Croatian Association of Teachers of English

The second HUPE Osijek branch meeting in school year 2023-2024

The second HUPE Osijek branch meeting in school year 2023-2024 was held on Saturday, 16 March 2024 at the Faculty of Education in Osijek. 24 HUPE members attended the meeting which lasted for four hours.

The agenda included:

1) Katarina Berać Vuić: Acting for dummies: Fairy tales development

2) Mirjana Zubak Mičetić: Implementing Magic of AI

3) Mirna Erk & Ksenija Benčina: The road that made all the difference 20 years ago: EFL teachers to young learners in Croatia

4) HUPE news

The first workshop, titled Acting for dummies: Fairy tales development, was held by Katarina Berać Vuić from Gimnazija Županja. In an interactive hour-long workshop, Katarina presented numerous creative and simple drama activities in which our students can act out well-known stories and fairy tales in the classroom, and turn them into short plays of 3 to 5 minutes. The participants had a lot of fun trying out most of the presented drama activities culminating in the performances of different fairy tales as frozen images.

The second workshop, titled Implementing Magic of AI, was held by HUPE Zagreb branch president Mirjana Zubak Mičetić from OŠ Bogumila Tonija in Samobor. Mirjana introduced all the possibilities artificial intelligence tool Magic School can offer to teachers to help them lessen their workload, including its advantages and disadvantages. She showcased some of the practical activities and then the participants took part in a scavenger hunt where they had to explore the mentioned AI tool themselves.

The third talk titled The road that made all the difference 20 years ago: EFL teachers to young learners in Croatiawas held by Mirna Erk and Ksenija Benčina from the Faculty of Education in Osijek. Mirna and Ksenija presented the results of the survey they conducted with lower-primary EFL teachers to explore their job satisfaction, as well as the current situation in which many subject specialists increasingly teach lower-primary students. They also shared their respondents’ insightful perceptions, comments, and recommendations which started a productive discussion amongst the participants.

The participants were also informed about the news in HUPE including the winners of the 4th National Writing Competition – HUPE in Storyland, the plans to organize the teacher training course in Liverpool in July, HUPE’s new partner associations and their conferences, future professional development events such as HUPE Day planned for 20 April 2024 with international speakers, new edition of HUPEzine, and many more.

HUPE Osijek is extremely grateful to the speakers and all the members who attended the meeting, actively participated in the workshops and discussions, and created a great atmosphere for chatting and sharing ideas. Hopefully, we will see you at our next meeting in May.  

Adrijana Roždijevac
HUPE Osijek Branch President

SLAVONSKI BROD HUPE BRANCH MEETING REPORT

Slavonski Brod HUPE Branch meeting in this school year was held on 29th February 2024. The venue was Osnovna škola Dragutin Tadijanović, Slavonski Brod. 11 teachers attended the meeting and enjoyed the presented activities (presenters included). They had a chance to listen about  : „SOLDIER OF LOVE – TIME MACHINE “, presented bySandra Halt-Ćuže. 

The topic itself was a report on a video making challenge in organization of HUPE, Croatia and the languages United – boutique school of English (Bath, England).There was a short presentation of students who have won and their work and contribution in similar projects up to date. Next, we touched upon the synopsis and the scenery of the film, as well as the shooting process itself. We talked about the positive outcomes of the process as well as some drawbacks. The subsequent workshop consisted of array of helpful tools used in editing videos, with the stress on finding a good way in outlining the story and reaching the final product: maintaining the creative impulse, transmitting the message while respecting the language input given.

The other topic was “Item Writing: Objectives for Objective Tests.” by Lidija Čorni and  i Kornelija Šebalj.

In this workshop we listened how assessment has been an integral part of any learning process. More often than not, it doesn't serve its main purpose but poses problems for both the examinee and the teacher, or in this case an item-writer. So, we learned about its main purpose. We found out why tests are sometimes problematic. This workshop tackled some of the most important questions regarding assessment in teaching English as a foreign langueage.

Slavonski Brod HUPE Branch President, Ivana Borozni

The second HUPE Zagreb branch meeting

The second HUPE Zagreb branch meeting of the 2023-2024 school year was held on 27th January 2024 atAquae Vivae Spa in Krapinske Toplice. 15 English enthusiasts and HUPE members decided to spend their Saturday attending a 3-hour professional development meeting with their hardworking colleagues. The morning was dedicated to learning and discussions, then after a very tasteful lunch, a well-deserved relaxation in the pools and spa area was exactly what was needed.

AGENDA 

  1. Workshops and lectures from 10AM – 1PM
  2. HUPE info 
  3. After meeting relaxing in the spa and swimming pool area

Our first workshop was one which is always needed. The theme was: Bunny or Crocodile language?presented by Danka Singer, our long-time member and eager English teacher, presenter and book author in Croatia. We learnt a lot about ourselves, our personal way of communication, tested our language abilities to speak more inclusively and learnt how to defuse tension in communication. Danka taught us how to teach young learners to use polite and less aggressive language in the classroom, too. All in all, an excellent workshop with numerous activities makes you really rethink how we communicate. Thank you, Danka, for all insightful ideas and suggestions!

In between the two workshops, eager EL teachers had a coffee break with some snacks provided by HUPE.

The second workshop was held by Ana Eterović and the topic was writing: Let’swrite it up. Writing as an issue for more and more students and obviously a problemfor more and more teachers. Ana presented writing tasks within the curricula from secondary school connecting it with assessment tasks and comparing it to elementary school writing tasks, goals and assessment. Thank you Ana, for your insights, opinions and examples.

After the workshop, the Zagreb branch president informed the participants about HUPE news, the competition, plans for Zagreb branch meetings, surrounding conferences and events. The participants were invited to take part in HUPE as an organisation, participate in our newsletter and HUPEzine, as well as to contribute to our web page digital materials.

Lunch was served at 1 PM and the participants had the pleasure of enjoying various selections of great food prepared by the Aquae Vivae team. We are thankful for their effort. Thank you, ladies, for your hospitality. 

After lunch, we proceeded to the spa area, everyone choosing the pool or spa zone of their choice, relaxed and mingled together, sharing ideas, comments and experiences. The meeting ended at 4PM (some staying even longer).

HUPE Zagreb is thankful to the speakers and all the members who were able to attend and make the meeting a productive and enjoyable experience. Hopefully, we will see you at our future meetings in 2024.

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


HUPE Zagreb Branch President 
Mirjana Zubak Mičetić 

HUPE Karlovac Meeting Report

On December 14th, HUPE Karlovac held its first meeting of the current school year, at OŠ Braća Seljan in Karlovac’s city centre. Eleven English teachers attended and took part in interesting and engaging activities:

  1. ClueBox in your classroom
    Branka Katalinić from OŠ Brinje presented how to implement a real-life (not digital!) escape-room based game in the classroom. By solving language-based tasks, participants gather clues in order to solve a mystery. A break from the traditional classroom activities proved to be highly entertaining. Branka was accompanied by members of Alfa izdavaštvo, who graciously provided goodie bags for all the participants.
  1. EPAS: Project activities and dissemination (online)
    Barbara Bošnjak from SŠ Našice held an online lecture about her experience with a project aimed at the youth of Europe with the goal of promoting knowledge about the EU. Several of our members attended via Zoom.

The blend of live and online lectures at a single meeting has proven successful and is something the Karlovac branch will try to implement in the future.

Anyone wishing to join the branch or get more information about us, can send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Tomislav Mravunac,
HUPE Karlovac branch president

The first HUPE Zagreb branch meeting in school year 2023-2024

The first HUPE Zagreb branch meeting in school year 2023-2024 was held on 17 November 2023 at the Čarobna riječ. 32 English enthusiasts and HUPE members decided to spend their Friday evening attending a 3-hour education with their hardworking colleagues repeating their successful workshops from the 31st HUPE conference.

AGENDA 


  1. Workshops and lectures from 7.30PM
  2. HUPE info 
  3. PUB QUIZZ 
  4. After meeting discussion ( other )

Our first workshop was highly popular theme and very attractive topic: Chat GPT – should we be afraid of it?presented by Evelina Miščin, our long time member and known teacher and presenter from RIT Croatia. We learnt a lot about Chat GPT benefits and problems within the educational aspect, trying out the app itself and solving some interesting tasks. By sharing results and our own experiences the workshop was more than successful resulting with amazing audience reaction. Thank you, Evelina once again!

In between two workshops Zagreb branch president informed the participants about the 31st conference held in Poreč, reported on the venue, programme, sponsors .... and informing participants about the next conference in Poreč.

The president also informed participants about the future plans for Zagreb branch meetings, this year's Zagreb branch SPA DAY, HUPE day in April and future conferences near us from our partners. The participants were invited to take part in HUPE writing competition, participate in our newsletter and HUPEzine, as well as contribute to our web page digital materials.  All members were invited to send their ELT articles and examples of good practices to our HUPE editor Ivana Kasunić via this email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to be published in one of our future editions of HUPEzine or HUPE Newsletter.

After the shot break and catching up with colleagues, the second workshop, titled It’s quiz time!, was held by Gabrijela Čorković from Trgovačka škola, Zagreb. Gabrijela informed us about various types of apps she is using while having quizzes with her students, demonstrating advantages and disadvantages for each. Our eager quiz master Gabrijela explained how and why is she using quizzes in the classroom, what motivates students and how quizzes can contribute to learning motivation.

At the end of the workshop, Gabrijela organized a pub quiz for our participants which ended successfully by giving away four conference goody bags filled with useful teaching resources and materials to our winners and to our next to the last team ( as it is a custom in Pub quiz circles 😉). 

HUPE Zagreb is thankful to the speakers and all the members who were able to attend and make the meeting a productive and enjoyable experience. Hopefully, we will see you at our future meetings in 2024.

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


HUPE Zagreb Branch President 
Mirjana Zubak Mičetić 

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