Tib. 302 བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། - The Heart of Tibetan Language Upper Advanced Course.

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

Friendly note: Since this is the very first time we’re offering the Upper Advanced Course (Tib. 302) in this new format, the description below is our current plan. The main structure is set, but we may make small adjustments along the way to improve your learning experience.

Module 1: Review of important Lower Advanced Course (Tib. 301) Tibetan language structures, such as temporal connectives of sequence and simultaneity, nominalisers and some modal verbs. A review of ཆོས་ཚིག from the Lower Advanced Course is also part of this Module.
Modules 2 - 6: Introduce students to the fascinating world of essential Dharma vocabulary presented in a Colloquial way as well as upper advanced Tibetan language and grammar.
The Upper Advanced Course (Tib 302) consists of a Review Module and Lessons 26 - 30 of Volume 3 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language.
In case the book isn’t published by the start of the Course, a PDF version of the revised, finalised draft of the relevant Lessons of The Heart of Tibetan Language Vol. 3 will be provided as part of the Course package.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The Upper Advanced Course (Tib. 302) aims at solidifying the elementary and intermediate language skills acquired in the Beginner and Intermediate Courses as well as slowly continuing to expand your knowledge on an Advanced level.

Most importantly, Volume 3 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། offers a unique blend of Colloquial grammar and essential, skilfully selected Dharma terminology. Like in the Lower Advanced Course, the topics of the dialogues are no longer about “worldly” themes, but about Buddhism. They range from discussing, in a simple and yet beautiful language, the qualities of the Three Jewels, the mind of enlightenment, the Buddhist views, meditation, and the Four Immeasurable.

This Course also introduces you to some important grammatical tools of advanced colloquial Tibetan, such as expressive particles, saying “already”, “almost”, “of course!”, profound indigenous grammar topics, how the genders of letters relate to the བདག་གཞན། system, and more.

This is the Continuation Course of the Intermediate Courses (Tib. 201 & Tib. 202) and more specifically, the Lower Advanced Course (Tib. 301). It guides you on your path on an Advanced level of Colloquial Tibetan. It is of particular interest and benefit to students who aim at maybe being interpreters one day or simply dream of understanding the Dharma teachings in the Tibetan language. (The Course itself is not a translation or interpreting training though.)

The classroom language will increasingly be Tibetan only except for the Live Forum Discussion about metacognitive skills and important logistics and grammar explanations and clarifications.

This online course is based on Franziska Oertle’s innovative (soon to be published) text, བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། སྡེ་ཚན་གསུམ་པ། The Heart of Tibetan Language Volume 3. Like Volumes 1 & 2, it is a synthesis of a topic-based and grammar-based textbook which has proven to be a beneficial approach to this complex and profound language. Apart from the various language skills, such as listening, speaking and reading, as well as ཆོས་ཚིག, Dharma terminology, this Course continues 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.

MR. SLOTH PACE

Given the richness of activities and resources available in the Course and the feedback of our dedicated students, we have decided to move at a rather slow (sloth-like) pace, taking four weeks per Module (each Module consists of one Lesson from Vol. 3).

We recommend that you dedicate about 11 - 13 hours per week to your Tibetan language learning, if possible. There are four live sessions per Module, one every week allowing enough time for practice. One of the sessions (live Forum Discussion) is dedicated to building and discussing metacognitive skills.

…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 (One morning and one evening time CE(S)T to cover all awake times of the participants). The live classes are at 11 a.m. & 6 p.m. CE(S)T every Saturday. The Course also offers optional White Wednesday talks dedicated to getting to know a prominent, contemporary female Buddhist teacher. They take place online (of course) on Wednesdays. 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. The recordings will be available on YouTube, privately shared with your Gmail account or their links put directly on the Moodle platform.

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

WHAT IS INCLUDED

SPECIAL FEATURES

Live classes with Tibetan Language instructors: Gen Lhakpa Tsering-la and Gen Bhargavi Viswanath-la and/or Franziska Oertle featuring various kinds of speaking practice, learning games, dialogue reading or listening, Dharma vocabulary practice, Tibetan songs, discussions about objectives, meta-cognitive skills, etc. and time for Q&A
1 webinars for every lesson, which explains the grammar in a thorough, yet accessible way (Each webinar is divided into separate questions from the non-human students, each of which is about 15 - 20 minutes)
Live meeting Discussion Forum about soft skills - in དབྱིན་སྐད།
Small group learning environment, Small Learning Communities (SLC), the backbone of our Courses
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
Rubrics for reflection and self-assessment of your learning process
A variety of self-paced learning activities, exercises and resources on the Moodle platform

LIVE SESSIONS

Our live sessions are where the learning comes alive! You’ll practice your new Tibetan, dive into Dharma vocabulary, play games, sing songs, share reflections, and connect with classmates from around the world.There are four live sessions per Module/Lesson.

PRE-RECORDED WEBINARS

The methodology of the webinars is a blend of conversations between the non-human students in བོད་སྐད་རྐྱང་རྐྱང་། and their engaging questions and answers by Franziska. The questions range from the ལེགས་བཤད་ལྗོན་དབང་། over subtle grammar points to practice requests, ཆོས་ཚིག practice, and small learning games. The དཀར་པང་། of the Zoom session which is featured in the webinar as well as a translation of the student’s conversations and questions is also provided for gradual learning and better understanding.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Your learning process will be supported and enhanced by:

A variety of learning activities, materials, and resources to enhance learning individually and in partnership with classmates
Engaging electronic flash-cards (Anki) with audio and example sentences
Rubrics for self-assessment and reflection on one’s personal learning process
Learning games and songs
A digital language lab-like speaking practice
An e-Portfolio: a useful reflection tool
A personalized monthly feedback on the e-Portfolio
A variety of learning and assessment opportunities, aka. challenge
Regular White Wednesday Talks about relevant topics around Tibetan culture and/or Dharma.

MOODLE PLATFORM

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

If you have not participated in our Beginner Courses and/or Intermediate Courses, you’ll need to do Module 0 before the beginning of the Upper Advanced Course: In Module 0 “Learning How to Learn (Online),” you will learn how to navigate the Moodle platform and to make the most of it.

You can visit our landing page here.

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

BASED ON བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། སྡེ་ཚན་གསུམ་པ། THE HEART OF TIBETAN LANGUAGE, VOL. 3

The Upper Advanced Course (Tib. 302) is designed around the textbook (soon to be published) བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། སྡེ་ཚན་གསུམ་པ། The Heart of Tibetan Language, Vol. 3, which is a unique synthesis of indigenous Tibetan grammar and contemporary learning methodology – and more importantly of Dharma vocabulary and Colloquial language. In this Volume, the various aspects of the book are associated not only with the two non-human teachers, Gen Chirstabella and རྒན་སེང་གེ་ལགས། but also presented by the five non-human students with their own distinctive interests and affinities regarding their language, cultural and Dharma studies. The textbook therefore includes Dharma dialogues, well known Buddhist quotes and short prayers, biographies of important Buddhist masters, verses from the ལེགས་བཤད་ལྗོན་དབང་། (an original treatise on Tibetan grammar), vocabulary with example sentences and syllable explanations, cultural information, Tibetan songs, detailed grammar explanations, rubrics, etc.

Like before, the textbook is accompanied by a workbook with 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 genuine Tibetan language experience.

1:1 CONVERSATION SESSIONS WITH TIBETAN 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 with a native Tibetan speaker. 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 Tibetan language learning as well as giving you a unique glimpse into Tibetan culture.

TEACHERS AND CLASSMATES

On your journey of learning Tibetan language, you’ll be supported and accompanied by our small team of main teachers, both Tibetan and non-Tibetan instructors, with their assistant, 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 Tibetan language 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 Tibetan language 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 :-)

NON-HUMAN COMPANIONS & HUMOR

In addition to your human classmates, you’ll also have five imaginary non-human classmates, the polyglot Ms. Giraffe; devoted Ms. Ostrich; an extremely relaxed Mr. Sloth; Mr. Sheep who is a dedicated half-Tibetan exploring his language and culture; and the latest addition in this Advanced Course, Ven. Thubten Turtle who is an elderly, wise monastic with a personality similar to Mr. Sloth. (The latter is now auditing the Course so that auditing students are also represented in the five non-human students’ community.) These non-human students are the VIPs, contribute their bits to the textbook and serve to keep the webinars engaging and interesting with their different learning styles and questions. They 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 five of them will naturally contribute to our inherent joyfulness and delight in learning!

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 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 web inar

PREREQUISITES

ALUMNI

If you have completed our (Lower and) Upper Intermediate Tibetan Language Courses (Tib. 201 & Tib. 202) in the past as well as the Lower Advanced Course (Tib. 301) you are prepared and qualified to enter the Upper Advanced Course (Tib. 302). Brushing up a bit and reviewing is of course highly recommended before the start of the course.

If you have been an auditing student in the Lower Advanced Course and you wish to be a general student in the Upper Advanced 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.

“NEWCOMERS”

If you have not studied with us before but have completed your studies of བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language Volumes 1 & 2 and half of Volume 3 on your own or in other settings, you are qualified to participate in the Lower Advanced Course.

If you have not studied with the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language Volumes 1 & 2 and half of Volume 3 in the past but successfully completed other intermediate and lower Advanced Tibetan language studies, you are recommended to read and study the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language Volumes 1 & 2 & 3 (first half) and/or buy the access to the Intermediate and/or Advanced key-point videos and webinars to prepare yourself for the Upper Advanced Course. (For more details see below)

MANDATORY 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 will find a detailed task description and rubric of this short presentation here. We do not expect you to speak fluent, perfect ལྷ་ས་སྐད།, 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, and need to, of course prepare this presentation beforehand.

The due date for this entrance presentation is mid December 2025. In this way, you’ll still have some time to study before the start of the Course in January if some of the requirements are not yet met.

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 Upper Advanced Course (Tib. 302), there are various options:

Textbook

The first step is (probably) to buy the textbook(s) and review - mainly the grammar sections of - Volumes 1& 2 & 3 (first half) of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language.

The ebooks (Volumes 1 & 2) are available on Google Play for a (very) affordable rate.

You can also get access to a revised and finalized draft of Lessons 21 - 25, please reach out to us at: tibetanatsini@gmail.com.

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 Advanced Course (Tib. 301) will be practiced.

Access to resources of the Lower Advanced Course (Tib. 301)

If you already feel quite solid about your knowledge of Volumes 1 & 2 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ, you can buy access to all the resources of the Lower Advanced Course (Tib. 301). There are a variety of resources for you to enjoy. The webinars are in beta-version style but still very helpful. A translation of the students’ conversations and questions as well as the དཀར་པང་། from the Zoom lesson are also included. The resources are the same as described above for the Upper Advanced Course. It also includes access to Lessons 21 - 25 of the yet to be published Volume 3. The price is $150.

Access to only beta version webinars of the Lower Advanced Course (Tib. 301)

There is also the possibility to purchase access only to the webinars of the Lower Advanced Course. The དཀར་པང་། and translations of the student’s conversations and questions are also included as well as the access to Lessons 21 - 25 of Volume 3 to supplement the videos. The price is $108.

Access to resources of the Intermediate Courses (Tib. 201 & Tib. 202 - whole Volume 2 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ།)

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 and Upper Intermediate Course (Tib. 201 & Tib. 202). These resources are the same as the ones described above for Tib. 201 & Tib. 202 - including key-point videos and webinars of high quality. This is a good option if you have a lot of time to do self-study before the start of the Course. The price is $300.

Access to only the key-point videos and webinars of the Intermediate Courses (Tib. 201 & Tib. 202 - whole Volume 2 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ།)

There is also the possibility to purchase only access to all the key-point videos and webinars of the Lower und Upper Intermediate Course (Tib. 201 & Tib. 202). These are a helpful addition for your self-study of the book and highly recommended. The price is $200.

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

If you want to go back to the basics and feel you need some review of the Beginner Course topics, please click here to buy access to all Key-Point Videos and Webinars of the Beginner Courses, meaning Volume 1 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ།. The price is $150.

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, participate actively in an SLC, 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 Language Upper Advanced Course 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, there is also a possibility to pay the tuition in monthly installments. Please email us about this at: tibetanatsini@gmail.com.

BE A SPONSOR ($108)

We work hard to keep the courses as affordable as possible, covering only the basics. If you’re able, consider adding a small contribution ($108) to support fellow students who may need financial help and to strengthen 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, 11 a.m. and 6 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 schedule for this Course which shows the holidays and free Saturdays.

REFUND POLICY

If unfortunately you decide to drop out of our Course, this is what you will receive back:

(Review) Module 1: 55%

Module 2 (Lesson 26): 40%

Module 3 (Lesson 27): 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 3, and exercise book is highly recommended as the Course is designed around it.

We hope that Volume 3 will be published by the time you need it in February. In case it is not, we’ll provide you with a finalized draft of the relevant lessons.

In case you don’t have Volumes 1 & 2 and would like to buy them, you can find the links below.

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 Advanced Course (Tib. 302) 2026