Over the weekend, the BH UK Network (a community of Bosnian associations in the UK), in collaboration with the associations “Discover Bosnian” from Vienna and “OBHU”, the Board of Bosnian Teachers in Denmark, held an online seminar for teachers of Bosnian supplementary schools from the UK, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Qatar.
Teachers listened to a lecture on the importance and preservation of the mother tongue, given by Prof. M.A. Azra Hodžić-Kadić and Prof. Dr. Halid Bulić. In addition to professional and very useful lectures, respected lecturers and teachers had the opportunity to talk about the issues they encounter when teaching the mother tongue, the biggest challenges for students, and cooperation with parents and institutions in the home country.
The seminar participants used this opportunity to ask questions to the lecturers and clarify any doubts they encounter in practice. There was also talk of some future joint collaborations and projects, all with the aim of improving the quality of mother tongue teaching in the diaspora.
The seminar from Great Britain was attended by teachers: Senadin Selimić, Arnela Pašić, Emir Bolic, Eldina Bolic, Sadija Muminović, Aldin Žilić, Belma Muhamedagić, Semira Jakupović, Edina Kikić, Sabit Jakupović.
In accordance with the current situation, the seminar was held online via the Zoom application, 10. and April 11th from 10am to 2pm. We are proud of the fact that Bosnian remedial schools in the UK have been operating continuously for over 25 years and we hope that this seminar will contribute to improving the work of remedial classes.
High-quality professional development and further education constitute a very important aspect of lifelong learning, especially for the mother tongue and teaching of the Bosnian language. Unfortunately, there are very few offers outside the mother tongue. Namely, such offers are not even oriented towards the study of the Bosnian language in a multilingual society and are not adapted to an appropriate curriculum that would provide teachers with instructions and assistance in the implementation of teaching. It is precisely because of this need that the association “Discover Bosnian” was formed in Vienna, which, together with the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo, offered seminars following the latest methodological, didactic and linguistic needs of our teachers who teach mother tongue abroad.
Arnela Pasic
BH UK Network
