Tibet House Trust started the Saturday Tibetan classes in 1996. The initial language teaching aim was to enable the learners to be able to converse in their mother tongue and to achieve functional literacy. This meant teaching the language skills to read and write in Tibetan as well as develop communicative competence in the everyday Tibetan vernacular. The indirect gains hoped for is the inculcation of awareness of their cultural roots and retaining their sense of Tibetan identity. For most of the children, learning Tibetan was like learning it as 'foreign' language and for some as a 'second' language. So, we had to encourage those parents who could, to be involved by speaking in Tibetan at home as the first language so that their children may assimilate their mother tongue more easily. 

It wouldn't do to teach Tibetan in the traditional way as the learners' are already burdened with major curricular demands from their mainstream school education. Based on the children's level of achievement and competence in speaking, reading and writing skills, I started preparing teaching materials and aids based on the 'English as a Foreign Language' teaching materials I have collected over the years. After an initial assessment of language competence and age range, the children were divided into three learning groups: beginners, intermediate and advance. 

At the height of our Tibetan classes, we had about 15 children between the age range of 5 to 15. While the youngest members were engaged in play activities to prompt speaking and listening in Tibetan, the intermediate groups were taught to read and write in the U-Chen script and doing simple cross translations in English and Tibetan. 

The advanced group comprised of children who could read and write competently enough to translate fairly complex Tibetan sentences into English. Spelling was the main problem for most in writing in Tibetan as it is for adult learners, too. The focus of their syllabus was language functions in various imagined or real social situations so that they could achieve functional competence to communicate in Tibetan. 

Their readings include, short stories, humour, proverbs, songs, extracts from science topics, prayer texts etc. The children find it hilarious when I entertain them with my version of a popular tune using the song's lyrics in print. It's obvious that I cannot sing, or sing out of tune. The children can sing well but they cannot understand the meaning of what they sing. So, we help each other out.

Over the years, as children grew up and moved on to Secondary education, they tended to drop out from attending the Tibetan language class. As things stand today, a core group of about 5 children are expected to attend classes regularly for the foreseeable future. Given the fact that these children have only one lesson every two weeks, their progress and achievement is remarkable. 

On my part, I try to do the best that I can. Due to lack of any textual material appropriate for language recovery and teaching Tibetan as a 'foreign' language, I do spend considerable time in preparing materials for reading and writing exercises. I believe it is all worth while. 

Finally, on behalf of the children and the parents, I would like to offer our sincere thanks to the Tibet House Trust and all those kind benefactors and friends who have contributed most generously to the running of the Tibetan language classes.