བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Course is student-centered, a hybrid of live and recorded classes, consisting of 12 engaging modules.

Module 0: How to Learn (Online) introduces students to the world of virtual learning.
Modules 1-11 introduce students to the fascinating world of Tibetan language and grammar.

This on-line course is based on Franziska Oertle’s innovative text, བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language.

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 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.

CLASS OPTIONS

…TO FIT YOUR LEARNING STYLE

Two Tracks to choose from provide students with a solid foundation of Colloquial Tibetan:

Ms. Giraffe Track (6-month course).
Ms. Giraffe is a polyglot and a bookworm. She likes to read and study at a brisk pace.

Mr. Sloth Track (1-year course).
Mr. Sloth likes to be thorough and take his time. He prefers a relaxed pace.

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan is designed in such a way that if you are planning to dedicate about an hour daily to your Tibetan language learning process (for six days a week, as taking rest is important too,) we recommend the 1-year course.

If, on the other hand, you have more time to study and wish to dedicate about two hours per day or more, the 6-month course would be more suitable for you.

Students with scheduling changes who start with Ms. Giraffe can always switch into Mr. Sloth, as need be.

…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 webinars, held on Zoom, will be offered in different time slots, for your convenience. Most live webinars will be on Saturdays. All webinars will be recorded and made available in the event that students need to make up a class, or for purposes of review.

*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 Webinars with Tibetan Language instructors, Franziska Oertle and Gen Tsenpa Tsering-La, featuring learning games and time for Q&A
5-minute animated key-point videos providing an overview of each lesson
Pre-recorded webinars for every lesson, which explain the grammar in a thorough, yet accessible and engaging way
Discussion Forum
Small group learning environment
Weekly 1:1 sessions with native Tibetan-speaking conversation partners for enjoyable weekly practice
Digital language lab-like practice
A challenge at the end of each module
A large variety of self-paced learning activities.

LIVE WEBINARS

Live webinars 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, on average three live webinars per lesson: one in the beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end. Each lesson is covered in two weeks in Ms. Giraffe’s Track, and four weeks in Mr. Sloth’s Track.

KEY-POINT VIDEOS & PRE-RECORDED WEBINARS

Each lesson 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 blue letters to view a sample key-point video.

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
electronic flash-cards
rubrics
learning games
a digital language lab-like practice
an ePortfolio
a variety of assessment activities

MOODLE PLATFORM

We use the Moodle platform to host activities, learning materials, and student resources. During the first weeks, in Module 0: “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.

Moodle is accessible from any device, and offers technical support for users throughout the term of your class.

TEXTBOOK

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Course is designed around 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 Tibetans 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 the Tibetan culture.

TEACHERS AND CLASSMATES

On your journey of learning, you’ll be supported and accompanied by our team of two main teachers, a 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, who 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 of caring, the human dimension, and metacognition. Students share reflections about the process of learning with classmates and teachers in our class forum. The result is that, in addition to learning the Tibetan language, students learn how they learn best.

PREREQUISITES

No prior Tibetan language knowledge and skills are required for བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Course. This is a beginning-level course.

Students will begin by discovering the beautiful Tibetan script in Module 1, and then slowly dive into the world of syllables, words, phrases, and sentences.

Students with some prior knowledge of the Tibetan language are welcome here, as there are many layers and subtleties to be discovered.

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.

TUITION POLICY

SINI is a non-profit service organization with a mission to preserve the 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 your assistance and understanding.

The cost of tuition for བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Course is $550 for Mrs. Giraffe’s 6-Month Class and $700 for Mr. Sloth’s 1-Year Class. To select Ms. Giraffe’s 6-Month Class, please see the course listing for བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Course: Ms. Giraffe’s 6-Month Track.

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.

If the tuition amount is difficult for you to afford, please do not feel shy to contact us. We’ll try our best to put our heads and hearts together to find a solution that can work for all parties.

Finally, for those who are able and so inclined, we joyfully receive contributions to cover the tuition for a student who may not have the resources for their own tuition, in addition to your own. This is known as “paying it forward.” Under the payment categories, choose “Pay it Forward” to add another student’s tuition fee to your own, and we will offer it to someone in need.

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Course: Mr. Sloth's 1-Year Track