Spooky Spanish: Interactive Basque Halloween

Spooky Spanish: Interactive Basque Halloween

A free interactive KS3 Spanish Halloween homework: discover Gau Beltza, the Basque “Black Night”, Spain’s own Halloween on 31 October!

Did you know Spain has its own Halloween? In the Basque Country, children once carried pumpkins with candles inside to guide the souls home, dressed up in white sheets and scared passers-by: ¡Buuu! Today, Gau Beltza (black night, in Basque) is back, with parades, music and scary stories.

Students discover it through three short, self-checking tasks:
• Lee y descubre: two short texts with tap-to-translate words and audio, Basque words to discover (gau, beltza, kalabaza, arima), and true/false.
• ¿Qué hacen en Gau Beltza?: match six pictures to what the children do (llevan calabazas, asustan a la gente, se disfrazan…).
• Mi noche de Gau Beltza: tap the sentences into the right order using primero, luego, después, más tarde, al final.

What’s included:
• Interactive HTML page: works offline in any browser, on computers, tablets and phones
• 1-page worksheet that matches the web page
• Teacher page with answers, a cultural note, and the texts with translations
• Optional student vocab list (2 per page, to print and cut)

Perfect for homework: each task unlocks letters of a secret code word. Students write it on the worksheet, so you can see at a glance who finished.

Language covered: present tense, 3rd person plural verbs (llevan, asustan, cantan); 1st person in a short narrative (vacío, pongo, salgo); time connectives; Halloween vocabulary.

Flexible use: homework, a starter or plenary, cover lessons, or a Halloween lesson (15–20 minutes).

Part of the Spooky Spanish series
This is a free sample of Fiestas misteriosas, a collection of spooky celebrations from every corner of Spain, all in the same interactive format:
San Andrés de Teixido · Samaín · La Santa Compaña · Santa Marta de Ribarteme · Las brujas de Zugarramurdi · Todos los Santos en Madrid · El Colacho · El Correfoc · La Noche de los Finaos · Tosantos en Cádiz · La Queimada y las meigas

VLE tip: upload the HTML file to Teams, Google Classroom or your VLE. Students open it in a browser and their progress is saved on their device.