Spain is a popular vacation destination known for its rich culture and traditions, and this summer, four seniors had the opportunity to experience it in a unique way. They embarked on a trip through the program Pueblo Inglés, which provides high school students with the opportunity to interact with Spanish-speaking peers.
The program involved various activities throughout the trip where English-speaking students are interacting with Spanish-speaking learners, helping them practice English. The year before, two students from LHS participated, inspiring Sydney Coble, Kasey Gaughran, Alexa Levine, and Gaby Jaghab to research the opportunity and see what the program had to offer. Spanish teacher William Luzzi, expressed how proud he was to see his students apply what they learned in class to real-world experiences. “I structure my class so that it is applicable to life in learning about the language and culture of different people around the world, so the fact that they take what they learned and challenge themselves with what I teach them makes me very proud,” he said.
The students unanimously agreed that it was one of the best experiences of their lives. Levine shared that her favorite part was meeting her new best friends and learning about how different their lives are in comparison to hers. Gaughran agreed: “Meeting so many new friends, specifically the ones we met from Ireland, were a major factor in what made the experience so special.”
Jaghab recommended the experience to future LHS students who are interested in the program. “[It was an] opportunity for me to meet so many new people whom I would have otherwise not had the chance to meet,” she remarked.
After the trip, when the students returned to school, Luzzi noticed a significant change in the students. “I have seen a high level of confidence in them when they returned, and they have more of a demand to use the language in class and make more connections from real-life communication to in-class communication,” he observed.
With more students participating in this program this past summer compared to previous summers, Luzzi has aspirations for more opportunities like this one to be provided to the students of LHS. He has long had a goal of bringing students overseas for trips to Spain, and he would love to see more students participate in greater programs like Pueblo Inglés to help achieve that goal.
