described culture as “a system of values and beliefs that represent a group, a network of meanings within which people live, encoded in symbolic forms such as language, artifacts, rituals, and traditions.”
When we teach through CI, our goal is to make these “networks of meaning” comprehensible to our learners. That means choosing cultural content that is not only authentic but also understandable and age-appropriate for elementary students.
How I Integrate Culture Through CI
I like to start by asking myself two simple questions:
What’s my goal with this topic? Why do I want to explore it with my students? What connection or understanding do I want them to walk away with?
Is this topic accessible for my learners? Can it be made comprehensible at their language level? Is it appropriate for their age and experiences?
These questions help me stay focused on meaning and connection — not just coverage.
Steps for Making Culture Comprehensible
Here’s an approach that has helped me bring culture and language together in a natural way:
1. Define the theme or cultural focus.
Choose a topic that’s authentic, true, and free from stereotypes. Whenever possible, consult with someone from the culture you’re representing to ensure accuracy. Remember that “culture” doesn’t have to come only from the target-language country — it can also include comparisons with students’ own communities.
2. Determine the input.
Your students don’t need to understand every word. What matters is that they understand the message. Use visuals, gestures, cognates, and context to support meaning.
3. Select your materials.
Use authentic or semi-authentic resources such as:
Photos and visuals
Short videos or songs
Simple stories
Cultural artifacts or realia
These materials make cultural topics tangible and memorable while keeping the input comprehensible.
Bringing It All Together
Yes, it’s absolutely possible to teach culture in a CI-based classroom — and it can be powerful! The key is to make cultural input understandable, relevant, and respectful. When students can both comprehend and connect, language becomes a bridge to deeper cultural understanding.
Start small: pick one cultural focus this month, simplify the language, and let students explore it through stories, songs, and visuals.
Ready to Start?
If you’re new to this approach, I’ve gathered some helpful resources and classroom-ready ideas to get you started with Comprehensible Culture.
👉 Visit the Fun for Spanish Teachers Shop on TPT or explore the Elementary Spanish Community, where we dive deeper into topics like this through live sessions, resources, and teacher collaboration.
