The Tibetan population in India is steadily decreasing while it is steadily increasing in the West. The majority of textbooks published in India are designed for children who already speak fluent Tibetan. These books are of little use for children in the West, as they do not speak fluent Tibetan. Therefore, we need to publish a separate textbook aimed at children who do not speak Tibetan fluently. The first step should be to focus on developing Tibetan speaking skills. It is pointless to teach children to read and write Tibetan when they rarely speak the language. Reading and writing skills should be introduced only after the children can speak Tibetan in their daily lives.
70% - 80% of Tibetan children in the West aren't fluent in speaking Tibetan. We need to design a completely new approach to teaching spoken Tibetan. This approach must involve parents as the primary teachers since these children live in environments where Tibetan is rarely spoken outside the home.
