Learning Spanish through song makes it much more memorable. On Thursday, March 30, the senior high Spanish Club accompanied by Miss Harvey and Miss Welty,  took a field trip to Jeannette Senior High School to see a private concert from Emir Sensini who is a member of the Spanish concert series Justo Lamas.

Justo Lamas Group Concerts tour schools across the United States as educational concerts with a goal to promote the study of the Spanish language through music and. GLSD used to attend Justo Lamas concerts with former GLHS Spanish teacher Mrs. Ryder. “At the beginning of February, we kind of got the wheels turning on it,” said Harvey who experienced four Justo Lamas concerts since 2006. “We didn’t go for about five years and then I saw Justo on his last tour,” said Harvey.

The Spanish club sponsored the field trip for any student in Spanish 3, 4, or AP. To prepare for the concert, the classes learned the songs so that they could sing along. Welty’s classes did “Cloze Activities” where they would be given the song and have to fill in the missing lyrics. Spanish club made T-shirts, posters, and sang Emir karaoke after school during their meetings. “Latrobe was the biggest, most enthusiastic group there. We even had front row seats!” said Welty.  

Spanish club member sophomore Taylor Gantt was excited to go to the concert. “I thought it would be cool to see a Spanish concert. We learned a lot about Emir in Spanish Class and learned a lot of his songs. I thought it would be cool to go see him perform,” said Gantt.  Gantt got to meet Sensini and snapped a photo and got his autograph.

Some other students got to go on stage with Emir. Sophomore, Miranda DeAngelo was first picked from the crowd when Emir spotted her holding an “I Love Emir” poster. Sophomore Molly Cunningham was picked to go on stage to dribble a soccer ball.

Sophomore Michael Dunlap went on stage to complete a difficult task. “We played this Tongue Twister Spanish game and I caught the ball to go on stage and had to say a Spanish phrase really quickly,” said Dunlap “I thought it was a lot of fun and Emir was really entertaining the whole time.”

Harvey and Welty were both pleased with the outcome of the field trip. “It was fun to see my students so excited to see Emir and sing his songs,” said Welty. “It’s a fabulous experience and the music sticks in your head. The new vocabulary, grammar, and the positive messages of the songs such as self value, strength, and hope will stick in their minds for a long time,” said Harvey.  All of the students who attended had a fun time singing along with Emir and were happy with the experience.