Croatian Association of Teachers of English

The third HUPE Osijek branch meeting in school year 2022-2023

The third HUPE Osijek branch meeting in school year 2022-2023 was held on 20 May 2023 at the Faculty of Education in Osijek. 29 members attended the meeting.

The agenda included:

1) Isabelle Grace Penta: How to use ChatGPT as an educator
2) HUPE news
3) HUPE Osijek branch president elections
4) Marina Tomas: The Great Outdoors - taking the classroom outside
5) Mirjana Jerković & Tanja Pokupić: Love Edinburgh? Kilt-y as charged!

At the beginning of the meeting, Isabelle Grace Penta, a Fulbright scholar and an English Teaching Assistant at the English Language Studies Department at the Faculty of Education, held a workshop titled How to use ChatGPT as an educator. During the workshop, Grace introduced ChatGPT and presented its applications as an AI tool in and outside of the classroom with its advantages and limitations. The participants were able to test the program and learn how to create suitable question prompts in order to produce specific educational materials.

Members were informed about the news in HUPE including the new HUPE Board members, changes in membership fees from 1 June 2023, future teacher training courses in London and Edinburgh, and regular branch updates. The branch president also notified the members about the details of the upcoming 31st Annual International HUPE Conference, which is taking place in Valamar Diamant Hotel, Poreč from 20 to 22 October 2023, such as call for speakers, registration fees, accommodation and transportation. Since many of Osijek branch members participated in the 3rd National Writing Competition, selected mentors were presented with the printed copies of the book HUPE in the Storyland with more than 210 students’ stories on 850 pages.  

After the updates, the HUPE Osijek branch president elections were held. There was only one candidate, Adrijana Roždijevac from Primary School Josip Kozarac in Soljani and acting Osijek branch president. She shortly addressed the members and explained the voting procedure, after which the voting was held and she was unanimously voted the new HUPE Osijek branch president.

Following the coffee break, the second workshop, titled The Great Outdoors - taking the classroom outside, was held by Marina Tomas from Primary School Ane Katarine Zrinski in Retkovic. Marina presented the advantages and disadvantages of teaching outdoors and provided the participants with practical and engaging ready-to-use activities teachers can incorporate into their spring lesson plans to make their students practice various vocabulary and grammatical structures.

At the end of the meeting, Mirjana Jerković from Primary School Tin Ujević in Osijek and Tanja Pokupić form Primary School Miroslava Krleže in Čepin held a presentation titled Love Edinburgh? Kilt-y as charged!. Through mysterious and interesting storytelling, they shared their experience from a 5-day teacher training course in Edinburgh, Scotland, organized by HUPE in April 2023, where they not only got new teaching ideas, but also explored Scotland’s heritage, culture and numerous sights.

HUPE Osijek is grateful to the speakers and all the members who were able to attend the meeting on Saturday morning and create a lovely and relaxing atmosphere ideal for teachers connecting, collaborating and exchanging ideas. Thank you for putting your trust in me to continue to be the branch president.

Hopefully, we will see you at one of our future meetings next school year. Enjoy the long-awaited and well-deserved summer holidays!

Adrijana Roždijevac
HUPE Osijek Branch President

The second HUPE Osijek branch meeting in school year 2022-2023

The second HUPE Osijek branch meeting in school year 2022-2023 was held at the Faculty of Education in Osijek on 18 March 2023. 26 members attended the meeting.

The agenda included:

1) Edinburgh calling – a 6-day teacher training course in Edinburgh

2) Tihana Svoren Kolarec: What's art got to do with it?

3) Barbara Bošnjak: Projects love ICT tools

4) HUPE news

At the beginning of the meeting, the members were informed about a 6-day teacher training course in Edinburgh organized by HUPE and supported by Education and Teacher Training Agency (AZOO) planned for April and August of this year. Apart from the course programme, which is all about exploring English language and culture, the participants were also informed about the technical side of the course, such as travel insurance, flights, accommodation, day trips and the price of the course. Due to its popularity, HUPE is also organizing another teacher training course in London planned for June this year.

The first workshop, titled What's art got to do with it?, was held by Tihana Svoren Kolarec from Tordinci Primary School in Tordinci. In her workshop Tihana explored how using works of visual arts and music can strengthen student thinking and learning. The participants tried out and were presented with interesting and creative activities on how to use famous paintings to teach and revise grammar and vocabulary in the classroom.

After the coffee break, the second presentation, titled Projects love ICT tools, was held by Barbara Bošnjak from Isidor Kršnjavi Secondary School in Našice. Barbara presented her students’ project results by using two different ICT tools, Padlet and Book Creator. Both of the tools were presented in details emphasising the benefits of using ICT tools in classrooms in various contexts and for different purposes with the aim of encouraging other teachers to include both project-based assignments and ICT tools in their own classes.

At the end of the meeting, participants were informed about the news in HUPE including the results of the 3rd National Writing Competition HUPE in Storyland, and the 31st Annual International HUPE Conference, which is taking place in Valamar Diamant Hotel, Poreč from 20 to 22 October 2023.

The members were also informed about the future HUPE Board elections that will take place via Zoom during the AGM at the HUPE Day on 25 March 2023. They were also encouraged to take an active role in HUPE and apply as volunteers for one of the roles in the Executive and Supervisory Boards, but also reminded of the Osijek branch president elections that will take place at the next branch meeting planned for May 2023.

HUPE Osijek is grateful to the speakers and all the members who attended the meeting and decided to spend their Saturday morning with us. Hopefully, we will see you at our next meeting in May.  

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

The first HUPE Osijek branch meeting in school year 2022-2023

The first HUPE Osijek branch meeting in school year 2022-2023 was held on 3 December 2022 at the Faculty of Education in Osijek. 29 English enthusiasts and HUPE members decided to spend their Saturday morning attending a 3-hour mini conference rerun with their hardworking colleagues repeating their successful workshops from the 30th HUPE conference.

The agenda included:

1) 30th HUPE Conference report
2) Cassy Prskalo: The Transformative Power of Storytelling
3) Ksenija Benčina & Lorna Dubac Nemet: Can you teach an old dog or is ignorance bliss?
4) Lidija Šaravanja & Alenka Taslak: STEM, STEAM, STREAM If you know what I mean
5) HUPE news

At the beginning of the meeting the HUPE Osijek branch president informed the participants about the 30th Annual International HUPE Conference, which took place in Valamar, Poreč from 11 to 13 November 2022. She reported on the conference venue, partners and sponsors, programme, plenary speakers, workshops, social events, raffle, as well as on the overall positive feedback the HUPE Organizing Committee has received. She also mentioned a rather successful British scone bake-alongwith Jane Borwa that was organized by our partner Languages United from Bath via Zoom for the members who could not attend the conference.  

A special guest and a Fulbright scholar at the Faculty of Education in Osijek, Grace Penta, introduced herself to the attendees and offered to gladly accept invitations from schools and other universities for short visits as an ambassador of American culture and an English language resource.

The first workshop, titled The Transformative Power of Storytelling, was held by Cassy Prskalo from the Secondary School Ilok. In an hour-long workshop, Cassy demonstrated different activities and strategies for successful storytelling she acquired during her SUSI course in the USA, benefits of these activities, as well as examples of good practice.

After the coffee break, the second workshop, titled Can you teach an old dog or is ignorance bliss?, was held by Ksenija Benčina from the Faculty of Education and Lorna Dubac Nemet from the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health in Osijek. They presented a number of ideas on how proverbs and sayings can be implemented in teaching to raise learners’ awareness of cultural differences, expanding their vocabulary and motivating them to take a stand and actively participate in discussions.

The third workshop titled STEM, STEAM, STREAM If you know what I mean was held by Lidija Šaravanja from Primary School Vladimir Nazor, Čepin and Alenka Taslak from Primary School Dore Pejačević, Našice. They demonstrated how teaching our students about STEM creates a great opportunity for empowering research skills, problem-solving, collaboration, reflection, critical thinking, and creativity, and it also enables developing higher-level thinking skills by connecting classroom learning to the real world.

After the workshops, participants were informed about the news in HUPE including the highlights from the AGM, HUPE Broad and Osijek branch president elections that will take place in spring and summer of the next year, writing competition HUPE in Storyland, HUPE’s meeting with the President of the Republic of Croatia held on 22 November, a 5-day teacher training course in Edinburgh that is planned for spring 2023, HUPE Day planned for April or May, as well as the changes in the membership fees from January 2023.

At the end of the meeting, the branch president organized a short Kahoot quiz to test the members’ knowledge about the 30th HUPE Conference in order to give away three conference goody bags filled with useful teaching resources and materials.

HUPE Osijek 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 next meeting in February 2023.

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

The first HUPE Split Branch meeting report (2022/2023)

The first HUPE Split Branch meeting in the school year 2022/23 was held on Thursday, 1 December 2022, at 5:00 p.m. and lasted 3 hours. 18 English enthusiasts gathered at DV Rusulica to support their colleagues who delivered three amazing workshops.

The agenda included:

  1. HUPE news - 30th Conference report 
  2. Slađana Curić-Petričević & Sandra Jovišić: Kindergarten English - This Is the Way We Play, Learn & Grow
  3. Alenka Miljević: Developing Language Skills in eTwinning Projects
  4. Daniela Reić Šućur: Having fun in the classroom

Slađana Curić-Petričević & Sandra Jović shared with us the methods they use to help their Fireflies to learn English while playing  and growing at Cvit Mediterana -Rusulica kindergarten.

Alenka Miljević  demonstrated authentic situations in which her students apply their English knowledge in eTwinning projects and, as an eTwinning ambassador, she encouraged our participants to become members of the eTwinning community.

Daniela Reić Šućur, the winner of the best workshop award at the 30th HUPE conference, delivered an inspiring and amusing presentation revealing  effective tricks and useful tips for having fun in the classroom.

At the beginning of the meeting, the HUPE Split Branch president gave a report on the 30th Annual International HUPE Conference which took place in  Poreč from 11 to 13 November 2022. She reported on the conference programme, venue, workshops, social events, raffle, partners and sponsors, as well as on the overall positive feedback the HUPE Organizing Committee has received. The participants were also informed about the upcoming events such as a short story writing competition- Storyland, HUPE Board elections and 5-day teacher training in Edinburgh in spring 2023.More information about the trip will be provided during the winter holidays.

HUPE Split  is thankful to the speakers and all the members who were able to attend the meeting. Hopefully, we will see you at one of our future meetings in 2023.

If you are an English teacher and want to join HUPE Split, feel free to contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Miranda Barac
HUPE Split Branch President

The first HUPE Dubrovnik Branch meeting in 2022-2023

The first HUPE Dubrovnik Branch meeting in 2022-2023 was held at Osnovna škola Blato in Blato on November 26, 2022. 

Agenda:

  1. 1 HUPE 30thInternational Conference Report, Jelica Šeparović
  2. X marks the spot, Ivana Bokavšek
  3. HUPE news

Eight members attended the meeting. The first speaker was HUPE Dubrovnik Branch president Jelica Šeparović, who gave a report on 30th HUPE Conference held in Poreč 11-13 November, 2022. She also shared an interesting drama-based activity The Truth About Me, shown at the Conference by Lynn Hoare. The other colleagues who had attended the Conference joined the conversation and shared their experiences from the Conference.

The next activity was an intersting quiz about London, provided by Silvija Pećanac Bačić, which we could share with our students. 

Our dear colleague Ivana Bokavšek, from OŠ Spinut held an interesting and engaging workshop inspired by Scavanger Hunt. Participating in this activity was very interesting, challenging and fun. Each group was eager to find the solution first, showing our fierce competitive spirit.

The final part of the meeting was informative, announcing a trip to Scotland, planned for April 2023. All HUPE members were invited to follow our Facebook page, as well as our Teams group, where all the details about the trip will be shared as soon as possible. 

Jelica Šeparović
Dubrovnik Branch President

Here is a part of the atmosphere at the meeting.

 

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