20 July 2019, London: As part of its Silver Jubilee Year activities, Tibet House Trust – the charity wing associated with The Office of Tibet, London organised ‘Professional Development’ training program for weekend Tibetan language teachers in London for two days: 19th & 20th July 2019. Tibet House Trust was founded in 1994 by the then Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for Northern Europe, Ms. Kesang Yangkyi Takla.
The twin objectives of the training program are to provide professional development in teaching skills and to provide a platform for the teachers to form a network to share their experiences, challenges and explore ways to improve the teaching techniques used in different weekend Tibetan Language schools to ultimately make students understand Tibetan language better and engage in Tibetan conversation effortlessly.
11 teachers from 5 different Tibetan language weekend schools, under the jurisdiction of Office of Tibet, London participated in the workshop:
- London School of Tibetan Language & Culture
- Tashiling Tibetan Language School, Woolwich London
- Tibetan Language School, Bristol
- Tibetan Language School, Sheffield
- Tibetan Language School, Sweden
Dr. Ngawang Phuntsog, Faculty Member, University of California, Fullarton and Mr. Dirk Schemtt, Board of Director, Ensukia Institute, and Acharya Pema Dorjee were invited as resource persons and guest speaker for the program.
Representative Sonam Tsering Frasi, also Chair of the Trustees, Tibet House Trust, inaugurated the training program which was held at the conference hall of West Lodge Park Hotel, Barnet, London. In his opening remarks, he welcomed all the participants and invited professionals to this important program of Tibet House Trust. Consistent with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s advice to Tibetans, especially to those in the diaspora, to preserve and promote Tibetan language and culture, Representative Frasi reminded the Tibetan language teachers of their important role in shaping the future generation of Tibetans in exile. He urged them to make the best use of the training program to hone their teaching skills. He remarked that providing effective Tibetan education to the young Tibetans in exile is one of his passionate missions as the Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
He concluded by stating that the training program would facilitate the participants to share their views and suggestion on recent draft curriculum formulated by CTA’s Department of Education so that the collected feedback can be reported to DoE after completion of the training program.
There were sessions by Guest Speaker Acharya Pema Dorjee on the topic ‘Challenges facing Tibetan Language Teachers’, by Mr. Dirk Schemtt on ‘Teaching Oracy: Speaking and Listening, Reading and Writing’, and by Dr Ngawang Phuntsog on ‘Language acquisition theories, Learning Theories: What do they look like in the classroom’. These sessions were followed by interactive Q&A and discussions by the participants.
Dr. Tenzin Yangchen Takla together with Tibet House Trust Secretary Ms. Tsering Tsomo jointly facilitated this Professional Development Training Program.
-Filed by the Office of Tibet London
