Tib 202 – བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Upper Intermediate Language Course is a student-centered, hybrid of live and recorded classes, and consists of six engaging Modules.

• The Upper Intermediate Course (Tib. 202) is a direct continuation of the Lower Intermediate Course (Tib. 201).

• Module 1: Review of Lower Intermediate Course topics .

• Modules 2-6 introduce students to the fascinating world of Upper Intermediate Tibetan language and grammar.

• Modules 2-6 are based on Lessons 16-20 from Volume 2 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ།.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། སྡེ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Intermediate Courses aim at enabling you to take your elementary colloquial Tibetan skills to a whole new level! You will not only explore new conversational topics, such as traveling, clothing, health and diseases, pilgrimage, ལོ་གསར།, etc. But also, this Course (Tib. 202) will introduce you to important grammatical tools of intermediate colloquial Tibetan, such as reported speech, comparison and superlatives, nominalizers, suffixed adjectives and even relative clauses! This Course is the direct continuation of the Lower Intermediate Course and both Intermediate ones follow the Beginner Course and guide you on your path into an intermediate level of colloquial Tibetan. 

In this course we’ll both solidify the content of the Lower Intermediate Course as well as explore new and exciting intermediate topics, both grammatical and conversational.

This on-line course is based on Franziska Oertle’s innovative text, བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། སྡེ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ། The Heart of Tibetan Language Volume 2. Just like Volume 1, it is a synthesis of a topic-based and grammar-based textbook which seems to be a beneficial approach to this complex and profound language. Apart from the various language skills, such as listening, speaking and reading, these Courses continue to focus on the development of the soft skills as well as cultural learning, which goes hand in hand with language learning or in other words, is an indispensable part of it. 

Back to Mr. Sloth Pace

LET US TAKE TIME TO ENJOY OUR LEARNING!

Based on the overall experience, we have decided to return to a rhythm of four weeks per Module to allow you more time to absorb information and practice your various language skills. We recommend that you dedicate at least about 10-12 hours per week to your Tibetan language learning, if possible. 

…TO FIT YOUR SCHEDULE…

Time Zones

You can participate in this course independently of where you live and what your work or study schedule is, as the majority of the learning activities are asynchronous and self-paced; you can do them at a time that is suitable to you.

Live classes, held on the Zoom platform, will be offered in two different time slots, for your convenience. The live classes are at 10 a.m. & 6 p.m. CE(S)T every Saturday. The optional White Wednesday talks are of course on Wednesdays. One out of the four live sessions is a live Discussion Forum about meta-cognitive reflections, the soft skills and other relevant topics, such as the Small Learning Community (SLC), etc. The live classes typically last for about one hour + (optional) 15 minutes for questions.

All live sessions will be recorded and made available in the event that you need to make up a class, or for purposes of review. Those will be on YouTube, privately shared with your Gmail account. 

*Students who know they will miss a class ahead of time can send in their questions beforehand, and watch the recording afterward.

WHAT IS INCLUDED

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Live classes with Tibetan Language instructors: Franziska Oertle, Gen Lhakpa Tsering-la and/or Gen Alexandra Sukhanova-la, featuring various kinds of speaking practice, learning games, songs, discussions about objectives, meta-cognitive skills, etc. and time for Q&A
• 20-45 minute key-point videos with puppets providing an overview of each lesson
• 1-2 webinars for every lesson, which explain the grammar in a thorough, yet accessible and engaging way (Each webinar is divided into separate questions, each of which is about 10-15 minutes)
• Written and/or live meeting Discussion Forum about soft skills
• Small group learning environment, SLC, the backbone of our courses
• Weekly 1:1 session with native Tibetan-speaking conversation partners for (enjoyable) speaking practice  
• Digital language lab-like practice
• A challenge (final product) at the end of each module
• A large variety of self-paced learning activities and resources

LIVE SESSIONS

Live sessions are an opportunity for you to practice newly acquired language skills, ask questions, play learning games with classmates, sing or listen to Tibetan songs, discuss culture, share observations and reflections, and more. There are (usually) four live sessions per lesson. A free Saturday and week of holiday after every two Modules is also planned.

KEY-POINT VIDEOS & PRE-RECORDED WEBINARS

Each module includes:

• A 20-45-minute animated key-point video with our four non-human students in forms of puppets, which gives an overview and introduction to the new topic in a humorous and engaging way
• Several innovative and engaging webinars detailing key grammar points and cultural questions. These videos will be available for your review throughout the Course.

Click on the following link to view a video sample:

• Key-Point-Video Sample.
• Free-to-watch Webinar.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Your learning process will be supported and enhanced by:

• A large variety of learning activities, materials, and resources to enhance learning individually and in partnership with classmates
• Engaging electronic flash-cards (Anki)
• Rubrics for self-assessment and reflection
• Learning games and songs
• A digital language lab-like speaking practice
• An e-Portfolio
• A variety of learning and assessment activities
• White Wednesday Talks about topics around Tibetan culture 

MOODLE PLATFORM

We use the Moodle platform to host activities, learning materials, and student resources. 

If you have not participated in any of our Beginner Courses or Lower Intermediate Course, you’ll need to do Module Zero in self-study before the beginning of the Upper Intermediate Course: “Learning How to Learn (Online),” you’ll be introduced to Moodle. You will learn how to navigate, and how to make the most of this useful tool. You can visit our landing page here. 

Moodle is accessible from any device, and we offer technical support for our students throughout the term of your class via a HelpDesk.

TEXTBOOK

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Intermediate Courses are designed around the textbook བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། སྡེ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ། The Heart of Tibetan Language, Vol. 2, which is a unique synthesis of indigenous Tibetan grammar and contemporary learning methodology. The traditional Tibetan style and contemporary style of learning are each represented by a doggie teacher, རྒན་སེང་གེ་ལགས། and Gen Christabella, respectively. The textbook includes dialogues with activities, vocabulary, cultural information, proverbs, songs, jokes, detailed grammar explanations, rubrics, etc. The text is accompanied by an extensive workbook that provides a variety of exercises to practice listening, reading, conversation, and grammar skills. 

LIVE INTERACTION

You discover your own learning styles and design your individual paths of learning with personal guidance from instructors. An enriching and supportive learning environment, with friendly classmates, conversation partners, and additional resources, contribute to your experience.

1:1 CONVERSATION SESSIONS WITH NATIVE SPEAKERS

Based on many years of teaching Colloquial Tibetan, we’ve found 1:1 practice sessions with native speakers an important, if not an indispensable part of the Tibetan language learning process. So, once a week, you have the opportunity to practice newly acquired language skills with a language partner over WhatsApp, Telegram, or another face-to-face digital platform. The timing will be set by you and the Tutor, based on mutual agreement. Lesson worksheets will be provided, along with guidance designed to ensure a successful practice session. Our team of Tibetan Conversation Partners in India and Nepal is a group of kind, patient, and skillful mentors and tutors, who enjoy supporting your language learning as well as giving you a unique glimpse into Tibetan culture.

TEACHERS AND CLASSMATES

On your journey of learning, you’ll be supported and accompanied by our team of main teachers, both Tibetan and non-Tibetan, with their assistants, the language tutors, and your dear classmates. In the live sessions, you’ll have the opportunity to interact with a larger group of classmates from all over the world. You’ll also be part of a smaller learning community of about four students, with whom you’ll work and learn very closely and regularly, at your own pace. At times, you may be conversing in your mother tongue within your learning community.

If you have any pets, we recommend that you include them in your learning process, as they are great listeners and don’t mind smaller, or even larger, grammatical mistakes :-)

Several of our faculty are non-human persons. The two doggies རྒན་སེང་གེ་ལགས། = Professor Lion and Gen Christabella, represent the synthesis of a traditional Tibetan and contemporary, student-centered approach to learning.

NON-HUMAN COMPANIONS & HUMOR

In addition to your human classmates, you’ll also have four imaginary non-human classmates, the polyglot Ms. Giraffe, devoted Ms. Ostrich, an extremely relaxed Mr. Sloth - and, the latest addition to the course, Mr. Sheep, a dedicated half-Tibetan, exploring his language and culture. They are the VIPs of the Key-Point-Videos, and serve to keep the webinars engaging and interesting with their different learning styles and questions. These non-human companions represent our love for animals. They also illustrate the different learning styles of typical Tibetan language students, and represent the diversity of linguistic, cultural, and religious backgrounds, age-ranges, personalities, and approaches to learning that we are looking forward to accommodating in this course.

Last but not least, we believe that learning should be joyful, and thus cherish humor and smiles. We have a feeling that the three of them will naturally contribute to our inherent joyfulness and delight in learning! They keep the key-point videos and webinars engaging and enjoyable!

METHODOLOGY

Evidence shows that students learn more effectively in a classroom where they are invited to bring themselves fully, develop caring for classmates and instructors, and reflect on their process of learning.

For this reason, བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan is student- and learning-centered, rather than teacher- and teaching-centered. བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan classroom is a joyful and supportive place to learn the Tibetan language!

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan methodology is based on Dr. Fink’s “6-fold Taxonomy of Significant Learning.” In this model, we encourage and accompany you to reflect on your process of learning, including the higher dimensions (aka ‘soft skills’) of caring, the human dimension, and metacognition. Students share reflections about the process of learning with classmates and teachers in our live Forum Discussion class and the ePortfolio. The result is that, in addition to learning the Tibetan language, students learn how they learn best.

PREREQUISITES

ALUMNI

If you have completed our Lower Intermediate Course in the past, you are prepared and qualified to enter the Upper Intermediate Course. Brushing up a bit and reviewing is of course highly recommended before the start of the Course. 

“NEWCOMERS”

Requirements:

Given this is an intermediate Course, you are expected to be able to communicate effectively on a basic/lower intermediate level about various every-day topics, such as family, weather, food, family, free time, travels, housing, etc. using conjugated verbs in the three times. 

You are also expected to be familiar with certain intermediate grammar topics such as the conditional (ན།), modal verbs (ཐུབ་པ།, དགོས་པ།, འདོད་པ།, ཤེས་པ། and མྱོང་བ།), the connective ཙང་། and ན་ཡང་། as well as the most important auxiliaries of probability. A thorough understanding of the all-pervasive system of བདག་གཞན། as well as insights about the peculiarity of Tibetan verbs and non-verbs and notions such as direct versus inferential knowledge as well as བྱེད་འབྲེལ་ལས་ཚིག and བྱེད་མེད་ལས་ཚིག, is also required. 

Please make sure you review these topics well so that you’ll feel at ease in the Upper Intermediate Course.

If you have

not studied with us before but have completed your studies of བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language Volume 1 and half of Volume 2 or equivalent on your own or in other settings, you are qualified to participate in the Upper Intermediate Course. 

If you have not studied with the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language Volume 1 in the past but successfully completed other intermediate Tibetan language studies, you are recommended to read བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language Volume 1 and Lessons 11-15 of Volume 2 to prepare yourself for the Upper Intermediate Courses. (Below, you find more info and links about how to prepare yourself.)

Entrance Presentation

In either of these two cases, instead of an entrance exam, you’ll be required to send us a short video of yourself, speaking partly in བོད་སྐད། and partly sharing about your motivation and aspiration in English. This will allow you to review your Tibetan, show us your language skills and get you started on or prove basic IT skills which are a requirement for our Courses. 

You find a detailed task description and rubric of this short presentation here. We do not expect you to speak fluent, perfect ལྷ་ས་སྐད། at all but need to make sure your communication skills are such that both you and your classmates feel comfortable with you joining our course. You can of course prepare this beforehand. 

If you are accepted, you’ll then gain access to Module 0 (Learning how to learn (online)) which you’ll need to complete before starting the course. We’ll support you and even find a buddy for you, one of our alumni who can answer any questions that might arise. 

Logistical requirements:

For practical reasons, we require our students to have a Gmail account so that we can share YouTube recordings and use Google Drive on various occasions. The students’ email accounts will be known by and shared with their classmates. So, if the email with which you register yourself on Corsizio is not a Gmail account, please send it to us at: tibetanatsini@gmail.com

Having a WhatsApp account is also a requirement for the tutor classes and logistics around them. (If for whatever reason, the student does not have/want one of the above, please contact us.)

Preparation for new students

In order to prepare for this Course (Tib. 202), there are various options:

The first step is (probably) to buy the textbook(s) and review (mainly the grammar sections of) (Volume 1 and) Lessons 11-15 of Volume 2 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ།. 

1. Weekly Review Sessions

There is the possibility of joining six weekly Review Sessions taking place between April 13th and May 16th where the content of the Lower Intermediate Course (Tib. 201) will be practiced. For more details about this and registration, please click here.

1. Buy access to all key-point videos and webinars of Volume 1

Please click here to buy access to all KPV and webinars of the Beginner Course, meaning Volume 1 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། ($150)

1. Access to resources of Tib. 201

You can also purchase access to all the resources (except for recordings of the live classes for privacy reasons of the students) of the Lower Intermediate Course (Tib. 201). These resources are the same as the ones described above, just for Tib. 201. This is a good option if you have a lot of time to do self-study until the beginning of the Course and enough resources. The price is $200

1. Access to only the key-point videos and webinars of Lessons 11-15

There is also the possibility to purchase only access to all the key-point videos and webinars of the Lower Intermediate Course (Tib. 201). These are a helpful addition for your self-study of the book and highly recommended. The price is $125

AUDITING VERSION (available for everyone)

There is the possibility to audit this Course if this seems a better fit for your learning style. “Auditing” the Course means that you follow the Course at the same pace, make an active part of an SLC, you’ll have a weekly tutor class with a native speaker and do self-study like a regular student. 

Auditing students however do not join the live classes on Saturdays (except for the Live Forum Discussion), do not hand in any of the assignments and therefore do not receive any feedback from the teachers. 

If you choose this option, you do receive access to all resources on the Moodle platform, including access to the recordings of the live classes on YouTube. 

The price for the auditing version of the Course is of course lower than the regular students. (See below)

It is important to keep in mind though that even as an auditing student, you are expected to keep up with your learning as your འཛིན་གྲོགས་རྣམ་པ་ཚོ། so that your interactions with them in the Small Learning Community (SLC) meetings and beyond are mutually beneficial and enriching. 

TUITION POLICY

SINI’S MISSION

SINI is a non-profit service organization with a mission to preserve Tibetan culture and Dharma, to build “Bridges of Goodness” through education, interdisciplinary collaboration, and cultural exchange. It is important to us to make this course accessible to everyone who wishes to study the Tibetan language. We have, therefore, tried our very best to keep the costs as reasonable as possible, and we humbly ask for your assistance and understanding.

SLIDING SCALE TUITION FEE

We offer a sliding scale of price. This price is the minimum one. Given the different currencies and financial realities, it is not easy to have a ‘fair’ rate for everyone. So, we give you the option to choose your own tuition depending on your personal financial situation and limitations. Thank you very much! The minimal cost of tuition for བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Upper Intermediate Language Course is $ 450. ($300 for monastics) The cost for the “Auditing” version is: $275 ($200 for monastics)

MONASTIC DISCOUNT

We offer a scholarship to support the continuation of the monastic tradition. Please see the course listing especially for monastics to access that discounted tuition rate.  

PAYMENT IN RATES

If the tuition amount is difficult for you to afford in one go, there is also a possibility to pay the tuition in monthly installments. Please write to us as soon as possible at: tibetanatsini@gmail.com 

(Please do not register yourself yet on Corsizio, we’ll enroll you manually once we’ll have received your first payment.)

BE A SPONSOR ($108)

We are trying very hard to keep the price of the courses affordable and are covering the bare minimum. If you like and can, please consider adding $108 to your course fee to support others for whom this rate might be less affordable than for yourself and support the overall development of our programs. 

SCHEDULE

STARTING DATES

Opening Ceremony Beginner Course Part II (Tib 102) and Upper Intermediate Course (Tib 202): Sunday May 26th 4 p.m. CEST

Starting date: Saturday June 1st, 2024

Ending date: Saturday November 30th, 2024

WEEK BY WEEK SCHEDULE & HOLIDAYS

Here is the (tentative) schedule which shows the holidays and free Saturdays.

REFUND POLICY

If you drop out and there is an auditing students who wants to change status and

we can replace you, you receive:

Module 1: 70%  

Module 2: 65%

Module 3: 55%

Later: 40%

If you drop out and

we can NOT replace you, you receive:

Module 1: 55%

Module 2: 40%

Module 3: 30% 

Later: You don’t get anything back 

TEXTBOOK

The course fee does not include the textbook as some students like the ebook and some prefer the hard copy. Having the textbook བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། སྡེ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ། The Heart of Tibetan Language, Volume 2, and exercise book is highly recommended as the course is designed around it. 

You can order the hardcopy from Dharma Publishing in the US. Or you can purchase or order it from the Vajra Bookstore in Kathmandu. 

The ebook (both textbook and exercise book) is available for a very affordable rate.