Landour Language School, Mussoorie

skinnylatte · Apr 7th, 2007, 03:07

I've just posted a new thread on landour for summer 2007 over here!

http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?p=320139

Are you guys all confirmed/booked for this summer? I am hoping to get into the full time program but am afraid there may not be anymore slots for 4 periods a day!

NonIndianResident · Apr 9th, 2007, 11:30

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.

diplomacy · Jun 2nd, 2007, 18:42

I tried to email the Landour Language School but the email address was rejected, which is pretty strange as I emailed them as late as last week.

The address is lls@nde.vsnl.net.in.

Any idea what the problem could be?

hawaiiyogagrl · Jun 3rd, 2007, 13:01

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 · Jun 4th, 2007, 22:12

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?

Darryl · Jun 16th, 2007, 06:28

Out of curiosity I tried getting to the language school website to check that email address - strangely the server couldn't find it - I wonder if the school has lost its web link. Can only keep trying from time to time.

good luck
Darryl

Amyth · Jun 16th, 2007, 10:24

Yeah, don't be surprised, it happens, sometimes the web just acts funny... if it was there last week it would in probability be there now too. Just keep resending or create a new mail, change the subject line and resend.

Darryl, whats the URL you checked on?

Similar victim here...

Darryl · Jun 16th, 2007, 17:35

http://landourlanguageschool.org/

Amyth
You could try snail mail or phoning - I suppose it all depends on how urgently you need to make contact

Principal: Chitranjan Datt
Office: 91 135 2631487
Res: 91 135 2631467 / 91 135 2633068

Darryl

Amyth · Jun 17th, 2007, 01:12

Okay! Thanks Darryl, that info was useful

Darryl · Jun 17th, 2007, 18:00

Hi all

I just happened to be browsing some old pages I had downloaded and found an email address on an extant page for Landour School that's different in one essential from the one Diplomacy has given. I emailed them a long time ago - not sure which address I used myself - though I dont want to raise any hopes unecessarily(maybe it's an old address?) just thought it might be worth trying - cant know if you dont try it!

lls@nde.vsnl.co.in.

Darryl

ploink · Jun 19th, 2007, 11:46

http://landourlanguageschool.org/ still results in "Server not found" - odd.

I should also write to the school before long - hope the website and email address(es) start to work.

hawaiiyogagrl · Jun 29th, 2007, 16:29

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!!!!!

hawaiiyogagrl · Jun 30th, 2007, 15:38

The school is up and running and in full swing. Call during normal school hours (8:30ish to 4 ish) and talk to the secretary.

Darryl · Jul 2nd, 2007, 09:29

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 · Jul 2nd, 2007, 11:53

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-

Jun 2nd, 2007, 18:42	#93
diplomacy Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Usually in a hotel room somewhere... Posts: 225	Landour Language School - Rejected email address I tried to email the Landour Language School but the email address was rejected, which is pretty strange as I emailed them as late as last week. The address is lls@nde.vsnl.net.in. Any idea what the problem could be?

Jun 4th, 2007, 22:12	#95
ploink ...thori si pagal hai vo... Join Date: May 2005 Location: Finland Posts: 339	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? __________________ But rather, ten times rather, die in the surf, heralding the way to that new world, than stand idly on the shore! -Florence Nightingale

Jun 16th, 2007, 06:28	#96
Darryl Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Australia Posts: 55	Out of curiosity I tried getting to the language school website to check that email address - strangely the server couldn't find it - I wonder if the school has lost its web link. Can only keep trying from time to time. good luck Darryl Last edited by Darryl : Jun 16th, 2007 at 06:38. Reason: grammar

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Apr 7th, 2007, 03:07	#91
skinnylatte kungfu fighting dhaba wallah Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Singapore Posts: 269	I've just posted a new thread on landour for summer 2007 over here! http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?p=320139 Are you guys all confirmed/booked for this summer? I am hoping to get into the full time program but am afraid there may not be anymore slots for 4 periods a day!

Apr 9th, 2007, 11:30	#92
NonIndianResident Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: India Posts: 57	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.

Jun 3rd, 2007, 13:01	#94
hawaiiyogagrl Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Hawaii Posts: 234	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.

Jun 16th, 2007, 10:24	#97
Amyth Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Paradise Posts: 383	Yeah, don't be surprised, it happens, sometimes the web just acts funny... if it was there last week it would in probability be there now too. Just keep resending or create a new mail, change the subject line and resend. Darryl, whats the URL you checked on? Similar victim here...

Jun 16th, 2007, 17:35	#98
Darryl Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Australia Posts: 55	http://landourlanguageschool.org/ Amyth You could try snail mail or phoning - I suppose it all depends on how urgently you need to make contact Principal: Chitranjan Datt Office: 91 135 2631487 Res: 91 135 2631467 / 91 135 2633068 Darryl

Jun 17th, 2007, 01:12	#99
Amyth Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Paradise Posts: 383	Okay! Thanks Darryl, that info was useful

Jun 17th, 2007, 18:00	#100
Darryl Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Australia Posts: 55	Hi all I just happened to be browsing some old pages I had downloaded and found an email address on an extant page for Landour School that's different in one essential from the one Diplomacy has given. I emailed them a long time ago - not sure which address I used myself - though I dont want to raise any hopes unecessarily(maybe it's an old address?) just thought it might be worth trying - cant know if you dont try it! lls@nde.vsnl.co.in. Darryl

Jun 19th, 2007, 11:46	#101
ploink ...thori si pagal hai vo... Join Date: May 2005 Location: Finland Posts: 339	http://landourlanguageschool.org/ still results in "Server not found" - odd. I should also write to the school before long - hope the website and email address(es) start to work.

Jun 29th, 2007, 16:29	#102
hawaiiyogagrl Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Hawaii Posts: 234	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!!!!!

Jun 30th, 2007, 15:38	#103
hawaiiyogagrl Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Hawaii Posts: 234	The school is up and running and in full swing. Call during normal school hours (8:30ish to 4 ish) and talk to the secretary.

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Jul 2nd, 2007, 09:29	#104
Darryl Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Australia Posts: 55	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?

Jul 2nd, 2007, 11:53	#105
hawaiiyogagrl Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Hawaii Posts: 234	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-