Tib. 202 བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། - The Heart of Tibetan Language Upper Intermediate Course. 

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

• The Upper Intermediate Course (Tib. 202) picks up right where our Lower Intermediate Course (Tib. 201) left off, helping you build on what you’ve already learned and move confidently into new levels of Tibetan conversation and grammar.
• Module 1: Review of Lower Intermediate Course topics.
• Modules 2 - 6: Introduce students to the fascinating world of Upper Intermediate Tibetan language and grammar.
• Modules 2 - 6 are based on Lessons 16 - 20 of Volume 2 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ།.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། སྡེ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ། The Heart of Tibetan Language Intermediate Courses aim at enabling you to take your elementary colloquial Tibetan skills to a whole new level! Together, we’ll explore new conversational topics such as travel, clothing, health, pilgrimage, New Year celebrations, and more. Alongside that, you’ll gain new grammar tools like reported speech, comparisons and superlatives, nominalizers, and relative clauses. By the end of the Course, you’ll be speaking with more confidence and flexibility in everyday Tibetan. This Course is the direct continuation of the Lower Intermediate Course and continues to guide you on your path towards improved proficiency in colloquial Tibetan. 

In this course we’ll solidify the contents of the Lower Intermediate Course as well as explore new and exciting intermediate topics, both grammatical and conversational.

This online course is based on Franziska Oertle’s innovative text, 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 seems to be a beneficial approach to this complex and profound language. Apart from the various language skills, such as listening, speaking and reading, these Courses continue to focus on the development of 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

LET US TAKE TIME TO ENJOY OUR LEARNING!

Each module runs over four weeks, giving you time to really absorb the material and practice various language skills comfortably. We recommend that you dedicate at least about 10 - 12 hours per week to your 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 Wednesdays. One of the four live sessions is a live Discussion Forum about meta-cognitive reflections, the soft skills and other relevant topics, such as the Small Learning Community (SLC), etc. 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 you 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: Gen Lhakpa Tsering-la and/or Gen Bhargavi Viswanath-la and/or Gen Franziska Oertle featuring various kinds of speaking and listening skill practice, learning games, songs, discussions about objectives, meta-cognitive skills, etc. and time for Q&A
• 20 - 45 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 meeting Discussion Forum about soft skills
• Small group learning environment, 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
• A large variety of self-paced learning activities and resources

LIVE SESSIONS

Our live sessions are a fun chance to put your new Tibetan skills into action through conversations, games, songs, cultural discussions, and open Q&A. It’s also a space to connect with classmates from around the world.There are 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 20 - 45-minute animated key-point video, with our four non-human students in the form 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 video sample:

• Key-Point-Video Sample.
• Webinar Snapshot.

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 for self-assessment and reflection
• Learning games and songs
• A digital language lab-like speaking practice
• An e-Portfolio
• 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. 

If you have not participated in any of our Beginner Courses or Lower Intermediate Course, you’ll need to do Module Zero in self-study before the beginning of the Upper Intermediate Course: In “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. 

Moodle is accessible from any device, and we offer technical support for our students throughout the term of your class via a HelpDesk.

BASED ON བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། སྡེ་ཚན་གཉིས་པ། THE HEART OF TIBETAN LANGUAGE, VOL. 2

བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of 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

You discover your own learning styles and design your 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 your 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, you 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 you and your 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 and Nepal 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། = 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.

We believe language learning should always be joyful! Our puppet classmates—Ms. Giraffe, Ms. Ostrich, Mr. Sloth, and Mr. Sheep—bring humor and warmth into the lessons, reminding us to smile while 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 live Forum Discussion class 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 & AUDITING STUDENTS

If you have completed our Lower Intermediate Course (Tib. 201) in the past, you are prepared and qualified to enter the Upper Intermediate Course. 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 Intermediate Course and you wish to be a general student in the Upper Intermediate 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”

Requirements:

Given this is an intermediate course, you are expected to be able to communicate effectively on a basic/lower intermediate level about various every-day topics, such as family, weather, food, family, free time, travels, housing, etc. using conjugated verbs in the three times. 

You are also expected to be familiar with certain intermediate grammar topics such as the conditional (ན།), modal verbs (ཐུབ་པ།, དགོས་པ།, འདོད་པ།, ཤེས་པ། and མྱོང་བ།), the connective ཙང་། and ན་ཡང་། as well as the most important auxiliaries of probability. A thorough understanding of the all-pervasive system of བདག་གཞན། as well as insights about the peculiarity of Tibetan verbs and non-verbs and notions such as direct versus inferential knowledge as well as བྱེད་འབྲེལ་ལས་ཚིག and བྱེད་མེད་ལས་ཚིག, are also required. 

Please make sure you review these topics well so that you’ll feel at ease in the Upper Intermediate Course.

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 and half of Volume 2 or equivalent on your own or in other settings, you are qualified to participate in the Upper 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 intermediate Tibetan language studies, you are recommended to read བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། The Heart of Tibetan Language Volume 1 and Lessons 11 - 15 of Volume 2 to prepare yourself for the Upper Intermediate Courses. (Below, you will find more information and links about how to prepare yourself.)

Entrance Presentation:

Don’t worry — we’re not expecting perfect, fluent Tibetan! The entrance video is simply a way to share what you’ve learned so far, show us you can communicate at a comfortable level, and let us get to know your motivation. In either of the two cases (having studied the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ། textbook or in other ways), instead of an entrance presentation, 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། 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 of course prepare this beforehand. 

If you are accepted into the Course, 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 the Upper Intermediate Course (Tib. 202), there are various options:

The first step is (probably) to buy the textbook(s) and review (mainly the grammar sections of) (Volume 1 and) Lessons 11 - 15 of Volume 2 of the བོད་སྐད་སྙིང་པོ།. 

• Weekly Review Sessions (please click for more details)

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 Intermediate Course (Tib. 201) will be practiced.

• Buy access to all key-point videos and webinars of Volume 1 (please click for more details)

Students can 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.

• Access to resources of Tib. 201 (please click for more info)

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 Intermediate Course (Tib. 201). These resources are the same as the ones described above, just for Tib. 201. 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 $165.

• Access to only the key-point videos and webinars of Lessons 11-15 (please click for more info)

There is also the possibility to purchase only access to all the key-point videos and webinars of the Lower Intermediate Course (Tib. 201). These are a helpful addition for your self-study of the book and highly recommended. The price is $108.

AUDITING VERSION (available for everyone)

There is the possibility to audit this Course if this seems a better fit for your learning style. “Auditing” 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 Intermediate 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 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 work hard to keep our courses as affordable as possible. If you’re able, you can add a small extra contribution ($108) to help support fellow students and keep our programs growing.

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 is an auditing students who wants to change status and we can replace you, you receive:

Module 1: 70%  

Module 2: 65%

Module 3: 55%

Later: 40%

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

(Review) Module 1: 55%

Module 2 (Lesson 16): 40%

Module 3 (Lesson 17): 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 hard copy from Dharma Publishing in the US. Or you can purchase it from the Vajra Bookstore in Kathmandu. There are also selling points in Europe, please check out this website for more details.

The ebook (both textbook and exercise book) is available for a very affordable rate.