The second HUPE Split Branch meeting took place on 3 May 2024. It started at 5:00 p.m. Fourteen English teachers were hosted by their kind colleagues from III. gimnazija Split.  Three interesting workshops were carried out during the meeting.

Agenda items:

1. Anita Lasić: HUPE news 
2. Dajana Jelavić: What Has AI Got To Do With It?
3. Tajana Bundara: AI-powered AI Assessment Strategies
4. Petra Gorički: Teaching English to SEN Students – My Experience

1. The meeting was opened by Anita Lasić, who welcomed the participating teachers. She briefed the attendees about the online HUPE Day outcomes as well as the positive feedback from the participants. She informed the attendees of the upcoming HUPE Conference 2024 that will take place in Poreč. However, there is a possibility that the following conference will be organized in Brela. HUPE has released online voting for the members to choose the venue for the conference in 2025. She encouraged the participants to join the voting process.
2. The first workshop, What's AI Got To Do With It?was delivered by Dajana Jelavić from SŠ  Jure Kaštelan, Omiš. Social and Emotional Learning and AI are distinct concepts, yet they can seamlessly complement each other in promoting holistic growth. In this workshop, we explored how AI tools can enhance creativity while nurturing SEL competencies.
3. The second workshop was presented by Tajana Bundara, from SŠ Ivana Lucića, Trogir. 
   This interactive talk aimed to share experiences about using artificial intelligence (AI) for formative and summative assessment in English language teaching. Examples covered tasks for assessing receptive and productive skills from primary to secondary school. Participants received suggestions on how to prepare assessment materials using AI, interact with bots, and explore AI combinations that support assessment outcomes. Along with the benefits, participants were informed of potential pitfalls when using AI. The talk offered opportunities for active participation and the sharing of reflections and inspirations.
4. The third workshop was prepared and presented by Petra Gorički, from SŠ Bedekovčina.
   This workshop was carried out online via MS Teams. The aim was to address the challenges teachers face when working with SEN students within a curriculum that may not always support their needs. The focus was on different strategies and methods used to adapt curriculum content to create a stimulating learning environment where students have an opportunity to reach their full potential

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

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

Branch reports

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

Branch reports

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

Branch reports