Cinco de mayo

If you have ever taught Spanish at this time of the year, you know how annoying it is to hear..."Are we gonna have a fiesta for Cinco de Mayo?"  Thanks to propaganda by beer distributors, most people have the wrong idea when it comes to what Cinco de Mayo really is.  But, wait!  There's an app for that!!!!  

Cinco de Mayo:the Battle of Puebla is a mostly free app.  Upon opening, it goes directly into a summary of what it is, and more importantly what it is NOT.  It is pretty concise and the audio is delivered in Spanish-accented English.  You can toggle a text version of the story.  The other functions must be purchased for .99 cents each, so it's not *exactly* free.  There is a memory game which is pretty pointless, I'd skip that.  You only match icons, with no reinforcement of what the icon represents. The quiz is pretty good, probably worth the .99 cents.  I suggest projecting it and having the class work on it together.  

It gives feedback like the above, but it never does tell you what is right and what isn't.  Kind of annoying but still moderately useful to inform and engage for a few minutes at the end of class.  

The coloring pages upgrade is exactly that. Maybe worth it for younger kids. Maybe. 

The other cool thing is that there is a completely Spanish-language version of the app.  I believe this was developed as a service to inform and instruct Spanish-language speakers about this commonly misunderstood holiday.

If you look at the developer, you will, in fact, find several similar Spanish-language apps...including one about the revolution of 1910, 'App Revolucionaria', and another called 'Héroes Bicentenarios'. 

In summary: good for a few minutes to close class, but only buy the quiz option, and only get it on your teacher iPad, then project.   Get it in Spanish for a more authentic and challenging tool.