Dharamshala: - After the grand success of the first two conferences being held in Michigan (2008) and San Francisco Bay Area (2012), this years "3rd Conference of the North American Tibetan Language Schools" was held from 28-29 September in New York City.
The conference, hosted by the Tibetan Community of New York and New Jersey under the patronage of the Office of Tibet, was inaugurated by Mr. Kaydor Aukatsang, Representative of His Holiness The Dalai Lama to the Americas.
Distinguished delegates from 12 North American Tibetan language schools, lecturers teaching Tibetan language in American universities and other experts were among the attendees invited to attend the conference.
The conference's agenda was made on the recommendations being made at the last years conference hosted by the Tibetan Association of Northern California.
During the two day event, the final draft of the text books for KG to Class II (Level One) and initial draft of the work books and text books for Class III to V (Level Two) were presented and discussed in detail.These text books were revised as per the common curriculum set at the first such conference(Michigan, 2008).
The decision to adopt such a common curriculum for Class VI to VIII (Level Three) was taken and as a result of which a 7 member committee, responsible for the recommendation of revised text books, was set up under the leadership of Gen Wangyal Ritzekura of the Tibetan Association of Minnesota.
The final drafts of the revised text books for Level Two and Three would be presented at the 4th conference scheduled to be held in Washington DC next year, the working committee decided.
The decision to have a common classroom syllabus to be uniformly implemented across all the North American Tibetan Language Schools was also taken.The common syllabus will be carefully formulated, keeping in mind the fact that only 40 classes/sessions can be conducted a year on an average - since the schools operate only on weekends, the working committee said.
Furthermore, it was decided to create a single website (common for all the North American Tibetan Language Schools) where all the information like text books, classroom syllabus, teaching resources, and other materials required by the schools and the students can be easily available.
Since its first conference held in Michigan back in 2008 (hosted by the Office of Tibet with the logistic support from Jewel Heart Buddhist Centers headquartered at Ann Arbor, Michigan), which coincided with the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the event has come a long way - growing bigger and better - already looking forward for its 4th. chapter (to be hosted by the Office of Tibet), scheduled to be held in Washington DC in August 2014
