Students learn about different cultures at area festival

Kids left their classrooms behind to explore cultures of all kinds in Knoxville Friday.

There was cheering, dancing, and performing, all for the sake of teaching a cultural lesson to kids.

Mason Overton is in third grade at Sweetwater Elementary School. He says, "You get to go outside and feel the fresh air and learn fun stuff."

A production group based in Los Angeles takes this multi-cultural festival to cities across the country.

Performer Texomazatl says, "We're here on a person to person basis right in front of them teaching them, teaching them geographical history, language, the diet of our ancestors and how our dances reflect the movement in nature."

Students take time out of their school day to watch their textbooks come alive and now they have new ideas about Africa, Native America, Europe and Mexico.

Another third grader at Sweetwater Elementary School says, "I didn't really know that much about Mexico and the other stuff over there. This has really helped me a lot." Overton says, "I've learned different kinds of dances and different kinds of languages."

But it's been even more personal than that. Texomazatl says, "I'm also encouraging them to think about what languages their parents speak, their grandparents, what countries they come from." And today no matter where these kids came from, they seemed anxious to learn about each other.