Not every elementary school student knows where Kazakhstan is. There are some who wouldn’t know what Mandarin is. For Southgate Elementary School students, there’s a new opportunity to learn about and explore cultures around the world.

The Voyageur’s Club, a new after school program at Southgate, is dedicated to finding out about various groups, cultures and countries across the globe, according to Nicole Winter, the group’s adviser and an English as a Second Language teacher. Winters came up with the idea after Southgate teachers were asked for programming suggestions. She’s been to a few places around the globe herself, including a year teaching in Kazakhstan and in Guatemala.

“I love learning about cultures myself and studying languages,” Winters said.

With a little integration funding and some preparations, Winters began with 31 students in December, teaching them about Kazahkstan and the country’s culture. Students learned bits of Russian, as well as Kazakhstan traditions, celebrations and some of the country’s current events. They even wrote to students at an international school in Kazakhstan, and are waiting for replies as soon as the Kazakhstan students come back from their holidays.

Yet Winters had wanted to keep the class size to 12-15 students, so they could have more input on what they learned. That’s why there are two groups of Voyageurs, one in January and February, one in March and April.

“I couldn’t say no to all these kids that wanted to learn about all of these cultures,” Winters said.

Voyageurs are starting lessons on China this month, where they learned about the Great Wall of China as well as Chinese phrases and writing, called Kanji. They also created Chinese names based on their names, what qualities they embody and their date of birth.

“It’s really fun,” said Madison Lang. “I like it because you get to learn about all these different cultures and see what other people are like.”

Lang, like other students in the class, thought Voyageur’s Club sounded interesting, and she was interested in learning about other cultures. She’s glad she took the class, because she gets to learn about how other people live.

“Even thought they’re different from us, we’ve got things in common,” Lang said. “They are unique just as we’re unique.”

Students will learn about Australia in February, Madagascar in March and Guatemala in April. Winters said she chose these counties based on whether she knew someone who had been there who would be willing to speak to the kids about their experiences. She already has a few ideas for next year’s Voyageur’s Club, although she hopes there will still be funding for it. Her students seem to enjoy it.

“The other schools should have this too,” Lang said.