The second HUPE Rijeka branch meeting took place on June 8, 2024 at 10 am at the Trsat Branch of the Rijeka City Library. It lasted 3 hours.

Agenda:

1. GracijelaOrobabić: Let's build great teams!
2. Ester Vidović: Problem Picture Books in  TEFL
3. HUPE news

Our first presenter was Gracijela Orobabić from OŠ Gornja Vežica, who shared with the participants some creative ideas for engaging students in teamwork and to show how different types of personalities can cooperate well with each other. She demonstrated four activities including different materials and props, such as a hoop, lego blocks with four colors that represent different personalities, problem-solving cards and a worksheet with some self-reflection activities. Participants had much fun trying out the activities and as a cherry on top, we tried also a delicious cake Gracijela made.

Ester Vidović, a lecturer at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Rijeka, shared a project she is working on, which includes problem picture books. She gave some examples of picture books that deal with illnesses of family members and illustrate how to cope with those. The workshop raised some questions on how to teach students topics related to health and how to foster empathy and understanding of illnesses such as malignant diseases, depression and similar. It was an emotional workshop, which made us think about less common topics in the classroom, which are also an important part of our everyday life.

Doris Mesaroš
HUPE Rijeka Branch President