The second HUPE Dubrovnik Branch meeting in 2024-2025 took place at Osnovna škola Blato in Blato on May 24, 2025.
Agenda:
SANJA RAŠKOVIĆ: Stories, a powerful teaching tool
SILVIJA PEĆANAC BAČIĆ: Literature unfolded
HUPE info
HUPE Dubrovnik president election
The first speaker was Sanja Raškovićwith herinteractive storytelling workshop. It showed us the importance of storytelling in English teaching. She offered us numerous amazing activities to use in our everyday teaching. Most of the activities are suitable for all age groups, so the workshop was useful for both primary and secondary school teachers.
Silvija Pećanac Bačić gave a presentation which showed an example of good practice, unfolding narrative layers to understand Shelley's commentary on science, humanity, and creation, showcasing Frankenstein's enduring influence on literature and popular culture.
Following these two very interesting workshops, the current HUPE Dubrovnik president shared the latest HUPE news, such as the information about the new board, HUPEzine and the 33rd HUPE conference, which will take place in Poreč, 24 – 26 October 2025. All the participants were invited to participate in HUPE newsletter and HUPEzine, as well as to contribute to our web page digital materials.
At the end of the meeting, HUPE members voted for the next branch president. They unanimously supported Silvija Pećanac Bačić as the new HUPE Dubrovnik branch president. Congratulations, Silvija!
The third HUPE Zagreb branch meeting of the 2024-2025 school year was held on 17th May 2025 at Čarobna riječ. Around 20 and a bit more eager English teachers and HUPE members have decided to spend their Friday evening attending a 3-hour professional development meeting with their hardworking colleagues.
AGENDA
BARBARA HANJILEC: Creative Paths to Students' Well-Being: Supporting Gen Z Through Art and Emotional Intelligence
Valadžija Đurđica ( British Council ): IELTS za učenike viših razreda srednje škole
Ivana Burić Kurtović, M.A. and Eva Bogdanović, M.A.: Colourful gardens: on creativity and global biodiversity in language education
Our first workshop was one which is nowadays especially needed The theme was: Creative paths to students’ well-being presented by Barbara Hanjilec, an experienced teacher, who led us through her project Paint and Talk which she is executing in her school. The project was created by increasing need to understand Gen Z and their emotions to help them cope with everyday situations.
Our constant support from British Council Đurđica Valadžija has presented IELTS test and invited participants to a trail test for the students who are +16 and willing to test their English knowledge.
The second workshop was held by Ivana Burić Kurtović and Eva Bogdanović who have presented their excellent workshop on creativity making us all engage in language tasks in an instant. Emotions were part of the task and we all willingly discussed our emotions during the given tasks.
After the workshop, the Zagreb branch president informed the participants about HUPE news, HUPE Annual conference, plans for Zagreb branch meetings, surrounding conferences and events. The participants were invited to take part in HUPE as an organisation, participate in our newsletter and HUPEzine, as well as to contribute to our web page digital materials. HUPE members, present at the meeting, voted about the next branch president. Petra Blajić is elected as the new HUPE Zagreb branch president. Congratulations, Petra!
As your elected board member and a vice president to be, I thank you all for the support I was given all these years as a Zagreb branch president.
HUPE Zagreb is thankful to the speakers and all the members who were able to attend and make the meeting a productive and an enjoyable experience. Hopefully, we will see you at our future meetings in 2025/2026.
The second HUPE Osijek branch meeting in the school year 2024-2025 was held on Saturday, 29 March 2025 at the Faculty of Education in Osijek. 23 HUPE members attended the meeting which lasted for four hours.
The agenda included:
Mary Dimitrov: American accents and dialects
Ivana Borozni: Serious Fun! Unlocking the Magic of Humor in Teaching
Mirta Kos Kolobarić: Digitalize your stories
HUPE news
The first workshop, titled American accents and dialects, was held by Mary Dimitrov, a Fulbright scholar and an English Teaching Assistant at the English Language Studies Department at the Faculty of Education in Osijek. Mary presented regional dialect and accent differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar across the USA, as well as demonstrated how geography, social class, and history shape these variations. African American Vernacular English (AAVE), Southern, California “Valley girl”/”Frat boy” and New York dialects and accents were discussed in more detail along with social attitudes toward these accents, which can sometimes be linked to stereotypes or biases. The session was very informative as participants learned new expressions and took a New York Times quiz to determine which American region most closely matches their own speech patterns.
The second workshop, titled Serious Fun! Unlocking the Magic of Humor in Teaching, was held by HUPE Slavonski Brod branch president Ivana Borozni from Dragutin Tadijanović Primary School in Slavonski Brod. Ivana presented many different ways teachers can incorporate humour in their EFL classrooms as an effective teaching tool that reduces anxiety, boosts engagement, and improves language retention. Some of the practical and ready-to-use activities that create a more dynamic and enjoyable classroom atmosphere include wordplay, situational jokes, visual humor, puns, memes, anecdotes, and storytelling.
The third workshop, titled Digitalize your storieswas held by Mirta Kos Kolobarić from Secondary School of Economics from Slavonski Brod. Mirta presented some tips and tricks for making and using digital stories in the classroom as a way to engage students in reading and creative writing while incorporating digital tools. Participants learned practical strategies to help students analyse story elements, create their own narratives, and transform them into digital versions, integrating writing, reading, and speaking skills. Examples of student-created digital stories from regular English lessons and an eTwinning project were also showcased.
The participants were also informed about the latest news in HUPE including the new HUPE Board members elected during the AGM at the HUPE Day on 15 March 2025, the winners of the 5th National Writing Competition – HUPE in Storyland, teacher training courses in New York and Bath planned for July and September, Languages United and HUPE cultural bake-alongs, student and teacher courses provided by our partners from SOL – Sharing One Language, and future professional development events and conferences by our partner associations.
Members were also encouraged to take an active role in HUPE and apply as volunteers for the position of the HUPE Osijek branch president, as the application process is open until 10 May 2025, and the elections will take place at the next branch meeting planned for the second half of May.
At the end of the meeting, the branch president organized a short raffle to give away six conference goody bags filled with useful ELT materials.
HUPE Osijek is grateful to the speakers and all the members who were able to attend the meeting on Saturday morning and create a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere for chatting and sharing ideas. Hopefully, we will see you at our next meeting in May.
Slavonski Brod 2nd HUPE Branch meeting in this school year was held on 26th March 2025. The venue was Osnovna škola Dragutin Tadijanović, Slavonski Brod. 9 teachers attended the meeting and enjoyed the presented activities (presenters included). They had a chance to listen about : Ivana Opačak: "Suno AI: From Poetry 2 Music":
Croatian and English language teacher Ivana Opačak (prof. izvrstan savjetnik, Ekonomsko-birotehnička škola, Slavonski Brod) presented AI-supported poetry-writing activities (including the creation of blackout poetry) that she did with her students and project partners to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, St Valentine's Day, Women's History Month and World Poetry Day 2024. As a part of the workshop, she will introduce Suno AI, a generative music creation program powered by artificial intelligence, which she frequently uses to enrich English lessons with music, positively impacting (not only) students' mental health.
Tihomir Matković: ““GAME, SET, LEARN: Making Vocabulary Fun (again)”
In this workshop, we explored the amazing world of vocabulary teaching! A prominent issue of ''what's more important – grammar or vocabulary'' was addressed in a brief discussion. We moved on to discover why the implementation of games and game-like activities is important in today’s ESL classrooms and how it can aid students in vocabulary learning and retention. The speaker presented several ideas for fun vocabulary activities covering a wide range of ESL topics – from numbers to specific parts of speech. Using games in ESL classrooms, we learned how to boost students’ engagement and make their learning process easier and more enjoyable.
HUPE news – The Branch president informed the teachers about the elections, the bake-along, teacher trainings and other activities. She also gave a report on the Slovenian IATEFL Conference 2025 that she attended.
The first HUPE Dubrovnik Branch meeting in 2024-2025 took place at Osnovna škola Blato in Blato on December 13, 2024.
Agenda:
Marjorie Rosenberg: Working with texts
Helena Gustović Ljubić: Warmers, fillers and coolers
Ana Kodrić Ivelić: Gradually teaching Presentation Skills from first till eight grade
Marija Lipanović and Marina Mandić: ChatGPT And Basic AI Tools
HUPE news
In Marjorie Rosenberg's workshop participants were taken through the steps of working with texts, beginning with activities to be done before reading, during reading and after reading. They had the chance to try out a variety of ideas to make texts easier for learners to comprehend, experience ideas for their learners to expand vocabulary and finish off with a role play, enabling learners to make use of language they have learned in the lessons.
In the second workshop our dear colleague Helena Gustović Ljubić gave us some interesting and useful examples of good practice on how to start a lesson, as well as how to cool down the atmosphere or wake up our students with short, lively activities.
Ana Kodrić Ivelić claims that presentation skills are crucial 21-century competencies and that they are essential in many life aspects, from education and personal life to careers. She believes that it is important to teach presentation skills from the early age. Therefore, various presentation structures and activities were demonstrated in her workshop through various examples, outlining key components of a successful presentation and the gradual 4P skill-building process from first till eight grade.
Marija Lipanović and Marina Mandić discussed the challenges of AI in education process. In their talk they showed us how to use some basic AI tools for quicker lesson planning, generating responses from Chat GPT or making AI videos. They also emphasized that AI tools can be very useful for enhancing different skills, such as critical thinking or collaborative skills.
After the workshops, the HUPE Dubrovnik branch president reported on the 32nd Annual International HUPE Conference which took place in Valamar, Poreč from 15 to 17 November 2024. All members are invited to participate in our next Annual International HUPE Conference, also taking place in Poreč from 24 to 26 October 2025 as well as in HUPE Day, which is planned for 15 March 2025.
The participants were informed about HUPE in Storyland. Entries should be submitted from 1 December 2024 to 15 January 2025. They were also encouraged to send their ELT articles and examples of good practices to our HUPE editor Ivana Kasunić via 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.
As the meeting finally drew to a close, it was clear that we had far exceeded the time we had originally planned. The relaxed atmosphere, accompanied by a delightful tea party featuring original English tea, must-have cucumber sandwiches and biscuits and the flow of interesting conversations made time pass by almost unnoticed. It felt more like a pleasant gathering than a formal meeting, and no one was eager to leave. We all agreed that the combination of good company, tea, and food made the entire experience highly enjoyable and enriching.
