Tib. 102 བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། - The Heart of Tibetan Language Upper Beginner Course.

The Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Upper Beginner Course is student-centered, combines live and recorded classes, and consists of 6 engaging modules.

The Tibetan Language Upper Beginner Course (Tib. 102) is the direct continuation of our Tibetan Language Lower Beginner Course (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 aimed at building a solid foundation in 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 through self-study prior to the actual start of the Course Tib. 102 and only applies to students who are new to our SINI Learning Community.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The Upper Beginner Course (Tib. 102) provides students 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 Courses (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 stick to a rhythm of four weeks per Module to allow students enough 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 regardless of where you live and what your work or study schedule is like, as the majority of the learning activities are asynchronous and self-paced; you can do them at a time that suits you.

Live classes, held on the Zoom platform, will be offered in two different time slots for your convenience. The live classes are at 9 a.m. & 4 p.m. CE(S)T every Saturday. The optional White Wednesday talks are of course on Wednesday. One 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) 15-30 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: Franziska Oertle, Gen Nat Thammamitr-la and/or other assistants, featuring speaking and listening practice, learning games, meta-cognitive reflections, and time for Q&A
5-minute animated key-point videos providing an overview of each lesson
1-3 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 CLASSES

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. After every two Modules, we plan to have a free Saturday and a week of holidays.

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 links to view some samples:

Sample key-point video

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.

BASED ON བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། THE HEART OF TIBETAN LANGUAGE, VOL. 1

The Upper Beginner Course (TIb. 102) 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 partners, 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 Language Course is student- and learning-centered, rather than teacher- and teaching-centered. བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language classroom is a joyful and supportive place to learn the Tibetan language!

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language 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.

If you’d like to gain some insight into the pedagogical approach of our courses, please watch this webinar.

PREREQUISITES

ALUMNI AND STUDENTS

If you have completed our Lower Beginner Course (Tib. 101) in the past, you are prepared and qualified to enter the Upper Beginner Course. Brushing up a bit and reviewing is of course highly recommended before the start of the Upper Beginner Course.

If you have been an auditing student in the Lower Beginner Course and you wish to be a general student in the Upper Beginner Course, you need to either participate in the weekly Review Sessions (October - December 2025) or hand in the “Entrance Presentation” (see below).

If you wish to continue being an auditing student, the Review Sessions are highly recommended, but not a requirement.

GENERAL PREREQUISITE

The prerequisite for this course is that 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. Students also need to know the Wylie transliteration system and be able to look up words in an electronic dictionary. 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, students need 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 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, 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”. Students also need 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 question words and particles. Lastly, students need 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 it 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 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. 102), there are various options:

The first step is (probably) to buy the textbook and review (mainly the grammar sections of) Lessons 1 - 5. (Spanish and Portuguese translations of the book are also available)

Weekly Review Sessions

There is the possibility of joining ten weekly Review Sessions taking place between 4th of October and 6th of December, where the content of the Lower Beginner Course (Tib. 101) will be practiced. For more details about this, please click here.

Access to resources of Tb. 101

New students can also purchase access to all the resources (except for recordings of the live classes for privacy reasons of the students) of the Lower 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 before the start of the Course.

The price is $165 ($125 for monastics)

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 the Lower Beginner Course (Tib. 101). These are a helpful addition for your self-study of the book and highly recommended.

The price is $85 ($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, a short Entrance Presentation is required. This is not an exam but rather 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 latest by mid December so that there is still time to review some topics 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, participates actively in 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 that of 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 Language Upper Beginner Course (Tib 102) is $ 475. ($325 for monastics) The cost for the “Auditing” version is: $300 ($225 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 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: Sunday, 11th of January 2026, 4 p.m. CET. Students of Tib. 102, Tib. 202 & Tib. 302 attend together.

Starting date: Saturday, 17th of January 2026, 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. CET.

Last day of class: Saturday, 11th of July 2026.

Last day of the course: Friday, 17th of July 2026.

Closing Ceremony: Saturday, 18th or Sunday, 19th of July.

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 (Lesson 6): 70%

Module 2 (Lesson 7): 65%

Module 3 (Lesson 8): 55%

Later: 40%

If you drop out and we can NOT replace you, you receive:

Module 1 (Lesson 6): 55%

Module 2 (Lesson 7): 40%

Module 3 (Lesson 8): 30%

Later: You don’t get anything back

TEXTBOOK - also available in Spanish and Portuguese

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 hard copy 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.

There are also selling points in Europe, please check out this website for more details.

The Heart of Tibetan Language Upper Beginner Course (Tib. 102) 2026