The Chinese Cultural Center in San Francisco is a local educational resource that is eager to assist teachers and schools in educating students about Chinese and Chinese American Culture. The Chinese Cultural Center “is a major community-based, non-profit organization established in 1965 to foster the understanding and appreciation of Chinese and Chinese American art, history, and culture in the United States.”
After finishing a unit in English focused on Amy Tan’s beautifully written novel The Joy Luck Club and studying China in their history class, my students spent today exploring Chinatown.
Initially, I was daunted by the prospect of taking 100 students to San Francisco for a field trip, but Jenny Leung at the center made planning our trip a breeze. With the help of the Chinese Cultural Center, my students and I enjoyed a docent led tour around Chinatown and a sit down lunch at the Four Seas Restaurant. The docents were knowledgeable, engaging and guided us to a variety of sites rich with history- Tin How Temple, Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, and the Bank of Canton.
In addition to planning docent led tours of Chinatown, the Chinese Cultural Center “offers a variety of educational and cultural programs. These programs range from lectures, workshops, and classes to art exhibitions, dance and musical performances, and cultural exchanges—all of which enable members of the Chinese American community and the general public alike to gain a deeper knowledge of historical as well as contemporary Chinese and Chinese American culture.”
The current art exhibit at the Center is titled “In Search of Roots.” Jenny Leung describes this exhibit as displaying “memories from our [Chinese Cultural Center] interns who have researched their Chinese American heritage and made a trip back to their ancestral villages in the Pearl River Delta in Southern China.” Photos of the interns’ journeys to discover their own roots and family history are on display.
Our day at the Chinese Cultural Center helped my students make connections between the curriculum they have been studying and a culture that most were unfamiliar with prior to our trip.
Comments