TAFM Tibetan Culture School

Tibetan Culture School, an educational program of Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota was founded in 1997 by its members. The mission of this Culture School is to assist MN Tibetan children to learn their Language, History, Religion and Cultural Heritage and instill in them basic values of compassion, humility, respect and nationalism. One of the TAFM board members, the Chair of Education Committee, is entrusted with the responsibility to ensure smooth functioning of the school and other educational programs. The program coordinator, a staff of TAFM runs the Tibetan Culture School with the helpof dedicated and committed staff members.

Objectives:

• Read, write and comprehend the Tibetan text at the grade level
• Speak Tibetan with fluency
• understand and become knowledgeable about basic Tibetan history, religion, and cultural practices as contained in the textbooks
• Become competent in Tibetan performing arts
• Develop and demonstrate unique Tibetan cultural values like compassion, humility, and respect.

School Year and Days:

1. The school year consists of 11 months: September (first Saturday) to July (last Saturday) of the following year. Month of August is left for the parents for camping or visiting other places.
2. School operates for 5 hours every Saturday from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
3. School year is divided into two sessions. The First Session starts on September first Saturday to February last Saturday and the Second Session from March first Saturday to July last Saturday.

Enrollment conditions: 

Currently, there are 130 students enrolled in the school for the school year 2011-12. Families who want to enroll their child/children should meet the following conditions:

1. Child must be 5 years old as of August 31st of the calendar year or older.
2. Child’s parent(s) must be TAFM member/s in good standing.
3. Child’s parent(s) must be DhanglangChatrelDebchung (Tibetan Green Book) holder/s.
4. Non-TAFM members will pay a monthly fee of $ 40/- per child instead of $25.

Enrollment Date:

• Applications for the following school year are accepted from August 1 to August 15 with an enrolment fee of $10:00 per child.

• Applications received between August 16 and August 31 will be accepted with a late fee of $ 25.00 per child.
• No applications will be accepted for the coming school year after August 31 deadline.
• Families that have moved/immigrated to Minnesota recently can enroll their child/children anytime during the school year paying of $10:00 per child.

Curriculum:

Syllabus for each grade level consists of the textbooks (adapted version) prescribed by Department of Education, Central Tibetan Administration in Exile, Dharamsala. Supplementary reading materials collected from other sources including Tibetan Children’s Village, Dharamsala are also used.

Classes and Staffing:-

School has grade KG to 7 and this year, there are 9 sections. A team ofnine Tibetan language teachers and two performing arts instructors teach these classes. Class assignment and teacher contact information is as follow:

Parent Sub-Committee:

Parent’s involvement and community support are the backbone of this program. To further increase parent involvement and support, a Parent sub-Committee has been instituted. The Parents subcommittee members are elected by the parents for a two-year term.

The responsibilities of this committee include but not limited to:

• Organize fundraising events
• Collect fees and give receipts to the parents
• Help during mid-year and year-end events
• Help parents sign up for volunteer work
• Organize year-end TCS Families Picnic
• Help program coordinator with any other school related work

2012 - 2014 Parent sub-committee members:

Questions may be directed to:

TAFM Office - Email address: office@tafm.org
Kalsang Phuntsok , Education Chair – email address: kalsang01@yahoo.com Wangyal Ritzekura, Coordinator/Teacher – email address: rkwangyal@comcast.net

TAFM Tibetan Culture School Calendar for 2011-12