Tib. 102 བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། - The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Upper Beginner Course is a student-centered, hybrid of live and recorded classes, and consists of 6 engaging modules.

• Tibetan Language Upper Beginner Course Part (Tib. 102) is the direct continuation of our Tibetan Language Beginner Course Part I (Tib. 101)
•  Modules 1-6 (equivalent to Lessons 6-10 & Review Lesson of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། Heart of Tibetan Language Volume 1) are six engaging Modules which aim at building a solid foundation of the use of verbs in Colloquial Tibetan at a Beginner level. 
• (Module 0: How to Learn (Online) introduces students to the world of virtual learning and the methodological approach of our course. This Module is done in self-study prior to the actual start of the Course Tib. 102 and only applies to students who are new to our Learning Community.) 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Course provides the student with a solid foundation in Colloquial Tibetan, using the Central/Exile dialect. Students gain a deep and profound insight into the Tibetan way of thinking and viewing their language, as this course introduces the indigenous concepts and categories used by the Tibetans themselves.

Graduates of both parts of the Course (Tib 101 & 102) are able to carry out simple conversations about everyday topics including: school, family, free time, food, weather, and shopping. Having learned a variety of tenses, students will be able to converse using the three times: past, present, future and imperative.

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 students more time to absorb information and practice. We recommend that students dedicate at least about 10-12 hours per week to their 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 8 a.m. & 4 p.m. CE(S)T every Saturday. The optional White Wednesday talks are of course on Wednesday. One out of the four live sessions is a live Discussion Forum about meta-cognitive reflections, the soft skills. 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 students 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: Gen Jamyang Woser-la and Gen Lhakpa Tsering-la or Gen Alexandra Sukhanova-la or Franziska Oertle, featuring speaking practice, learning games, meta-cognitive reflections, and time for Q&A
• 5-minute animated key-point videos providing an overview of each lesson
• 1-4 Pre-recorded webinars for every lesson, which explain the grammar in a thorough, yet accessible and engaging way
• Live meeting Discussion Forum about soft skills and other relevant topics
• Small group learning environment in weekly SLC meetings
• Weekly 1:1 sessions 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 WEBINARS

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

KEY-POINT VIDEOS & PRE-RECORDED WEBINARS

Each module includes:

• A 5-minute animated key-point video, which gives an overview and introduction to the new topic
• Several innovative and engaging 30-minute webinars detailing key grammar points. These videos will be available for your review throughout the course.

Click on the following link to view samples:

 Sample key-point video

And here is a sample of a 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
• Learning games and songs
• A digital language lab-like speaking practice
• An ePortfolio
• A variety of assessment activities
• Dialogue podcasts 
• White Wednesday Talks about topics around Tibetan culture 

MOODLE PLATFORM

We use the Moodle platform to host activities, learning materials, and student resources. You can visit our landing page here. 
Moodle is accessible from any device, and we offer technical support for our students via a HelpDesk throughout the term of your class.

TEXTBOOK

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Beginner Course Part II is designed around the second half of the textbook བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language, Vol. 1, 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, Gen Sengey la and Gen Christabella, respectively. The textbook includes dialogues with activities, vocabulary, cultural information, a phrasebook, detailed grammar explanations, rubrics, etc. The text is accompanied by a workbook that provides a variety of exercises to practice listening, reading, conversation, and grammar skills.

LIVE INTERACTION

Students discover their own learning styles and design their 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 the student 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, students 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 the student and partner, 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 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། [rgan seng ge lags] = 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 three imaginary non-human classmates, the polyglot Ms. Giraffe, devoted Ms. Ostrich, and extremely relaxed Mr. Sloth. 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 Course 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 written or live class forum and the ePortfolio. The result is that, in addition to learning the Tibetan language, students learn how they learn best.

PREREQUISITES

The prerequisite for this course is that the students know how to read the Tibetan script in དབུ་ཅན། to a degree of fluency that allows them to read vocabulary, simple sentences, short dialogues, etc. with certain facility. The student also needs to know the Wylie transliteration system and be able to look up words in an electronic dictionary. The students need to have certain basic IT skills which can be acquired by working with the resources of Module 0 to which we’ll provide access. 

As for speaking and listening skills in Tibetan, the student needs to be able to understand, respond and slowly be able to formulate simple questions around the topic of school, family, etc. In other words, to have a small talk about one’s own country, religious beliefs, likes, interests, etc. The simple greetings at various times of the day are also expected to be known as well as the presence of an honorific language register in the Tibetan language and what that entails.

In terms of grammar, the students need to be familiar with the all-pervasive system of བདག་གཞན། and be able to apply that with the non-verbs “to be” and “to have”. The student also needs to have a basic understanding of the word-order in Tibetan as well as the use of demonstrative, personal and possessive pronouns as well as questions words and particles. Lastly, the student needs to be aware of the use of auxiliaries and the various notions of direct and inferential knowledge as well as the different types of verbs, བྱེད་འབྲེལ་ལས་ཚིག and བྱེད་མེད་ལས་ཚིག (volitional and involitional verbs). Knowing how to conjugate verbs in the three times oneself is not a requirement for this Course, this will be the very topic of it. 

We encourage and expect our participants to be open, curious, and flexible about online learning, and all that entails. To be successful, the student should enjoy working effectively in groups, being self-responsible, and be willing to learn on a digital platform.

Logistical requirement

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. 102), there are various options:

The first step is (probably) to buy the textbook and review (mainly the grammar sections of) Lessons 1-5. 

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 Part I of the Beginner Course (Tib. 101) will be practiced. For more details about this, please click here.

1. Access to resources of Tib. 101
   

The new students can also purchase access to all the resources (except for recordings of the live classes for privacy reasons of the students) of Part I of the Beginner Course (Tib. 101). These resources are the same as the ones described above. This is a good option if a student has a lot of time to do self-study until the beginning of the Course.

The price is $175 ($125 for monastics) 

1. Access to only the key-point videos and webinars of Lessons 1-5

There is also the possibility to purchase only access to all the key-point videos and webinars of Part I of the Beginner Course (Tib. 101). These are a helpful addition for your self-study of the book and highly recommended. 

The price is $75 ($50 for monastics)

Entrance Presentation for new students

In order to ensure that the level of a new student joining this Course is such that the student will benefit from it fully, there is a short Entrance Presentation required. This is not an exam and mainly an opportunity for the new student to ensure the review is thorough and the student is aware of one’s level and confident that he/she feels ready for and excited about this Course. 

A detailed explanation about the short Entrance Presentation is found here. 

This short Entrance Presentation is due at the end of April so that there is still time for topics to be reviewed if needed. 

AUDITING VERSION (available for everyone)

There is the possibility to audit this Course if this seems a better fit for the student’s learning style. “Auditing” the Course means that the student follows the Course at the same pace, makes an active part of an SLC, has a weekly tutor class with a native speaker and does 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. Auditing students 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། (classmates) 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 Language Beginner Course Part II (Tib 102) 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 are auditing students who want 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། The Heart of Tibetan Language, Volume 1, and exercise book is highly recommended as the course is designed around it. 

You can order the latest edition of the hardcopy from Dharma Publishing here. Or you can purchase it from the Vajra Bookstore in Kathmandu.

The ebook (both textbook and exercise book) is available on Google Play for a very affordable rate. Exercise book. Textbook.