བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan: Online Colloquial Tibetan Lower Intermediate Language Course (Tib. 201)

This student-centered course is a combination of live classes with Western and Tibetan instructors, and pre-recorded key-point videos and webinars. It consists of six engaging Modules.

• Short Review Module 1: Review of Beginner Tibetan language structures, such as the three tenses, and the main structures of Tibetan sentences. Other modules cover lessons 11 to 15 of The Heart of Tibetan Language Volume 2, and introduce students to the fascinating world of Intermediate Tibetan language and grammar.
• 23 hours of live classes with knowledgeable Western and Tibetan language instructors;
• 23 hours of live conversational classes with native Tibetan language speakers;
• 15+ hours of pre-recorded webinars explaining the finest Tibetan language points;
• Personal feedback from Tibetan and Western language instructors;
• Variety and number of speaking, listening and reading exercises. 
  

After graduating from the Lower Intermediate Course, students have the opportunity to enroll in the Upper Intermediate Course. 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། སྡེ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ། The Heart of Tibetan: Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Intermediate Courses aims at enabling you to take your elementary skills acquired in the Beginner Course to a whole new level! You will not only explore new conversational topics, such as traveling, clothing, housing, jobs, etc. This Course also introduces you to the most important grammatical tools of intermediate Colloquial Tibetan, such as the verbalizers, conditional, modal verbs, auxiliaries of probability and other exciting topics! This is the first of the two Continuation Courses which follow the Beginner Course(s). It guides you on your path on the intermediate level of Colloquial Tibetan. This online course is based on Franziska Oertle’s innovative Tibetan language teaching system presented in the book བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། སྡེ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ། The Heart of Tibetan Language Volume 2. Just like Volume 1, it is a synthesis of a topic-based and grammar-based textbook which proved itself to be a very effective approach to understanding of this complex and profound language. Apart from the various language skills, such as listening, speaking and reading, this Course continues to focus on the development of the soft skills as well as cultural learning, which goes hand in hand with Tibetan language learning or in other words, is an indispensable part of it. 

Sloth-like pace

Given the richness of activities and resources available in the Heart of the Tibetan Language 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 (which corresponds to one lesson from The Heart of Tibetan Language book). In order to be able to follow and enjoy the Course and learn Tibetan language on the Intermediate level, we recommend that you dedicate about 11-13 hours per week to your Tibetan language learning. There are four live sessions with Western and Tibetan language instructors per each Module to have enough time for practicing the conversations. One session in every Module, the “Live Forum Discussion” aims at building metacognitive language study skills. There are four conversational classes with native Tibetan language speakers per Module (one hour every week). 

…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. (One morning and one evening time CE(S)T to cover all awake times of the participants. Times: Most likely: 11 a.m. & 6 p.m.) The live classes are held every Saturday. The optional White Wednesday talks are (as you might have guessed) on Wednesdays. 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 or their link 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 afterward.

WHAT IS INCLUDED

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Live classes with Tibetan Language instructors: Alexandra Sukhanova, Gen Lhakpa Tsering-la or Franziska Oertle, featuring various kinds of speaking practice, learning games, songs, discussions about objectives, meta-cognitive skills, etc. and time for Q&A
• 20 minute key-point videos with puppets providing an overview of each Lesson
• 1-2 webinars for every Lesson, which explain the grammar in a thorough, yet accessible and engaging way (Each webinar is divided into separate questions, each of which is about 10-15 minutes)
• Live Forum Discussion session about soft skills
• Small group learning environment, SLC (Small Learning Community) is the backbone of our Course
• 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 with a personalized feedback upon completion;
• A variety of self-paced learning activities and resources

LIVE SESSIONS

Live sessions are an opportunity for students to practice newly acquired language skills, ask Tibetan language-related questions to Western and Tibetan instructors, play learning games with classmates, sing or listen to Tibetan songs, discuss Tibetan culture, share observations and reflections, and more. There are, on average, four live sessions per Lesson or Module.  

KEY-POINT VIDEOS & PRE-RECORDED WEBINARS

Each Module (Lesson) includes:

• A 15-20-minute key-point video with our four non-human students in forms of puppets, which gives an overview and introduction to the new topic in a humorous and engaging way
• Several innovative and engaging webinars detailing key grammar points and cultural questions. These videos will be available for your review throughout the Course.

Click on the following links to view a KPV sample (key-point video) and a webinar sample.

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) with example sentences, illustrations and sounds
• Rubrics for self-assessment and reflection
• Learning games and songs
• A digital language lab-like speaking practice
• An ePortfolio: powerful learning tool
• Feedbacks to your learning process
• A variety of learning and assessment activities
• White Wednesday Talks about topics around Tibetan culture 

MOODLE PLATFORM

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

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

TEXTBOOK

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Intermediate Courses are designed around the textbook བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། སྡེ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ། The Heart of Tibetan Language, Vol. 2, 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, རྒན་སེང་གེ་ལགས། and Gen Christabella, respectively. The textbook includes dialogues with activities, vocabulary, cultural information, proverbs, songs, jokes, detailed grammar explanations, rubrics, etc. The text is accompanied by an extensive 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 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. 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 , 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 four imaginary non-human classmates, the polyglot Ms. Giraffe, devoted Ms. Ostrich, an extremely relaxed Mr. Sloth - and, the latest addition to the course, Mr. Sheep, a dedicated half-Tibetan, exploring his language and culture. 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 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 live forum discussions and the ePortfolio. The result is that, in addition to learning the Tibetan language, students learn how they learn best.

PREREQUISITES

ALUMNI

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

If in the past Course, you were an auditing student, you need to hand in the Entrance Presentation if you want to fully participate in this Course. If you continue to be an auditing student, handing in the Entrance Presentation is recommended too 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 Volume 1 on your own or in other settings, you are qualified to participate in the Lower Intermediate Course. 

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

In addition, you’ll need to do Module 0 before the beginning of the Lower Intermediate Course: “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. You can visit our landing page here. 

MANDATORY ENTRANCE PRESENTATION

In either of these two cases (newcomers and past auditing students), instead of an entrance exam, you’ll be required to send us an Entrance Presentation - 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 find a detailed task description and rubric of this short presentation here. We do not expect you to speak fluent, perfect ལྷ་ས་སྐད། at all, 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 February 15th. In this way, you’ll still have some time to study before the start of the Course in March 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. 

PREPARATION FOR NEW STUDENTS

In order to prepare for this Lower Intermediate Course (Tib. 201), there are various options:

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

The ebooks (both the textbook and the exercise book) are available on Google Play for a very affordable rate. 

1. Weekly Review Sessions

There is the possibility of joining eight weekly Review Sessions taking place in January and February on Saturdays where the content of the Beginner Courses (Tib. 101 & Tib. 102) will be practiced. For more details about this and registration, please click here.

1. Access to Resources of the Beginner Courses

(Tib. 101 & Tib. 102 - whole Volume 1 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ།)

You can also purchase access to all the resources (except for recordings of the past live classes for privacy reasons of the students) of the Lower and Upper Beginner Courses (Tib. 101 & Tib. 102). These resources are the same as the ones described above. This is a good option if you have a lot of time to do self-study until the beginning of the Course and enough resources. The price is $300.

1. Access to only the Key-point Videos and Webinars of the Beginner Courses 

(Tib. 101 & Tib. 102 - whole Volume 1 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 and Upper Beginner Course (Tib. 101 & Tib. 102). KPV and webinars of the Beginner Course, meaning Volume 1 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ།

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.)

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, make an active part of an SLC, you’ll 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 Online Colloquial Tibetan Lower Intermediate Language Course is $475.

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. It is $325.

AUDITING

The rate for auditing students is $300.

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 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: Lower Intermediate Course (Tib 201) Lower Advanced Course (Tib 301) and Lower Beginner Course (Tib 101) in 2025: Sunday March 9th, 4 p.m. CET

Starting date: Saturday March 15th 2025

Ending date: Saturday September 13th 2025

Closing Ceremony: Sunday September 14th 2025

WEEK BY WEEK SCHEDULE & HOLIDAYS

Here is the schedule for the Course which shows the holidays and free Saturdays

REFUND POLICY

If unfortunately you decide to drop out of our Course, you receive this amount back:

Module 1 (Review): 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། སྡེ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ། The Heart of Tibetan Language Volume 2, and exercise book is highly recommended as the Course is designed around it. 

You can order the hardcopy from Dharma Publishing in the US. 

Or you can purchase or order it from the Vajra Bookstore in Kathmandu. 

Friends in Europe can also order it from Garuda Bookstore in Switzerland.

The ebook (both textbook and exercise book) is available for a very affordable rate. Google Play seems to work well. Here is another ebook option. And another one. 

Depending on your location, one or the other place will be better to purchase it from. 

Friends from Russia, please contact Gen Alexandra (tibetanatsini@gmail.com) if you are unable to pay for the book or ebook with your credit card online.