Spooky Spanish: The Baby-Jumping Devil!
An interactive, homework-ready KS3 Spanish activity on El Colacho, the baby-jumping devil of Burgos: texts, worksheet, answers. Y7–8, 15–20 min.
A devil… jumping over babies?!
Every June in Castrillo de Murcia, a small village in Burgos, babies are laid on mattresses in the street. A man dressed as a devil, the Colacho, jumps right over them to protect them from evil. It’s a tradition dating from 1620, and one of Spain’s most surprising festivals. This short resource introduces it to Year 7–8 using simple present-tense Spanish.
Three quick tasks on the interactive page:
• Lee y descubre: two short texts with tap-to-translate words and audio, then true/false questions.
• Viste al Colacho: colour the devil's mask, shirt and trousers. Every colour comes in all its forms, so students must pick the one that agrees, and the page explains any mistakes.
• Entrevista con el Colacho: match interview questions (¿Cómo te llamas? ¿Por qué saltas?) to the devil's answers.
What’s included:
• an interactive HTML page that works offline, with audio and self-checking tasks, and saves progress
• a one-page worksheet that matches it, with a colour agreement table
• a teacher page with answers, a cultural note and translations
• an optional student vocab list to print and cut (two per page)
Perfect for homework: each task reveals letters of a secret code. Students write it on their worksheet, so you can see at a glance who finished.
Language covered: colour adjectives with gender and number agreement, lleva, question words (¿cómo?, ¿qué?, ¿por qué?) and first-person answers.
Flexible use: homework, a starter or plenary, a cover lesson, or a Halloween-season activity in class.
Part of the Fiestas misteriosas unit. Also available: San Andrés de Teixido, Samaín, La Santa Compaña, Santa Marta de Ribarteme, Las brujas de Zugarramurdi and Todos los Santos en Madrid.
Tip: if your VLE or Google Drive shows code instead of the page, download the HTML file and open it in any browser.
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£4.00