HUPE Zadar Branch meeting was held at Bartul Kasic Zadar Elementary School, on 14 March 2024. 

AGENDA:

1. Josipa Kardum: Perspektiva autističnog nastavnika u nastavi
2. Ana Džaja: Teacherice i internacionalizacija škole - neodoljiva veza
3. HUPE news and updates

Our colleague and member Josipa Kardum held a presentation titled Teaching from an autistic teacher’s perspective. Josipa presented the challenges we face when working in diverse group of students. As an autistic language teacher she offered unique insights into language acquisition and teaching methodologies. 

In the second presentation, titled Teacherice i internacionalizacija škole: neodoljiva veza – Ana Džaja offered several tips and tricks on how to prepare an international project. Also, she highlighted the role of English teachers in such projects and concluded that English teachers are everywhere and very welcome when it comes to establishing international partnerships. We also had a panel discussion about activities presented and all members found the presentations very useful for their work.

HUPE Zadar would like to thank all members for participating in this meeting. Also, a special thanks goes to Josipa Kardum and Ana Džaja for the interesting presentations and collaboration.

At the end of the meeting the members were informed on the latest news and updates regarding HUPE and HUPE Zadar Branch for the months ahead.

Kristina Viduka
HUPE Zadar Branch President

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 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 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