Click here to take a Virtual Tour of MOCA’s Exhibition, With a Single Step: Stories in the Making of America— anytime, anywhere! Great for students in grades 6-8.
Schools
K-12 School Tours
MOCA is pleased to be able to offer a limited number of free, in-person field trips for K-12 NYC public schools during the 2024-2025 school year, courtesy of an anonymous donor. Guided tours will be available during: October, November, December, March, April, and June. Priority will be given to Title I and neighborhood schools.
Please find field trip options and availability on our website here: https://www.explorableplaces.com/places/museum-of-chinese-in-america.
Eligibility:
- Your school must be a public or Title I school in New York City.
- Each group of students must be no more than 25 for a gallery tour, and no more than 15 for a neighborhood walking tour.
- A $30 deposit per group/tour is required to hold your booking. This deposit will be refunded in full upon completion of your field trip.
- All bookings are final and cannot be rescheduled for any reason. The museum agrees to cancel or reschedule tours with no penalty if the NYC Department of Education issues a cancellation of field trips and/or school due to outside circumstances or inclement weather.
- Each group leader is required to complete a 5-minute impact survey following their visit.
To apply for a free, in-person field trip for your class, please book a program through Explorable Places and include “Applying for grant-funded field trip” as part of the answer to “What kind of group are you bringing?”
Please email education@mocanyc.org with any questions.
In-Person Walking Tours
MOCA’s Chinatown walking tours take students through one of New York City’s oldest neighborhoods, introducing them to its long history as an ethnically diverse community. Educators will stop at 8 to 10 different sites, landmarks, and historic streets, and will use photographs and illustrations to show the ways the neighborhood has evolved–as well as remained unchanged–over the years. All walking tours are 75 minutes. Click here to book a neighborhood walking tour!
Exploring Chinatown’s Community | Grades K-2
Offered April – December
Bring students to the Museum of Chinese in America for an in-person exploration of New York City’s vibrant Chinatown. Students will learn about the landmarks, businesses, and people that make up the Chinatown community, and connect them to places and people in their own home neighborhoods.
Mapping Chinatown | Grades 2-3
Offered April – December
Bring students to New York City’s historic Chinatown for a fun and interactive map-themed trip! Students will explore the landmarks and businesses of Chinatown in person, then create their own maps to record their visits and what they’ve learned about this community.
Chinatown: A Walk through History | Grades 6 and up
Offered April – December
Uncover the history of one of New York City’s oldest neighborhoods! This walking tour focuses on how everyday buildings and places of historical significance reflect and shape a community–from its origins as the Native American Lenape village of Werpoes Hill in 1600 to its present status as one of NYC’s most active and vibrant Chinatowns one of the fastest-growing immigrant communities in New York City. Highlighted sites include the oldest streets in Chinatown, a bustling neighborhood park with a layered history a Catholic church, Chinatown’s oldest general store, and a Chinese eatery that catered to the needs of Chinatown’s turn-of-the-century “bachelor society.”
In-Person Gallery Tours
MOCA’s gallery tours offer students a wide range of experiences in our permanent exhibit With a Single Step: Stories in the Making of America. All gallery tours are 75 minutes. Click here to book a gallery tour!
Customs and Traditions | Grades 2-4
Curious about lion dance, Cantonese opera, and other traditions that permeate Chinese American culture? Pack your suitcase, and follow along! On this guided gallery experience, students will explore Chinese American customs and traditions through the lenses of performing arts, language, food, and daily life. Students will have opportunities to share their own cultural traditions and make connections with the Chinese immigrant community.
In January and February, this program is offered with a Lunar New Year spin! Get ready to celebrate the Year of the Snake with us!
Family Journeys: The Chinese American Experience | Grades 4-7
Through an examination of personal artifacts, photographs, and documents from the Museum’s collection, students will explore the Chinese American experience from past to present. Students will learn about successive waves of Chinese immigrants, their motivations for coming, where they settled, how they were treated, how they adapted to their new life, and how they shaped American society. Hands-on activities with primary sources will encourage students to delve deeper into pertinent themes and to make connections with their personal experience.
Where Do Stereotypes Come From? | Grades 8-12
Students examine and analyze representations of the Chinese in America in political cartoons, advertisements, and pop culture ranging from the 19th century through the present day. Through a series of document-based exercises that strengthen critical thinking and visual literacy and analysis, students learn the origins of stereotypes and social fears, such as xenophobia and racism, in U.S. society. Students make connections between representations of race and labor relations, immigration and naturalization policies, and international affairs.
Core Exhibit Gallery Highlights Tour | Grades 6-Adult
Learn about MOCA’s core exhibit, With a Single Step: Stories in the Making of America, in this educator-led gallery tour that provides an overview of the Chinese in America from the 19th century through the present day. Items in the Museum’s collection are used to highlight the major themes of the exhibit. (60 minute option available)
Limited Performance Add-On
Prologue Part II Shadow Puppet Performance | Grades 4 – 12 | By request, pending availability
What will you pack in your suitcase when you are going somewhere new and far away, and you don’t know when you will be back? This is the question resonates deeply with many immigrants, their parents and grandparents, and with many Chinese ladies who frequented the Homecrest Bensonhurst Community Center in Brooklyn, New York. From these shared experiences, Double Image Theater Lab drew inspiration, culminating in their latest creation: PROLOGUE, PART II. Double Image Theater Lab’s co-founder Spica Wobbe (鄭淑芸 Shu-yun Cheng) and Red Silk Dancers Company’s founder Margaret Yuen transformed the poignant narratives of these women, crafted during weekly art sessions, into a mesmerizing shadow puppet performance. Through the artistry of object manipulation, shadow play, and evocative music, PROLOGUE, PART II breathes life into the captivating adventures of these ladies, inviting audiences to embark on a journey of discovery and reflection.
The performance runs approximately 22 minutes and concludes with time to explore the set, as well as a Q & A about shadow puppetry and storytelling.
Fee: Sliding scale of $125- $200/class of up to 25 students. Email education@mocanyc.org to book a date for your class!
Pairs well with MOCA’s “Family Journeys: The Chinese American Experience” program. Also suitable for groups booking MOCA’s “Where do Stereotypes Come From?” and “Gallery Highlights” programs.
About Spica Wobbe
Spica is a puppetry artist originally from Taiwan. Her work has been seen in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Holland, Germany, Israel, Austria and the U.S. Now based in NYC, she works as a puppetry designer, performer and educator, after receiving her M.A. in Educational Theater from New York University in 2003. She has worked and studied with master puppeteers Damiet van Dalsum (Netherlands), Albrecht Roser, Norbert Goetz (Germany), Peter Schumann and Ralph Lee (U.S.). Spica was the featured artist in “Shadow, Light… Hide & Seek Exhibit” at WenShand Theater in Taipei in 2015 and “Heaven of Puppets Exhibit” at Puppet Art Center of Taipei in 2016. Her recent work “Inseparable” received a LMCC Creative Engagement grant in 2021.
About Margaret Yuen
Trained in New York and China, Margaret Yuen is a Chinese dance performer, instructor and choreographer. She founded the Red Silk Dancers in 1985 and has performed and taught extensively in schools and produced many innovative projects for young adults. Ms. Yuen was named a Chinese American Pioneer in the Arts in 1989 by Manhattan Borough President and awarded a Dedication to the Arts by the Chinese American Council on the Arts in 1981. She was also a guest participant at the Smithsonian Institute’s American Folklife Festival in the summer of 1987, in addition to being featured in the 1989 CBS special “Channel to the People” as an effort to promote racial harmony. She started collaborating with Spica Wobbe in 2018 in staging original work in the art of puppetry theater.
Self-Guided Visits
Explore the museum at your own pace! Self-guided groups are welcome to visit our core exhibit, With a Single Step: Stories in the Making of America, as well as our special exhibits and the Our Chinatown Learning Center. K-8 self-guided groups must bring at least 1 chaperone for every 8 students. Age-appropriate worksheets are available upon request.
Virtual School Programs
MOCA is excited to offer virtual, educator-led programs for school groups from grades K-12, as well as college groups. Virtual programs engage students with primary sources from the museum’s collection through close looking exercises, guided discussions, and interactive activities. Click here to book a virtual program!
Customs & Traditions: Arts | Grades: 1-4
Students will gain an appreciation of performing arts by learning about Chinese opera styles and lion dancing. Students will practice deep looking and critical reasoning skills through activities including comparing and contrasting lions and dragons, discussing the symbolism of costumes and gestures, and thinking about how the arts impact people’s lives both during celebrations and as part of their everyday activities.
Customs & Traditions: Dimsum, Dumplings & Duck | Grades: 1-4
Through an exploration of a selection of popular Chinese and Chinese American foods, students will learn about the diversity and adaptability of Chinese food culture and make connections to their own food customs and traditions. Students will investigate how differences in geography and climate in China have created diverse, regional cuisines. Students will also explore the food customs and traditions Chinese immigrants brought with them and how these customs and traditions have been preserved, changed, or adapted to new circumstances.
Family Journeys: Meet Kenneth | Grades: 3-5
Through an examination of personal artifacts, photographs, and documents from the Museum’s collection and others, students will explore the Chinese American experience through the lens of Kenneth, a young Chinese boy who emigrated to the United States via Angel Island. Students will consider what the journey was like, learn about the specific challenges Chinese immigrants faced, investigate the conditions on Angel Island, and reflect on immigration laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act. Interactive activities coupled with close looking will encourage students to make connections between past and present experiences of immigrants to the U.S., and even their own.
Family Journeys: Finding a Way | Grades 6-8
Through an exploration of a selection of primary and secondary sources about two Chinese Americans — Kenneth Ang and Hazel Ying Lee — students will learn about the impact of race and gender discrimination in the past and be guided to make contemporary connections. In particular, students will look closely at how the Chinese Exclusion Act affected would-be immigrants and Chinese Americans.
“I am Not a Virus”: Revisiting the Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype in the Time of COVID-19 | Grades: 8-12
Using primary and secondary sources from MOCA’s collections and others, students will analyze the history and impact of the perpetual foreigner stereotype, with an emphasis on how that stereotype has affected, and continues to affect, people of Chinese heritage (or perceived as being Chinese or of Chinese heritage) in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic.