To kick off their classroom study of different world cultures, Ben Porat Yosef’s third grade students split into groups to visit three different locations in Manhattan: Chinatown, Spanish Harlem and Harlem, in order to experience Chinese culture, Spanish culture and African-American culture.

The students focused on the language, food, arts and daily life of people in these cultures. The group that visited Chinatown went to the Kamwo Herbal Pharmacy, a tea shop staffed with trained herbalists, where they learned about the hundreds of different herbs used as medicine. They then visited the Museum of Chinese in America and learned about different facets of Chinese culture and history in the United States. The group that visited Harlem toured the Apollo Theater, a historic landmark of Harlem, which has launched the careers of many famous African-American artists. Students got to go onstage and perform. Students also got to view the 125th Street subway station’s famous mosaic, “Flying Home: Harlem Heroes and Heroines,” created by Faith Ringgold. The third group of third grade students visited El Museo del Barrio in Spanish Harlem, where they learned about Tito Puente, “The King of Mambo.” Through a storytelling and music making workshop, they learned about his life interest in music from a very early age. Each child made a guiro, a Latin American percussion instrument. At the end of the workshop, they performed together with their instruments. In the next few weeks, students will work in groups to create and present projects to their peers on their respective cultures they learned about on their trips.