Longmeadow students take immigrant journey through simulated Ellis Island
November 19, 2009, 10:18AM
Staff photo by Michael S. Gordon Lubavitcher Yeshiva Academy teacher Julie Betancourt, left, and student Linor Ben-Naim, 10, right participate in a learning program about Ellis Island.
Staff photo by Michael S. Gordon From left: students Chana Kosofsky, 11, Chaya Wolff, 13, Aviva Muhlmann, 13, and Mina Adelman, 11
LONGMEADOW - Confined to a small, overheated and foul-smelling room, students at Lubavitcher Yeshiva Academy got a glimpse of what it was like to be an immigrant in the early 1900s.
Sixth, seventh and eighth graders who finished a unit on immigration and the Industrial Revolution spent their Wednesday morning in a simulated Ellis Island where they were given IQ tests, medical exams and forced to work in a sweatshop creating patterns for a fabric company.
"We want students to learn by experiencing the things they are taught in school," said Mitchell J. Kupperman , the educational director of the academy. "This is an opportunity for students to see how difficult it was for immigrants to move to this country."
Part of each student's assignment was to learn about a particular immigrant and become that person. They had to dress like them, pack a suitcase they had to carry all morning and answer questions about that person's life.
"The man I am pretending to be is Danik. He is from Russia," said sixth grader Daniel Sczanoff, 11. His character developed a reputation on the island as a thief.
"The inspectors were stealing items from the immigrants so I decided to steal them back," he said.
Teacher Rochel Leah Kosofsky said the students were not told exactly how they were supposed to act.
"We wanted to see how they each would respond to particularly stressful or difficult situations that immigrants often faced," she said.
Students were greeted in the morning by their teachers who pretended to be inspectors and gave them medical exams and IQ tests. Inspectors yelled out immigrants scores and criticized them if they did badly. They even stole items from the bags they inspected.
"We wanted them to fully experience the difficult and sometimes humiliating situations these immigrants were put in." Kosofsky said.
Amanda Singer, who teaches history at the academy, said the students will remember this experience more than they would a lecture.
"They were able to take on a particular character and really learn about them. This kind of teaching has a much deeper impact then me standing in front of the class talking," she said.
