The first HUPE Osijek branch meeting in school year 2021-2022 was held at the Faculty of Education in Osijek on 4 December, 2021. 17 members attended the meeting. The agenda included:

1. The 29th Annual International HUPE Conference report
2. Mirta Kos Kolobarić: Nurture a love of reading
3. Selina Geli: Early English language learning outcomes of young learners exposed to two differentEnglish language teaching approaches - CLIL in Austria and traditional ELT in Croatia
4. HUPE news

At the beginning of the meeting new HUPE Osijek branch president Adrijana Roždijevac informedthe participants about the 29th Annual International HUPE Conference, which took place in Valamar, Poreč from 12 to 14 November, 2021. She reported on the conference programme, venue,workshops, social events, raffle, sponsors, as well as on an overall positive feedback the HUPEOrganizing Committee has received.

The first workshop, titled Nurture a love of reading, was held by Mirta Kos Kolobarić from the Secondary School of Economics from Slavonski Brod. In a one-hour workshop, Mirta demonstratedhow the choice of a contemporary short story with an intriguing topic combined with the choice of engaging reading tasks can motivate students to read, reflect on the story, relate it to everyday life, and boost their digital skills. She offered various creative and ready-made activities adaptable todifferent levels but mostly focused on secondary school, which the participants could try out for themselves.

After the coffee break, the second presentation, titled Early English language learning outcomesof young learners exposed to two different English language teaching approaches - CLIL inAustria and traditional ELT in Croatia, was held by Selina Geli from Primary school “Dr. FranjoTuđman” from Beli Manastir. Selina presented the research she has conducted with the students of grade 4 in Austria and Croatia where the students are taught English through different teachingmethods. She talked about the similarities and differences between the two countries and foreign language learning, as well as about the listening and reading tasks the students were tested on. The research results show that the Croatian young learners could comprehend English better than the Austrian students, which started a very interesting and productive discussion among the participants.

At the end of the meeting, participants were informed about the news in HUPE including thewriting competition HUPE in Storyland.

HUPE Osijek is thankful to the speakers and all the members who were able to attend and makethe meeting a productive and enjoyable experience. Hopefully, we will see you at our next meetingin February 2022.

If you are a teacher of English and would like to join HUPE Osijek, feel free to contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Thank you!

Adrijana Roždijevac
HUPE Osijek Branch President