AIM OF THE ALPHABET AND READING PRE-COURSE

The aim of this Course is to unlock the secret of reading the beautiful Tibetan script! During this exciting Course, interested students will learn the Tibetan alphabet, reading and pronunciation rules based on the Central Tibetan dialect. The students will have a thorough understanding of each component of a Tibetan syllable, its function and pronunciation. By the end of this six-week course, students will be able to read, pronounce, spell out loud (སྦྱོར་ཀློག) and transliterate any Tibetan word into Wylie, slowly but fluently. This important skill is a prerequisite for བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online - Colloquial Tibetan - Lower Beginner Course (Tib. 101) that will start in September 2026.

METHODOLOGY

The content and methodology of this Alphabet Reading Pre-Course have kindly and skillfully been developed by our former colleague Gen Anastasia Stoliarova-la. It is a different methodology than that of the main Courses. The pedagogical approach of this Pre-Course is teacher- and teaching centred. In other words, the content will be clearly explained and delivered by our skilled native speaker teacher, Gen Lhakpa Tsering-la. Depending on the number of students, he might be assisted by Gen Melissa-la, a non-native speaker colleague.   

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

Additionally, to facilitate quick acquisition of reading fluency, all students will form SLC (Small Learning Communities), a very important and effective structure of an online course like this. Students in the small groups will be working on reading tasks together. The tasks will include short reading exercises that are to be completed and checked by one’s learning buddies regularly (daily or every two days).

Another crucial aspect of this Alphabet Pre-Course is the weekly 1:1 practice session with a native speaker tutor. These sessions are scheduled individually and are of utmost importance and benefit. You will receive handouts to support this process. 

DURATION & SCHEDULE

The Tibetan Alphabet and Reading Pre-Course will last for 6 weeks, with 2 weekly live classes on Saturdays and Wednesdays. (11 live classes in total - six sessions on Saturdays, five sessions on Wednesdays)

Each live session is between an hour and an hour and a half (including Q.&A) depending on the number of participants. 

First day of class: Saturday, August 1

Last day of class: Saturday, September 5

Timing of the live classes

9 a.m. & 4 p.m. CEST

You can choose the time slot that is more convenient to you, it does not need to always be the same and you don’t need to let us know which one you’ll join. 

MOODLE PLATFORM

The detailed content of each session and its resources will be found on the Moodle platform, to which you’ll get access shortly before the start of the course. You can already visit our landing page here. You can also read more about this Course and all our courses by visiting our website. 

ZOOM PLATFORM

All live classes will be held over the Zoom platform, the link will be on the Moodle platform and sent to you before the start of the Course. All sessions are recorded and the recordings made available to the students privately via YouTube. 

BOOK

There is no particular course book needed for this Course, you will be provided with handouts and other materials. However, if you plan to afterwards continue your learning, we recommend you to buy Volume 1 of བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language. 

You can find the links to the ebook and various distribution points of the hard copy on our website. 

REQUIREMENTS

FUTURE LOWER BEGINNER COURSE (TIB. 101)

For བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Lower Beginner Course (Tib. 101), no special speaking skills are required, as we will begin from the very simple phrases and sentences. If you have studied Classical Tibetan before and know how to read, you do not need to participate in this Tibetan Alphabet and Reading Pre-Course. But if you do not know how to read in Tibetan yet, you need to sign up for this Course to acquire Tibetan reading skills before the official start of the Lower Beginner Course (Tib. 101).

Those students who join this Course solely with the aim of learning how to read Tibetan script, but do not wish to continue into the Lower Beginner Course (Tib. 101) in September, are also very welcome to join!

ALPHABET PRE-COURSE - (LOGISTICAL) REQUIREMENT

This Alphabet Pre-Course starts from ground zero, there is no previous knowledge of the Tibetan language and script required at all. 

For practical reasons, we require our students to have a Gmail account so that we can share YouTube recordings (privately) 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 1:1 tutor classes and logistics around them. (If for whatever reason, the student does not have/want one of the above, please contact us.)

TUITION POLICY

SINI is a non-profit 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 our courses accessible to everyone who wishes to study the Tibetan language. We try our best to keep costs as reasonable as possible.

The price for the Alphabet and Reading Pre-Course is $150. This includes all the materials, live classes and six 1:1 tutor sessions. 

MONASTIC RATE

We offer scholarships to support the continuation of the monastic tradition. Please see the course listing especially for monastics to access that sponsored tuition rate. The monastic rate is $120. 

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information about this Alphabet and Reading Pre-Course, please get in touch directly with: 

Gen Lhakpa Tsering-la: lhakpal143@gmail.com 

Or our program assistant Tzoe-la tibetanatsini@gmail.com

Or visit the F.A.Q. section on our website.