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

08 December 2022Branch reports

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 30^th HUPE conference.

The agenda included:

1) 30^th 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 30^th 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 30^th 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)

02 December 2022Branch reports

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:

HUPE news - 30th Conference report
Slađana Curić-Petričević & Sandra Jovišić: Kindergarten English - This Is the Way We Play, Learn & Grow
Alenka Miljević: Developing Language Skills in eTwinning Projects
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

28 November 2022Branch reports

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

Agenda:

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

HUPE Split Branch meeting report

11 July 2022Branch reports

The last HUPE Split Branch meeting in the school year 2021/22 was held on Monday, 27th June 2022, at 11:00 a.m. at Osnovna škola Sućidar, Perivoj Ane Roje 1, Split.

12 members attended the meeting that lasted three hours.

The agenda included:

Davorka Bronzić, Nataša Bebić Bačan & Marina Marega Selecki:
Erasmus+ project “BETTER TOGETHER”, Elementary school Župa dubrovačka, Mlini
Ivana Bokavšek & Miranda Barac: London is always a great idea!
HUPE news

Our dear colleagues from Dubrovnik Davorka Bronzić, Nataša Bebić Bačan & Marina Marega Selecki presented their Erasmus+ project “BETTER TOGETHER“ and the student-centred project activities that will help the participants in preparing and delivering their lessons as well as in planning and designing their own everyday school activities gathered around the two main topics:

Cultural and intercultural awareness
European values of tolerance and equality.

They also wanted to raise awareness among our colleagues that the knowledge and skills needed for life in the 21st century are acquired from an early age and that most of those skills cannot be learned from a textbook.

After the coffee break, Ivana Bokavšek & Miranda Barac held the workshop, titled London is always a great idea!, to disseminate the results and to share the materials of the professional development course for Croatian teachers of English that was held in London in April 2022 and was organised by HUPE (Croatian Association of Teachers of English) with the support of AZOO (Education and Teacher Training Agency). The participants were taken on a tour of London, enjoying its landmarks, and learning about its history and culture through various interactive activities such as quizzes and a challenging Scavenger Hunt.

The participants were also informed about the news in HUPE including HUPE teacher training course in London planned for August as well as the 30th Annual International HUPE Conference in November in Poreč.

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 next school year.

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 third HUPE Osijek branch meeting report

13 June 2022Branch reports

The third HUPE Osijek branch meeting in school year 2021-2022 was held on May 26, 2022 at the Faculty of Education in Osijek. 18 members attended the meeting.

The agenda included:

1) Ivana Štiglec, teacher advisor: Teaching culture through engaging and interactive learning scenarios

2) Lidija Šaravanja, PhD & assistant professor Ivana Marinić, PhD: How to teach Gen Alpha?

3) Tanja Pokupić, Suzana Tolić & Dubravka Zebec, teacher mentors: Keep Calm and Enjoy/Survive London

4) HUPE news

The first workshop, titled Teaching culture through engaging and interactive learning scenarios, was held by Ivana Štiglec from I Gymnasium in Osijek. In her workshop Ivana demonstrated how using various activity types, web tools and different information sources can help create meaningful, engaging and interactive cultural lessons and develop our students’ intercultural communication competence. She shared some interesting and student-engaging cultural scenarios the teachers can try out in their classrooms right away.

After the coffee break, the second presentation, titled How to teach Gen Alpha?, was held by Lidija Šaravanja from Primary school Vladimir Nazor in Čepin and Ivana Marinić from the Faculty of Education in Osijek. They talked about the characteristics of different generations in our classrooms with the focus of the Generation Alpha and provided some practical and useful examples on how to address them and help our students develop the skills they will need throughout their lives.

In their presentation titled Keep Calm and Enjoy/Survive London, our colleagues Tanja Pokupić, Suzana Tolić and Dubravka Zebec from primary schools in Čepin, Osijek and Josipovac Punitovački told us more about the HUPE teacher training course in London they attended in April. Their enthusiastic and detailed day-to-day report about the workshops, lectures and treasure hunts related to British history and culture, as well as the sightseeing made all the participants transport to London, at least in their minds.

The participants were also informed about the news in HUPE including the upcoming online HUPE Day taking place on June 4, 2022 via Zoom, the 30^th Annual International HUPE Conference, as well as HUPE teacher training course in London planned for August.

HUPE Osijek is thankful 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.

Hopefully, we will see you at one of our future meetings next school year.

Adrijana Roždijevac
HUPE Osijek Branch President