Beta Version: Tib. 301 Lower Advanced Course

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Lower Advanced Language Course is a student-centered, hybrid of live and recorded classes, and consists of 6 engaging Modules. 

Important friendly disclaimer

Given this Course will be offered for the first time in this student-centered format, the Course Description below is somewhat tentative and not yet based on experience and evidence. The main structure will be as laid out - but adjustments may be made during the preparation phase before the Course starts. 

• Short Module 1: Review of important Intermediate Tibetan language structures, such as modal verbs, conditional, relative clauses, etc.  
• Modules 2-6 introduce students to the fascinating world of essential dharma vocabulary presented in a Colloquial way as well as lower Advanced Tibetan language and grammar.
• Lower Advanced Course (Tib 301) consists of a (three weeks) Review Module and Lessons 21-25 of the forthcoming Volume 3 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། Heart of the Tibetan Language. 
• A Pdf of the revised draft of the relevant Lessons of The Heart of Tibetan Language Vol. 3 is a part of the Course package. 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། སྡེ་ཚན་གསུམ་པ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Lower Advanced Course aims at solidifying the elementary and intermediate language skills acquired in the Beginner and Intermediate Courses as well as slowly continue expanding your knowledge into a Lower Advanced level. 

Most importantly, Volume 3 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། offers a unique blend of Colloquial grammar and essential, skillfully selected dharma terminology. So, 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 spreading of Buddhism, the biography of the Buddha, the Three Turnings of the dharma wheel and teachings on how to listen to the dharma, and about refuge.  

This Course also introduces you to some important grammatical tools of advanced colloquial Tibetan, such as the temporal connectives, both of simultaneity and sequence, more nominalizers and another set of modal verbs, etc.

This is the Continuation Course of the Intermediate Courses (Tib. 201 & Tib. 202). It guides you on your path to and on a Lower 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 (forthcoming) 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 proved to be a beneficial approach to 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 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 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 consists of one Lesson of 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 session (live Forum Discussion) is dedicated to building up and discussing metacognitive skills. 

…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.) (Most of) the live classes are held on Saturdays. The possibility of offering one time slot or session on a weekday is yet to be determined, depending on the number and needs of the students. The Course also offers optional White Wednesday talks dedicated to Tibetan culture. They take place online (of course) 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. The recordings will be viewable 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 afterwards.

WHAT IS INCLUDED

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Live classes with Tibetan Language instructors: Franziska Oertle, Gen Lhakpa Tsering-la and/or one assistant if needed, 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 BETA version 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 10-15 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

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

PRE-RECORDED WEBINAR: BETA Version

Each Module includes:

• The webinars in this Course are not fully-fledged, but a beta version. The methodology remains the same, they consist of engaging questions of our non-human students and Franziska replying and thereby explaining the main grammar points of the Lesson in a comprehensive way. The main difference is that the layout of the “beta” webinars will be provisional and less visually attractive. 

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 Lower Advanced Course: “Learning How to Learn (Online),”. You will learn how to navigate the Moodle learning platform, and how 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.

TEXTBOOK

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Online Colloquial Tibetan Language Lower Advanced Course is designed around the textbook (forthcoming) 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 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 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, a dedicated half-Tibetan, exploring his language and culture, Mr. Sheep and the latest addition in this Advanced Course, Ven. Thubten Turtle, an elderly, wise monastic with a similar personality to Mr. Sloth. (The latter is now auditing the Course so that auditing students are also represented in the five non-human students’ community.) They 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. 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 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 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 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.

PREREQUISITES

ALUMNI

If you have completed our (Lower and) Upper Intermediate Tibetan Language Courses in the past, you are prepared and qualified to enter the Lower Advanced 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 Volumes 1 & 2  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 in the past but successfully completed other intermediate Tibetan language studies, you are recommended to read and study the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language Volumes 1 & 2 and/or buy the access to the Intermediate key-point videos and webinars to prepare yourself for the Lower Advanced Course (for more details see below).

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 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།, 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 Advanced Course (Tib. 301), there are various options:

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

The ebooks (both Volumes) 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 where the content of the Intermediate Courses (Tib. 201 & Tib. 202) will be practiced. For more details about this and registration, please click here.

1. 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 until the beginning of the Course and enough resources. The price is $350, please click here. 

1. 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 $190, please click here.

1. 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 KPV and webinars of the Beginner Course, meaning Volume 1 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། ($150)

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.)

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 Advanced Language Course is $350.

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. ($225)

AUDITING

The price for auditing students is also $225.

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 Advanced Course (Tib. 301) Lower Intermediate Course (Tib 201) and Lower Beginner Course (Tib 101): 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 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 receive back:

(Review) Module 1: 55%

Module 2: 40%

Module 3: 30% 

Later: You don’t get anything back