HUPE Split Branch Meeting Report

04 December 2023Branch reports

This school year's first regular HUPE Split Branch meeting took place last Friday, 1 December 2023. It started at 5:00 p.m. As many as 23 English teachers were hosted by their kind colleagues from OŠ Pujanki. They attended three wonderful workshops.

Agenda items:

HUPE news – 31st Conference report
Ivana Bokavšekand Anita Lasić: And the Oscar Goes To…!
Ivana Pločkinić: Transversal Skills
Ana Kodrić Ivelićand Marija Čarija Agoli: Team Building With CLIL
Raffle and prizes by publishers

The meeting was opened by Anita Lasić, who welcomed the participants and introduced herself as the new HUPE Split Branch president. Then, she briefed the attendees about the 31st Annual International HUPE Conference programme and outcomes as well as the positive feedback from the conference participants. She informed the attendees about the already announced short story writing competition - Storyland, upcoming online HUPE Day and teacher training in Malta/Dublin that might take place in August 2024. More information about the trip will be provided once it is fully planned and confirmed.

The first workshop, And the Oscar Goes To…!, was delivered byIvana Bokavšek from OŠ Spinut, Split and Anita Lasić from OŠ don Mihovil Pavlinović, Podgora. In this workshop, speakers shared the methods of how to make students improve their listening and speaking skills using film and video materials. They spoke about how to assess speaking skills, how and where to find ideas and teaching material, and how to integrate movies into the classroom. They shared the ways to include the elements of gamification and enhance students’ logical thinking, at the same time improving their media literacy.
The second workshop was presented by Ivana Pločkinićfrom III gimnazija, Split. She delivered a wonderful presentation about transversal skills. These skills are not considered as specifically related to a particular subject or area of knowledge but as skills that can be used in a wide variety of situations. Transversal skills are increasingly in high demand for learners to be successful at school. Some examples are critical and innovative thinking, interpersonal skills, intra-personal skills, global citizenship, media and information literacy.
The third workshop was prepared and presented by the host school teachersMarija Čarija Agoli and Ana Kodrić Ivelić who gladly and successfully shared their experience with CLIL. CLIL stands for Content and Language Integrated Learning. It incorporates both the learning of content and the learning of a foreign language. The participating teachers, organized in teams, got a task to design a lesson each on a given transcurricular topic (fashion, Solar System, World War II,…).
The last item on the agenda was organized to make attendees socialize, get to know each other better, exchange ideas as well as to initiate professional networking. Refreshments were offered alongside the raffle in which all tickets were winning ones. The prizes were obtained by our faithful publishers and other sponsors.

The meeting was carried out in an extremely relaxed and motivating atmosphere. It was very successful and ended at 8:20.

Anita Lasić
HUPE Split Branch President

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

04 December 2023Branch reports

The first HUPE Osijek branch meeting in school year 2023-2024 was held on 25 November 2023 at the Faculty of Education in Osijek. 24 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 31st HUPE conference.

The agenda included:
1) 31st HUPE Conference report
2) Mirta Kos Kolobarić: Are you a copycat or a busy bee?
3) Ana Katruša: Supporting Gifted Learners: Strategies, Tips & Ideas
4) Ksenija Benčina: It makes you look old!
5) HUPE news

At the beginning of the meeting the HUPE Osijek branch president informed the participants about the 31st Annual International HUPE Conference, which took place in Valamar, Poreč from 20 to 22 October 2023. 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.

The first workshop, titled Are you a copycat or a busy bee?, was held by Mirta Kos Kolobarić from the Secondary School of Economics from Slavonski Brod. In an hour-long workshop, Mirta presented an engaging way of introducing ‘animal’ idioms to describe people's personalities through learning stations and various tasks and activities. She also shared ready-to-use materials for the learning stations on the topic of body idioms.

After the coffee break and catching up with colleagues, the second workshop, titled Supporting Gifted Learners: Strategies, Tips & Ideas, was held by Ana Katruša from Primary School kralja Tomislav in Našice. Ana talked about different types of gifted students and how to meet their unique needs, especially in the early years. She also presented, and the participants took part in, differentiated activities and games, as well as critical thinking strategies teaches can use with their gifted students.

The third talk titled It makes you look old! was held by Ksenija Benčina from the Faculty of Education in Osijek. Ksenija gave insight into the grammatical an lexical changes in the English language occurring in the last few decades highlighting the need to keep pace with these changes in order to effectively teach English.

After the workshops, participants were informed about the news in HUPE including the highlights from the AGM, as well as the upcoming events such as the 4th national short story writing competition HUPE in Storyland taking place from 1 December 2023 to 15 January 2024, HUPE Day planned for 20 April 2024 with international speakers, and workshops and talks for all levels, as well as the 32nd Annual International HUPE Conference that is taking place in Valamar Poreč from 15 to 17 November 2024. After HUPE’s very successful teacher training courses in London and Edinburgh, the participant were informed about the plans to organize the courses in Dublin or Malta in August 2024. All members were also 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.

At the end of the meeting, the branch president organized a short Kahoot quiz to test the members’ knowledge about the 31st HUPE Conference in order to give away four 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 future meetings in 2024.

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

HUPE Zadar Branch meeting

23 August 2023Branch reports

HUPE Zadar Branch meeting was held at Bartul Kasic Zadar Elementary School, on 26 June 2023.

AGENDA:

Daria Paro: Spring in Scotland
Lana Kulišić and Kristina Viduka:English Corner – enhancing skills
HUPE news and updates

Our colleague and member Daria Paro held a presentation titled Spring in Scotland. Daria presented her conclusions and experiences from the teacher training that she attended with other HUPE members. The workshop included detailed report as well as several ideas and activities that can be used in the classroom and it was very interesting.

In the second workshop, titled English Corner – enhancing skills, several ideas for the extracurricular activities were presented. We also had a panel discussion about activities presented and all members agreed that it would be a good idea to form a debate club in each school (willing to participate) and hold a competition among the schools in Zadar County to promote English language and enhance communication skills.

HUPE Zadar would like to thank all members for participating in this meeting. Also, a special thanks goes to Daria Paro and Lana Kulišić for the interesting workshops 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

HUPE Karlovac 2022-2023 report

23 June 2023Branch reports

After a long period of corona-related measures, things returned to normal this school year. The Karlovac branch held two live meetings in the 2022-2023 school year, both in the school library of OŠ Braća Seljan, in the old town centre.

The first meeting was held on 13^th December 2022, with twelve members attending. The main speaker was Mia Šavrljuga from Profil Klett who held a lively workshop on listening skills titled Stop. Collaborate. And Listen! After her, our member Aleks Radošević presented her impressions from the HUPE trip to London.

The second branch meeting was held on 15^th June 2023, with fifteen participants. Three topics were on the agenda. Our members Denis Plavetić and Matej Kobašlić showed how recent advances in the field of artificial intelligence can be harnessed for good in the teaching profession with their lecture titled ChatGPT. Friend or Foe? After them, Ivana Marinić from Školska knjiga joined via Zoom and presented the latest expressions and language development in the teenage age group with her lecture titled It’s all Gucci. The final point were the Karlovac branch elections where Tomislav Mravunac was re-elected for another 2-year term.

This year we’ve finally returned to live meetings. Both times the atmosphere was great and all the presented topics were relevant and insightful. The plan is to hold more meetings in the next school year, at the same location.

Anybody wishing to join the Karlovac branch or getting more info, 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 second HUPE Rijeka Branch meeting report

20 June 2023Branch reports

The second HUPE Rijeka Branch meeting took place on May 27, 2023 at 10 am at the Trsat Branch of the Rijeka City Library. Eight teachers from Primorsko-Goranska County participated in the meeting.

The agenda included:

Gracijela Orobabić: Bilingual CLIL Workshop for Young Learners
Anita Jokić: What can we learn from Winnie the Pooh? (2 versions of materials A2-B2)
HUPE news

Gracijela Orobabić held a workshop titled Bilingual CLIL Workshop for Young Learners in which she presented a lesson for elementary school students which combined history (Ancient Egypt) and English language. The presentation was interactive as the members did all the exercises in groups, which involved learning new vocabulary, solving mysteries, cutting out and coloring a pyramide and learning how to dance to the song 'Walk like an Egyptian'.

In her workshop What can we learn from Winnie the Pooh?, Anita Jokić showed the members how Winnie the Pooh can teach us a valuable lesson on empathy, accepting differences and value of a true friendship. The activities included recognising the songs on the topic of friendship, analysing traits of the characters in 'Winnie the Pooh' and explaining some quotes from the book. As well as in the previous presentation, members had an opportunity to try out the activities on their own.

Members were informed about the news in HUPE and the 31st Annual International HUPE Conference, which is taking place in Valamar Diamant Hotel in Poreč from 20 to 22 October 2023.

HUPE Rijeka is grateful to the speakers for their interesting workshops and to all members who attended the meeting.

Doris Mesaroš
HUPE Rijeka Branch President