We can go to the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side as a class; it’s one of the places where immigrants stayed between 1863 and 1935, with very cramped living conditions.

I went once during high school. First they give a brief history lecture on what city life was like during the time period. Then they give a tour of the tenements, where inside you meet actors and actresses who play the residents of the building. They show you around their homes, and you can ask them questions about who they are, where they come from, and how they manage. They answer everything as if they are an immigrant during that era.

Here is the website:

http://www.tenement.org/