My biggest goal in creating field trips where students actually experience a culture is that I find several opportunities for students to be immersed in different facets of a culture in one day. Today was the day and the shopping center basically at the corner of New Hampshire and University Boulevard is the place to go in Maryland. Our first stop today was at Tiffin which has a great lunch buffet of Indian food. I
t is reasonably priced ($11 each) and it is all you can eat. But the coolest thing is that there is a Tandoor oven which is open to the public. There is a big window so that you can look at the cooks slap Naan bread up on the side of the walls. As we looked into this window the staff at Tiffin allowed students to walk into the kitchen (two at a time) to have a closer look at the oven and to interact with the chefs as they tended the cooking bread. My students also absolutely loved the food too!
Our next stop was to Sari Palace which is basically right next door to Tiffin. This was a great experience because students were able to get Henna tattoos and also try on various formal outfits. We had a lot of fun here but a cautionary note...Henna takes a while to dry so make sure that you take that into consideration as you plan your day. Have students get Henna at the last moment and then you can travel home as it dries...or have them do it first and then maybe go eat. It would still be messy either way but keep in mind to have "dry time."
We then went next door to the Halal market to do a scavenger hunt in the aisles of the store. This didn't work out as well as I had hoped but if you have more chaperones and post people throughout the store you should have good luck but make sure you always clear trips with store beforehand. I had 10 students and I had to split my group in two so while students with Henna waited outside half the group went inside and had no problems. But by the time the second group went in I think the store owners were tired of kids walking up and down the aisles. So we had to cut it short. There is also a DVD/Music store in this shopping center which could also be contacted to see if they could talk about different types of music and movies. But remember to always go beforehand to clear it with everyone that you will be by and always try to keep the student numbers down.
Contact Info
Tiffin Restuarant
1341 University Blvd
Takoma Park, MD 20912
(301) 434-9200
http://www.tiffinrestaurant.com/
Sari Palace
1337 University Boulevard East
Takoma Park, MD 20912-7445
(301) 434-1350
http://www.indiasaripalacedc.com/
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