Yals Chair Marija Pejatović opening Yals Conference 2016: “Fostering Excellence in Language Education Centres in Serbia” in Belgrade, on 15 October 2016

Reported by Danijela Veljković

On 15 October, Yals, Association of Language Schools of Serbia, organised a conference titled ’’FOSTERING EXCELLENCE IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION CENTRES IN SERBIA’’ in Guarnerius Centre in Belgrade. The conference was supported by Eaquals, European Association for Quality Language Service, and was aimed at Private School Owners, Academic Managers, Directors of Studies and experienced teachers.

Marija Pejatović, Yals Chair, opened the conference, attended by around 120 people. The participants were also greeted by  the newly appointed British Council Director of Serbia, Clare Sears, who emphasized the importance of following the standards and maintaining the quality in foreign language schools in Serbia, and added that it was the main reason for a long-lasting cooperation between the British Council and Yals.

The main presenter was  Ludka Kotarska, Director of Eaquals Accreditation and Consultancy Services. The topics of her presentations were:

Fostering excellence in language education centres, and

The importance of CPD for an institution

A panel discussion was also held with the following participants: Aleksandra Pejatović, Ph.D, Associate Professor at Department of Pedagogy and Andragogy, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Aleksandar Nedić, Services Sector Secretary, Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Josip Sobin, Jantar School Director; member of Language Association, Croatian Chamber of Commerce. Marija Pejatović, Yals Chair, was a moderator.

After the panel discussion, a short promotional film on quality in teaching and management in language schools in Serbia was shown. The name of the film is:  “DO YOU KNOW HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD LANGUAGE SCHOOL?”, and its author is Predrag Todorović.

In the last part of our conference the participants enjoyed the examples of good practice from Yals, workshops prepared by our teachers:

Jelena Spasić, Senior Teacher, Teacher Trainer, Academic Director, Oxford School, Leskovac,  ’’Storytelling with the Giving Tree’’

Katarina Andrić, Senior Teacher and Teacher Trainer, Lingva School,  Valjevo,  ’’Vocabulary Beats’’

Jovana Popović an,d Sofija Ljiljak Vukajlović, Senior Teachers and Teacher Trainers, Tom & Emma School , Belgrade,  ’’Aiming High with Video’’