Symposium Itinerary
Tuesday, April 28
UVa (Rotunda)
9:00 - 9:30 am Opening Remarks
Participants at the one-day retreat
• Tashi Rabgey, Founder and Director, Tibet Sustainable
Governance Program. Director and Co-founder, Machik
• David Germano, Co-Director, UVa Tibet Center
• Chris Seiple, President, Institute for Global Engagement
• John Flower, Conference Chair, Director
of China Studies Program, Sidwell Friends
School and UVa Tibet Center Fellow
• Zhao Shuqing, Director, Institute for Ethnic
Ethnic Minority Groups, Beijing
9:30 - 10:45 am Session 1
Tibetan Education and Language: Problems, Themes
and Context
•
Moderator, Eric Bredo, University of Virginia Curry School of
Education
A small group discussion during the symposium
• Nicholas Tournadre, Centre de Recherche Nationale,
Paris, “Soci-linguistic Dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau”
• Wang Hong, Institute for Ethnic Minority Groups, Beijing,
“Ethnic education and language status quo and policy”
• Sangyal Gyal Qinghai Normal University, Xining, “The
Challenges of Tibetan Language Education on the
Tibetan Plateau”
11:00 - 12:30pm Session 2
Strategies for Language Acquisition in Comparative
Perspective
Wang Hong, Institute for Ethnic Minority Groups, Xiaopo Huang, Machik
supporter, Washington, DC
Tibetan Education & Language Policy Symposium - 3
• Moderator, Brian Pusser, University of Virginia, Social
Foundations, Curry School of Education
• Julie Brittain, Memorial University, Canada, “Language
under pressure: The Cree Child Language Acquisition
Study and its contribution to language maintenance in a
bilingual community”
• Jamyang Tashi, Bureau of Education, Aba Tibetan
Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, “A Comparative Study
of Bilingual Education Approaches in Aba Tibetan
Autonomous Prefecture”
• Dr. Losang Rabgey, Machik, UVa Tibet Center Fellow,
“A Community-based Approach to Education in Ganzi
Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture: A Case Study from a
Rural Tibetan Township”
2:00 - 3:30pm Session 3
Global Perspectives: Education for Inclusion
Nicholas Tournadre, Centre de Recherche Nationale, Paris, on promoting
Tibetan language use
• Moderator, Deena Hurwitz, Director of Human Rights
Law Program, Law School, University of Virginia
• Carole Anne Spreen, University of Virginia, Education,
Social Foundations, “Global Trends in ‘Education for
All’ Policy: Gaining Equality and Inclusion for Underrepresented Youth in Education”
• Nawang Phuntsog, California State University, Fullerton,
“Bilingualism and Minority Education in the United
States: Lessons and Challenges for the Tibetan Case”
• Seonaigh MacPherson, University of British Columbia,
Canada, “Sustaining Multilingualism in a Global Context:
Lessons from the Tibetan Diaspora”
3:45 - 4:45 pm Session 4
Presentation: Digital Technology in Tibetan Education
& Research
• David Germano, University of Virginia, Founder, Tibet and
Himalayan Library
• Respondent, Sara Dexter, University of Virginia Curry
School of Education
Manlaji, left, University of Hong Kong
4:45 - 6:30 pm Session 5
Professor Sangye Gyal of Qinghai Normal University
Small Group Discussions
Wednesday, April 29
UVa (Rotunda Board of Visitors Room)
9:00 - 10:30 am Session 6
Comparative Approaches to Sustainable Bilingualism
in the Tibetan Region
Seonaigh MacPherson, Univ. of British Columbia, Nawang Phuntsog,
California State Univ.-Fullerton, Thubten Phuntsok, Central University for
Nationalities, Beijing
• Moderator, Diane Hoffman, University of Virginia, Social
Foundations, Curry School of Education
• Tundrup Tendzin, Tibet Academy of Social Sciences,
Lhasa, “The Shifting Context of Bilingual Education in the
Tibet Autonomous Region”
• Chakthar Gyal, Qinghai Normal University, Xining,
“Comparative Study of the Development of Bilingual
Education, Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan,
“Comparative Study of theDevelopment of Bilingual
Education in Sichuan and Yunnan”
10:45 - 12:30 pm Session 7
Language, Education and the Nation
• Moderator, Michael Davis, Professor of Law in the GPA
Tibetan Education & Language Policy Symposium - 4
Department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Zhou Minglang, Dickinson College, “Changing Models
of Nation State Building: Minority/Tibetan Language in
Contemporary China”
• Manlaji, University of Hong Kong, “National Identity and
the Development of Language Policy in Tibetan Areas of
China”
• Tashi Rabgey, University of Virginia, “Sustainable
Multilingualism as a Problem of Governance in the
Tibetan Region”
Participants at Sidwell Friends School meeting with Ben Ochstein,
2:00 - 3:30 pm Session 8
Director of International Programs, Washington, DC. John Flower,
Small Group Discussions
Director of China Program, Sidwell (far left)
3:45 - 5:30 pm Session 9
Plenary: Next Steps
•
Chair, John Flower
• Small Group Rapporteur Presentations
• Discussion
• Closing Remarks
Thursday, April 30
Marshall, Virginia
Participant Retreat
Professor Sangye Gyal and Pencho Rabgey, senior Machik advisor
Friday, May 1
Washington, DC
Study Tour
• Meeting with head of school at Sidwell Friends School
• Meeting with Ben Ochstein, Director of
International Programs, DC Schools
• Meeting at National Geographic Education
Foundation with executive director Daniel Edelson
• Dinner at Machik office with Machik community
Tashi Rabgey, founder and director of Tibet Sustainable Governance
Program, and socio-linguist Julie Brittain, Memorial University, Canada
Tibetan Education & Language Policy Symposium - 5