Landour Language School, Mussoorie

hawaiiyogagrl

Hey boundless- would love that info too. Why not in the thread?

boundlesstraveler

Ok! Here's the info! This is just my opinions and I'm sure there are others who might have other opinions of the guest houses!

There are a few guest houses to choose between, and it pretty much depends on what you are looking for- haning out with other students, close to the school, close to the bazaar, meals included or not and so on.

Rokeby:
One big older house. Feels like a dorm to me. You have your meals together with the rest of the people staying there and most of the people staying there are students at the language school. If you enjoy meeting new people and especially other students this is a good place to do so. I am not sure there are bathrooms in each room. There is a backyard where you can sit. It’s close to school and close to Char Dukan, which is this little place with two coffee shops and an internet place (I however would recommend going to Sahney's Internet cafe on the way down to the bazaar for your e-mailing!). I have heard that the food is good, but they serve mostly European food, so not a lot Indian food at this place.

DevDar Woods:
I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard that it’s not that good. Dark rooms and not that good food. I don't know about bathrooms and shower. It’s close to the school and close to Char Dukan and pretty much on top of the hill! It’s beautiful up there on the top and there is a little food store as well up there. Down side about staying up there is that it's pretty far walk down to the bazaar. I would not choose DevDar simply because I have not heard that much good things about it.

Northern Stores:
A small place on the way down to the bazaar. Pretty far away from the school. No shower, but bucket shower. I am not sure about own toilet. No food included and I don't know if there are kitchens in the rooms. I would not recommend this place because of the rooms not having showers or kitchens and the location of the guesthouse.

Wolf's Burn:
Own apartments with kitchen with own entrance. Older place. Own toilet and shower in each room. No food included. It’s really private and a nice view. It’s kind of tucked away in the woods. Also has a backyard with lots of flowers. It’s close to school and Char Dukan (the coffe shops). It gets pretty drak over where this gues house is located and it's a pretty far walk to the bazar and food shops. There are different sizes of apartments. It's a cozy place.

Ivy Bank:
By far the cleanest place. The rooms have their own entrance and a small sitting area. All rooms have their own toilet with shower. It’s in between the bazaar and the language school. It’s a hill to climb to get to school, but it’s not too far to the bazaar and not too far to the school. The food is not that good. The owners are rich but cheap and always try spend less money on the food for the guests. But it’s just to complain as soon as you feel the quality of the food is poor! The owners are not that nice, but the guest house is by far the best guest house in the area. There is a backyard with chairs and tables that is very private and you can sit out in the sun in only a tank top without anyone looking. Not too many students stay here (unless it's fullybooked at the other guest houses), but during the busy time of the year it’s usually fully booked as a lot of Indian upper class tourists stay here as well as foreign tourists and honeymooners. Their e-mail address: ivy_bank@yahoo.co.in

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diplomacy

I read in another thread they are closed and will open again in February. I emailed them a couple of days ago and am awaiting reply. Does anyone know if they are good at replying, or if I should consider telephoneing them?

diplomacy

bijapuri

they are nototious for NOT responding.
NO WORRIES!
they will accommodate you when you arrive. you will likely be able to start the next day, or at latest the next week. they set the next week's schedule on thursday.

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diplomacy

What should I do if they are known for not responding?

I need to apply in advance as my government would be able to supply with financial aid. Therefore, I would need an offer of acceptance etc...

diplomacy

Lugubert

I didn't love him either (get the pun?). Go for the oldest. In a previous thread, on my experience now three years ago,
Knowing what to prepare for, I might go there again some day. At least one Swedish and one USAmerican university are recurring customers.

NonIndianResident

It seems that different people prefer the teaching styles of different teachers. I liked Habib's style of forcing me to practice conversation by asking good questions that kept drawing me out, and correcting me clearly once in a while. Jaswinder and Urmila were masters of drilling on the grammar, which I also found useful. There were teachers I didn't like, who others did. There was one who both I and my neighbour found would get too involved in the conversation topic and lapse into English to get her point accross, which defeated the purpose. When I was there, Habib was not the least liked, and Dinkar-ji not the most popular.

By the way, last year, one Monday morning the whole place was astir, and Habib and Dinkar both absent, because Habib-ji had run off with Dinkar-ji's daughter, who had been working in the office. Dinkar's Hindu and Habib is Muslim, so it should be very scandalous in India, but none of the teachers would really talk about that aspect of things. Still, it spiced things up!

I didn't use the book much; but others liked to.

One warning I feel others would agree with, is that although Landour says they'll teach Urdu, they are not actually well prepared to do so. I kept one of my four daily classes for Urdu, but they had no textbooks or materials. We'd start reading some random photocopy but just when the story got interesting we'd find pages were missing.

Another warning is, if you have an allergy to missionaries, then bring your antihistamines along!

I was in DevDar and then Wolf's Burn in Feb-March, and it was bone-chillingly cold in the rooms at first, with the damp making it feel much colder than Ladakh, which I had just left in Feb.

Goldrush77

I've heard that Landour's biggest strength is grammar. That famous 100 year old textbook is presumably a little long in the tooth on conversation and such, but supposedly they've got drills down cold that will clear up any lingering problems, even in fairly advanced students.

Laemonie

Hmm... when did you notice that the rooms started to get very chilly?? I'm going to Landour on September! planning on staying there for 6 to 8 months to really get the language. So, I will be there during the winter!

Is there heating in the rooms? May I bring an electric heater? I'm hoping to stay in Ivy Bank, but I've only heard from Dev Dar Woods... I don't mind the cold ...outside... but being near the Himalayas, I would hope to be able to have some sort of heating system... what did you do? what did others do to be comfortable in the winter?????????

Well, I'm really looking forward to the mountain atmosphere, I've heard wonderful things and I'm looking foward to it! But it's a big move! any advice would help...

NonIndianResident

Landour is closed for the middle of winter, approx Dec - Feb. Check their website.

The hotels don't like to allow electric heaters because of the heavy electric bills and it overtaxes their old wiring. But many people do anyway. I was in devdar woods and it was really cold there; Ivy Bank might be a bit warmer, a little lower altitude and out in the sun, where Devdar is heavily shaded under trees and higher altitude.

About the textbook, I don't think it's 100 years old. It is typeset on a computer, and it doesn't seem old-fashioned. I think it has been evolving and changing for 100 years. I wouldn't describe it as "long in the tooth" on conversation.

Most of the teachers are happy to teach you from other materials if you have brought some and prefer them. If you are studying Urdu, be sure to bring your own, maybe "Teach Yourself Urdu" from the Teach Yourself series. I think one student when I was there was using "Teach Yourself Hindi" instead of the Landour Book. However you are required to have a copy of their book if you are studying Hindi -- but they keep second hand copies for sale, and if you keep yours in good shape you can sell it back at the end.

Certainly Landour is strong on grammar -- but I wouldn't say it has any one strength, since it is all one-on-one indivdualised instruction, so you can ask the teachers to do what you want them to do. All are good at explaining grammar, some are strong on conversation, some are strong on drilling -- and the styles of each are different, so that different students find different teachers strong in different areas.

hawaiiyogagrl

I am at Landour now. So far, the school is great. As for places to stay, I am at DevDar. I like it. I would offer the advice to document any communication with Prakash-ji about rates and such. He seems to over-book, and promise people single rooms, only to have doubles available and wants to charge them the double rate. The food has been good, and presently we have had water more regularly than Rokby. Weekends right now are packed with tourists everywhere.

ploink

Thanks for the tip, hawaiiyogagrl. I'll print the emails. I didn't record the telephone conversation, though.
Happy that you like it there; I'll also stay there in the autumn. How are the rooms, really? (E.g. locks, furniture, lightning, bathroom)
And what's the rodent/roach situation there?

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hawaiiyogagrl

I left Landour, and think that the language school was great- (Habib was my fav teacher)but the choice of places to stay is horrid. DevDar was nightmare-ish. Prakash is a total crook- will charge different people different rates and tell stupid lies. Even with the confirmation letter he kicked everyone out for the Berkley group.
Elcott Lodge was horrid! The woman who runs that is a lunatic and actually regulated our toilet usage. (not kidding)
We rented a house from Mr. Singh (Kilmonark) by sisters bazaar. It was beautiful and spacious and the Singhs are really good people.
Landour itself is OVERRUN with missionaries. The school is run by missionaries.The book is pretty bad, in my opinion. The only redemption is the teachers. Oh, and the other people who are shell-shocked from the total non-indian feel of Landour and disdain for all the "soul-saving" going on. Oh, and it is COLD up there!!!!!

Darryl

As I'm contemplating a little time at Landour and school myself, I was interested to read Hawaiiyogagrl's comments. Sounds like the experience was unpleasant in some degree. I know that thing about missionaries has been mentioned in other posts but I wondered how pushy the whole thing was or is it just the connotations? Are the people who run LLS (Mr Datt?) evangelical Christians?

I was thinking of staying at Rokeby - there have been posts about the atmosphere there in the past - it's supposedly is now less evangelical...maybe?

Since I do a lot of hill walking I could always stay further down though the landour area seems so much more picturesque and attractive.

I'm thinking of going in Feb, so hopeful I may avoid some of the more negative experiences associated with the busiest time of the year.

Anyone else have a recent experience they can share?

hawaiiyogagrl

Mr. Datt is a christian and appeared offended when i answered the question "what is the name of God?" with "ram".
Some teachers told me that the LLS & Woodstock (a missionary boarding school) are connected. Others denied this.
My problem with the missionaries is that they assume that souls need saving. That what the people have had going for so long needs fixing, that Hindu culture can be ignored and disregarded. Oh, and many of the missionaries won't tell you that they are missionaries. If I am ever doing something that I am ashamed to admit, I know it's a bad thing.

All that said- I enjoyed my time at LLS and did learn some Hindi. I liked my teachers. I made good friends there too.

I am interseted in hearing others opinions too-