The first  HUPE Split Branch meeting in the school year 2021/22 was held on Wednesday, 9th February 2022, at 5:00 p.m. at Osnovna škola Sućidar, Perivoj Ane Roje 1, Split. 

27 members attended the meeting that lasted three hours.

The agenda included:

1. HUPE news - 29th Conference report
2. Ivana Bokavšek: Targeted vocabulary and grammar units in use
3. Adriana Petra Blažević, Mara Ruža Blažević & Tania Žuvela Blažević: The representations of culture, race and gender in English language textbooks
4. Miranda Barac: Linguistic mediation - activities and assessments

The meeting started with a short report on the 29th Annual International HUPE Conference, which took place in Valamar, Poreč from 12 to 14 November 2021. The participants were also informed about the HUPE news including the professional development in London in April and August.

The workshop, titled Targeted vocabulary and grammar units in use, was held by Ivana Bokavšek who took us through interesting activities that expose our students to the regular and correct use of key vocabulary and grammar parts in the context. After this workshop, the participants were able to apply different techniques and digital tools to encourage students to foster the correct and precise use of vocabulary and grammar in the aimed context.

The second presentation, titled The representations of culture,  race and gender in English language textbookswas held by Adriana Petra Blažević, Mara Ruža Blažević & Tania Žuvela Blažević who discussed the findings of a quantitative analysis of the representations of culture, race and gender in English language textbooks. In the first section of the presentation, Tania discussed the theoretical background of the phenomenon in the light of the importance of English in modern education, frequently associated with various systems of social inequality. Thereafter, the listed and interpreted results of the content analysis of nine English language textbooks for first-year high school students in Croatia were presented and elaborated by Adriana. The quantitative analysis was conducted with the aim of determining the prominence of various social groups in English language textbooks, as well as observing how they interact with one another. Finally, the main conclusions derived from the study were briefly discussed by Mara in order to restate the focal ideas and open the discussion.

After the coffee break, Miranda Barac held the last workshop Linguistic mediation - activities and assessments in which she gave an insight into linguistic mediation and how to teach and assess this new fifth skill in our classes. She showed us how to create effective, engaging tasks and activities for our students to practise this skill, acquire strategies and become more competent mediators. The participants were provided with sample activities, rubrics and checklists for teaching both intra and interlinguistic mediation. In the end, they were asked to create a mediation activity, based on a given input, followed by an assessment tool of their choice.

Thank you all for coming and taking the time for our meeting.  Your support is much appreciated.

I'm looking forward to our future HUPE gatherings.

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

10 enthusiastic English teachers and educators gathered last Saturday for the first HUPE meeting of this school year.

1. Sanja Turčić Padavić - Number one fear in the world is…
   Prof. Turčić Padavić from First Sušak Croatian Gymnasium took us through an extremely interesting and useful workshop in which she showed us all the ways in which we can incorporate students' oral presentations. Considering that public appearance is one of the biggest fears of students, prof. Turčić Padavić explained the methodological approach in creating tasks, the choice of topics, the method of evaluation and her previous experiences. The workshop was accompanied by numerous questions and exchange of good practice.
2. Patricia Alberini - You can kill the king without a sword
   After a very successful workshop at the HUPE conference in Poreč, prof. Alberini from Italian Secondary School once again showed us how to incorporate elements of theater and acting into teaching. One of the main reasons for the implementation of acting in teaching is its impact on many different factors: self-confidence, concentration, creativity, communication skills, etc. Together with the audience she went through warm-up techniques and showed various examples that she has used in teaching.
3. Gracijela Orobabic - Brain gym
   Prof. Orobabić from Gornja Vežica Elementary School showed the benefits of Brain gym - a series of methods and exercises that activate and improve brain function, reduce accumulated stress and tension and thus help students reach the optimal level for language learning. Through videos, she showed us how she incorporates Brain Gym techniques in her lessons, and she also went through different language activities and worksheets that she uses in her classroom and which are based on the principles of Brain Gym.

The first HUPE Osijek branch meeting in school year 2021-2022 was held at the Faculty of Education in Osijek on 4 December, 2021. 17 members attended the meeting. The agenda included:

1. The 29th Annual International HUPE Conference report
2. Mirta Kos Kolobarić: Nurture a love of reading
3. Selina Geli: Early English language learning outcomes of young learners exposed to two differentEnglish language teaching approaches - CLIL in Austria and traditional ELT in Croatia
4. HUPE news

At the beginning of the meeting new HUPE Osijek branch president Adrijana Roždijevac informedthe participants about the 29th Annual International HUPE Conference, which took place in Valamar, Poreč from 12 to 14 November, 2021. She reported on the conference programme, venue,workshops, social events, raffle, sponsors, as well as on an overall positive feedback the HUPEOrganizing Committee has received.

The first workshop, titled Nurture a love of reading, was held by Mirta Kos Kolobarić from the Secondary School of Economics from Slavonski Brod. In a one-hour workshop, Mirta demonstratedhow the choice of a contemporary short story with an intriguing topic combined with the choice of engaging reading tasks can motivate students to read, reflect on the story, relate it to everyday life, and boost their digital skills. She offered various creative and ready-made activities adaptable todifferent levels but mostly focused on secondary school, which the participants could try out for themselves.

After the coffee break, the second presentation, titled Early English language learning outcomesof young learners exposed to two different English language teaching approaches - CLIL inAustria and traditional ELT in Croatia, was held by Selina Geli from Primary school “Dr. FranjoTuđman” from Beli Manastir. Selina presented the research she has conducted with the students of grade 4 in Austria and Croatia where the students are taught English through different teachingmethods. She talked about the similarities and differences between the two countries and foreign language learning, as well as about the listening and reading tasks the students were tested on. The research results show that the Croatian young learners could comprehend English better than the Austrian students, which started a very interesting and productive discussion among the participants.

At the end of the meeting, participants were informed about the news in HUPE including thewriting competition HUPE in Storyland.

HUPE Osijek is thankful to the speakers and all the members who were able to attend and makethe meeting a productive and enjoyable experience. Hopefully, we will see you at our next meetingin February 2022.

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

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, during 2020-2021 school year, former branch president Kornelije Juranić was not able to organize any live meetings at HUPE Osijek. However, HUPE Osijek participated in organizing and carrying out the virtual meetings that HUPE held in 2020 and 2021, including 28th HUPE Online Conference and three HUPE Days. Currently, our branch has 35 members with active memberships. Our members actively participated in all the virtual events, including the Writing Competition, where two of our members and their secondary students were awarded for their excellent writing skills.

HUPE Osijek elections were held online via Zoom on September 3, 2021 at Annual General Meeting during HUPE Day. There was only one candidate for the branch president, Adrijana Roždijevac from Primary school “Josip Kozarac” Soljani. She introduced herself to the 13 members that were present, after which the voting was held and she was unanimously voted the new HUPE Osijek branch president.

We are thankful to all the members for participating in online events and we are looking forward to seeing all of you in person soon.

If you are an English teacher and wish to join HUPE Osijek, feel free to contact me at hupe . osijek@ gmail.com.

Adrijana Roždijevac
HUPE Osijek Branch President