Category: News

Experience Sharing between YALS Member Schools

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Three teachers from Tom & Emma School, Belgrade – Milana Papić, Jelena Mitrović, and Sofija Ljiljak-Vukajlovića visited Lingva last Thursday, 10 March, to see how LEGO® bricks and StoryStarter educational programme are used for foreign language learning in our school. They enjoyed working with our young learners on the activities designed by teacher Katarina Andrić at A2.c and B1.b levels, and they also had opportunity to familiarize themselves with the use of StoryVisualizer software, where they were joined by teacher Mirjana Ljiljak-Vukajlović.

The exchange was two-way – Lingva teachers learned which activities the guests had applied at Tom & Emma, and that they also had positive experience in the use of LEGO® elements with older students. The joint conclusion was that these activities exceptionally boost students’ creativity, which has a direct impact on the effectivenes of language acquisition.

It was confirmed once again that short exchange visits bring a lot of benefits to both sides and that we should continue with this good practice.

Lingva teachers at New Technologies in Education 2016 Conference

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New applications, new electronic equipment, and above all unbounded enthusiasm and new energy!
Lingva teachers Mirjana Ljiljak-Vukajlović, Katarina Andrić, Marija Milovanović i Lora Petronić-Petrović have recently had an opportunity to familiarize themselves with new possibilities of integrating multimedia in education at the New Technologies in Education 2016 Conference and Fair. The event was organized by the British Council and Serbian state institutions in Belgrade on 26 and 27 February.

Our Kitty Cats

It was finally our turn to build stories with LEGO® bricks and write about our kitty cats. They are really naughty – when they do not fight they knock down the telephone, let our kite fly away, or fall into the sea. We always have to rescue them. Naughty, naughty kitty cats!

Our teacher Milica Marić kept us company and helped a lot.

My Kitty Cat by Ema Maksimović, Dunja Jovanović, Jovana Ilić, Aleksa Stanković and Viktor Stanojević

My Kitty Cat by Vladimir Popović, Anđela Radosavljević, Eva Jezdić, Elena Panić and Matija Vukosavljević

The programs conducted by Lingva Language School are not affiliated, sponsored, or endorsed by LEGO® Education or the LEGO® Group.

Lingva teachers attend ELTA Creative Writing seminar

Lingva teachers at Creative Writing seminar

— reported by Katarina Andrić

In the month of November two Lingva teachers Lora Petronic Petrovic and Katarina Andric were a part of an online creative writing course “Small Town Stories” supported by ELTA and the American Embassy, designed for teachers who love writing. The course tutors were Nathan William Meyer, Olja Milosevic and Gordana Klasnja.

It was a four-week course designed to strengthen teachers` writing skills and encourage new approaches to language teaching. During the course, the participants had weekly writing assignments on which they got thoughtful and constructive feedback both by the course tutors and peers. Their final task was to write a short story focusing on different skills of creative writing which they acquired during the course itself. Teachers were also engaged in creating dynamic lessons plan with the aim to implement their ideas in their classroom.

The second phase of the course was Face-to-Face Workshop which was held in Vrnjacka Banja from December 11-13th. It was a great opportunity for the participants to share their ideas and practice, as well as to get valuable feedback on their stories which could help them in their future writing.

Upon the completion of the course teachers were awarded ELTA certificates. They finished the couse with a big smile on their faces because they felt it had really enhanced their creative writing.

My Last Weekend – Brick Creation

Our weekends are usually very quiet becuse we are all relaxed , but from time to time little mishaps happen and disturb our peace. They can give us a bit of a fright, such as when we come across a snake in the countryside, make us a little sad if somebody falls down and hurt themselves, but very often we are amuzed and have a good laugh when animals or people bungle things and cause a great commotion. Here are short news stories with lego brick illustrations about our last weekend of summer holiday. Teacher Marija Milovanović helped us in creating them.

My Last Weekend by Jelena Perić & Sofija Belušević

My Last Weekend by Luka Vujić and Milica Mitrović

My Last Weekend by Filip Tomić and Lazar Branković

My Last Weekend by Uroš Uverić, David Lukić & Filip Petrović

Cambridge CAE Certificates with the highest grades


Cambridge CAE certificate for June exams 2015 have finally arrived! After many years of invested efforts, Lingva students Sofija Rajković and Marijana Janković have realized one of their biggest dreams – not only have they passed the exam but they have also got the the highest grade, A, which means that their knowledge of English language is already at the upmost, C2 level, according to CEFR for languages. Congratulations to these extraordinary girls on their enormous success! We know that for them this diploma will open the doors of the most prestigious world organisations in their future careers.

Lingva Teacher Completed Trainer Development Course

Lingva teacher Katarina Andrić presenting at Trainer Development Course at British Council Belgrade, June 2015
Lingva teacher Katarina Andrić presenting at Trainer Development Course at British Council Belgrade, June 2015

From February to June, Lingva teacher Katarina Andrić attended The Trainer Development Course organised by the British Council and financed jointly by the participant herself and Lingva School. The course is designed for teachers who want to make transition from teacher to trainer and it comprised of seven workshops during which the participants learnt how to create and deliver effective and succesful workshops.

At the end of the course, each participant prepared a presentation followed by feedback and discussion. Katarina held a workshop titled Using Songs in ELT ( Using Songs with Teenagers). The goals of Katarina’s workshop were to identify important criteria in choosing songs and experiment with different activities connected with using songs. At the end participants gave their opinion of the workshop. They gave very positive comments stating that “it was very practical”, “versatile and useful” and that they were “looking forward to using those ideas in their classroom”. Some participants said they felt “ inspired “ and they all wished Katarina “ to keep up with the good work”.

This has been a natural step for Katarina to take in her continuing professional development. It is the policy of Lingva school within its high quality assurance plan to constantly support its teachers in their professional career development through a systematic implementation of YALS Teacher Training and Development Scheme, which includes regular mentoring, peer observation, Lingva in-house workshops, and international seminars and conferences organised by YALS, ELTA and the British Council.