01.04.2022

4th-grade students visit the Immigration Museum

By Bruna Cronfli

As part of the studies in the Unit of Inquiry “Migration”, the 4th graders (Y4) visited an important site for the history of São Paulo and Brazil: the “Museu da Imigração” (the Immigration Museum). 

In the English, Portuguese, and Social Studies classes that preceded the museum visit, the students had the opportunity to understand the concepts and differences between immigrants, emigrants, and refugees. They studied stories of people who have changed cities and countries and researched the reasons why each person moved from one place to another. 

While studying immigrants and refugees, the students were also asked to research which events in Brazil were pertinent to each era of immigration and were able to identify that the reasons that led them to move were connected to the history of Brazil. 

The students learned that, in most cases, economic conditions and the search for better living conditions are determining factors in migratory processes and that, in the case of refugees, they leave their country because their lives and the lives of their families are at risk.

At “Museu da Imigração do Estado de São Paulo”, a place that preserves the history of people who arrived in Brazil through the “Hospedaria de Imigrantes do Brás”, the students were able to explore and make connections between the subjects discussed in class and the objects and exhibits.

During the visit, the students were also stimulated to get to know the memories and stories of the people who migrated and had a rich opportunity to value the meeting of multiple origins, knowledge, and experiences. Besides, they had contact with the memories of those people who came from distant lands, their traveling conditions, adaptation to new jobs, and their contribution to the formation of what we now call the Brazilian identity.

Throughout the exhibitions, they had contact with historical objects, personal documents, and period furniture, which enabled a trip back in time, when the space was an immigrants’ hostel.