Super sweet blog alert–Srta. Barragán posts songs, projects, and more that can be used in Spanish classes. I’ve gotten so many great ideas from combing through her archives over the past few days! Here is the first lesson of presumably many that I wrote based on materials that I found on her site. THANK YOU!

Srta. Barragán posted some videos about música tribal and botas picudas and described how she used them for a fantastic cultural lesson. I wrote up a few quick readings, and voilá! Some beautiful CI for your teaching pleasure.



  1. Campanada: ¿Qué ropa te gusta llevar? ¿Qué música te gusta escuchar?
  2. Discuss the Campanada
  3. Watch the Bamboleo music video by Gypsy Kings
    . Afterward, discuss students’ reactions to the song using the Fan N’Pick structure and discussion question cards..
  4. Project the Bamboleo reading and read as a class; circling, personalizing, and checking for comprehension.
  • ¿Quisieras formar un grupo musical con tus hermanos?
  • ¿Conoces un grupo musical formado por una familia?
  • ¿Sabes qué es un gitano?
  • ¿Sabes bailar la salsa/el flamenco/etc?


  1. Campanada: ¿Tú miras programas de televisión con música, como American Idol, Glee, The Voice, etc.? ¿Por qué sí o por qué no?
  2. Discuss the Campanada
  3. Watch the Glee clip. «Vamos a mirar un segmento del programa de televisión ‘Glee’». En este segmento, los estudiantes cantan las canciones «Bamboleo» por los Gipsy Kings y «Hero» por Enrique Iglesias. Presten atención especial a la ropa de los estudiantes.
  4. Ask the students if they noticed anything strange about the guys’ clothing ¿Viste algo peculiar con respeto a la ropa de los muchachos?” Hopefully they will mention the boots. GOTCHA!
  5. Give students the Botas picudas reading. You can have them read it on their own, first, or read through it together as a class. After they respond to the questions, collect the papers, project the projector version, and discuss the reading.


  1. La Campanada: ¿Qué sabes del origen de las botas picudas? ¿Qué preguntas tienes sobre las botas picudas?
  2. Discuss Campanada
  3. Watch the “Behind the Seams” Botas picudas documentary (I STRONGLY ADVISE YOU TO DOWNLOAD THE MOVIE AND CUT OUT THE CLIP FROM 6:45-7:25. Here is an alternate link in case the YouTube link doesn’t work:  
  4. Discuss: ¿La música influye la moda en los Estados Unidos? ¿Puedes pensar en un ejemplo? ¿Qué ropa llevas tú cuando bailas? etc.
  5. Have students write down three thoughts that they have about botas picudas, in Spanish. (Ex: Yo pienso que son feas. Yo pienso que los jóvenes que hacen botas picudas son muy talentosos…etc.)
  6. Use the ‘Team Windows’ Kagan structure to share out and compare their answers in groups of four students.
  7. Give each group a piece of poster paper, and have each group write any statement that at least three of their group members agreed with on it.
  8. Do a ‘Gallery Walk’–have students move with their group from poster to poster, read through the other groups’ thoughts, and put a Star next to any statement with which the majority of their group agrees.
  9. Share any frequently starred statements with the class.
  10. Give all students the Botas picudas sentence translation as a writing assessment.


Challenge your students to design their own botas picudas. Have a competition later in the week! You could have students work individually or in pairs/groups, make it mandatory or voluntary, etc. Give the students a few days to work on the boots at home, then ask them to wear them to class (maybe just bring them…depending on your school’s dress code). Vote as a class for prizes such as “Longest”, “Most creative”, “Most sparkly”, “Best theme”, “Most well-made” etc. End class by dancing to your favorite songs.

10 replies on “Las botas picudas

  1. Martina–
    Your lesson is great! There is a woman in my Native American fellowship program who just finished a documentary for a museum exhibit on moccasins. She worked with tribal elders and artists and students to promote the use of reclaiming their heritage as everyday clothing rather than just for special occasions. The thoughts of fashion as part of your cultural heritage and not just accepting the dominant culture’s version of what is cool.
    Thanks for all the creative ideas you are generating or stealing. I’ve gained a lot from reading.

    1. Kate–it sounds like you could extend this lesson with some INCREDIBLY rich discussions, particularly in upper levels! I would love to tackle that topic with my students, since I have such a diverse student body. We have a cultural celebration every year to which our students wear the traditional clothing of their respective cultures, and it is SO neat to see them ‘in their element’, so to say. I don’t think I’d ever be able to devote enough class time to explore it fully, but it would be so neat to design a lesson in which students would have the opportunity to design an outfit that ‘modernizes’ the traditional clothing from their cultures by pulling certain pieces or elements combining them with modern trends…kindof like a Project Runway challenge or something.

  2. What a great lesson! I saw the Glee episode and wondered about the boots. We are right in the middle of a unit of clothing and fashion and I am always looking for something current to add to the unit. Do you mind if I borrow and steal a bit?

      1. Hi there! What an interesting lesson! Wondering what documentary you used? It appears to be marked as “private.” Gracias.

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