Cinco de Mayo Lesson Plans for High School
Cinco de Mayo can be a fun holiday when you are a culinary arts or Family and Consumer Science teacher! These lesson plan ideas and Cinco de Mayo recipes are for middle school and high school and are a great way to get students excited about the culture and cuisine of Mexico.
Introducing a new culture is easiest with a slideshow and images. Students can gain a good understanding of the history of the cuisine by learning about the general geography and outside influences that shaped a country’s foods. We use our Foods of Mexico lesson to teach students about the history of Mexican cuisine and some of the most iconic dishes.

Cinco de Mayo Recipe Ideas for the Classroom
Elote is delicious Mexican street corn that students would love to try! We have made elote in our culinary arts classes over the years and students really enjoy it. Here is a recipe that you may like to use. It substitutes the traditional Mexican cotija cheese with feta cheese. We can’t seem to find cotija cheese in our grocery stores out here in Buffalo!
Showing videos is another great way to immerse students in Mexican culture. This is a silly but informative video on Mexican elote.
To get kids involved and thinking about the foods of Mexico, we use this Foods of Mexico, Cinco de Mayo research activity to end our unit on this Global Cuisine. You can even have students create Google slides to present their information to the class and extend the lesson.

Other Global Foods Lesson Ideas
Are you looking for more Global Foods recipes and project ideas? Check out our blog post that has more international food lesson plan ideas.
My friend over at familyandconsumersciences.com also has a delicious enchilada lab that can be used in middle and high school classes.