Speak Up English Language School

About Us

2008-05-16T02:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody!
Welcome to the Speak Up English Language School. It doesn’t matter if you’re young and you need English just to understand computer/video games or want to improve your language skills or your employer wants you to learn English. We’re here for you. Or maybe you want to meet some new people via the Internet? To video conference with them or just exchange mails? Or you want to take one of the Cambridge ESOL exams? The reason is yours and the rest is ours. Just call us and be a member of the winning team.
Develop the skills for the 21st century!

With 18 years of experience, we’re the oldest English Language School in Serbia, located in Kragujevac, a town south of Belgrade. Although not a very big school, we’re very enthusiastic.
We began working on 16th April 1990. Our aim was to help children learn how to use all the language skills. And we did it! As a result, our students were awarded at international competitions organized by “Penguin” (“Write a Penguin Review” competition in 2000, where Tamara Dancetovic and Zoran Mujic were Junior Category winners for the reviews of “Babe– The Sheep Pig” and “Braveheart” respectively, and Nemanja Pantic (15) in the Senior Category Winners for the review of “King Solomon’s Mines”; Anja Rakic and Sanja Vuckovic for there stories” A Trip to the Valley of Pearls” and “Believe It or Not” at the “Be a Penguin Author” in 2002 ), “Longman” (a group third place for the photo story at the “Snapshot Competition” in 2001) and BBC World Service (Milica and Marko Vuckovic were awarded for their stories “Public Library” and “Ten Tips How to Make Reading Interesting” in 2003; the students were recorded by the BBC World Service and an interview was made.)
We connected our students with schools around the globe. Each student is assigned to a monitored e-mail, which makes them very exciting. All of the children are included in one of many projects, depending on their language skills.
And more than sixty of those who attend our classes are the owners of one of the Cambridge ESOL certificates, from the young ones, aged 7, to the adults who passed the CAE.

As the headteacher, I gave an interview for the New York Times in February 2008 and, if you follow the link you can read what Steve Lohr, the journalist who I was talking to, wrote. www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/business/24social.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

And in April 2008 I was invited to join the Advisory Board of the ePals, the largest global teaching community. Here's a part of the e-mail I received from the Curriculum Developer of the web site:

Dear Mirjana Milovic!

Thank you for your interest in the new ePals' Global Advisory Committee. I wanted to get back to you to answer some of your questions about how the committee will work. Our intent with the Global Advisory Committee is to gather teachers whom we consider to be stellar examples of both educators and participants in the ePals global community. With that in mind, we hope to work with and learn from you in order to make ePals the best education community possible. We hope that you will join us in our mission to make ePals the most user-friendly and comprehensive teacher site on the web. I look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Best,

Rachel Goldman

Curriculum Developer

ePals, Inc.

Service List

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LIBRARY
Most children don’t like reading. Especially in a foreign language. That’s why we made a little library. Our students automatically become members of our library. There they can borrow books that are adapted to their level of knowledge. There’s no fee for our students and very soon, by borrowing the books, they discover the benefits of reading. They can find the books like: “Braveheart”, “Babe-the Sheep Pig”, “Seven” or “Far From The Madding Crowd”. They can also read books such as “Baywatch”, “Dr Zivagho” or even “Hamlet.”

CAMBRIDGE ESOL EXAMS

Cambridge ESOL exams are taken in the British Council in Belgrade every March, December and June. The tests are sent to Cambridge for marking and successful candidates are awarded a certificate.

YLE- for children aged 7-12. They are divided into three levels: STARTERS, MOVERS and FLYERS. Each exam consists of three parts: Reading and Writing, Listening and Speaking. Each part is marked with shields. The maximum number of shields is five. Statistics show that, on average, candidates in Serbia are more successful than their peers in the world.
KET (CEF Level B2)– an exam for teenagers. It’s parallel to the Flyers, so the students can skip the Flyers and take the KET immediately after the Movers. The final mark a candidate receives is an aggregate of the marks obtained in each of the three papers (Reading/Writing, Listening and Speaking). There’s no minimum pass mark for individual papers. KET has two passing grades: Pass with Merit and Pass and two failing grades: Narrow Fail and Fail. Statements of Results contain a graphical display of a candidate’s performance in each component.
PET (CEF Level B1)— In our school, the exam is taken by children aged 13 to 15. The final mark a candidate receives is an aggregate of the marks obtained in each of the three papers (Reading/Writing, Listening and Speaking). There’s no minimum pass mark for individual papers. PET has two passing grades: Pass with Merit and Pass and two failing grades: Narrow Fail and Fail. Statements of Results contain a graphical display of a candidate’s performance in each component.
FCE (CEF Level B2) - This exam is taken by students aged 13 to 17. The final mark a candidate receives is an aggregate of the marks obtained in each of the five papers (Reading, Writing, Use of English, Listening and Speaking). There’s no minimum pass mark for individual papers. The grades are set like this: A = 80—100 marks; B = 75—79 marks; C = 60—70 marks; D = 55—59 marks E = 54 marks or below. Certificates are issued to candidates gaining a passing grade (A, B or C), whereas D and E are failing. Statements of Results contain a graphical display of a candidate’s performance in each component.
CAE (CEF Level A1)- The majority of candidates are aged between 15 and 17.The final mark a candidate receives is an aggregate of the marks obtained in each of the five papers (Reading, Writing, Use of English, Listening and Speaking). There’s no minimum pass mark for individual papers. The grades are set like this: A = 80—100 marks; B = 75—79 marks; C = 60—70 marks; D = 55—59 marks E = 54 marks or below. Certificates are issued to candidates gaining a passing grade (A, B or C), whereas D and E are failing. Statements of Results contain a graphical display of a candidate’s performance in each component.

CONNECT WITH SCHOOLS AROUND THE WORLD

Speak Up has made connections with many schools around the globe: the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea and many European countries. The aim is to improve our students’ global understanding through exchanging e-mails and different collaborative projects.

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Chit– chat is an activity our students enjoy very much. They just talk about whatever they want. There’s a student moderator of the activity who chooses the subjects they’re going to talk about. Usually the subjects are the things they’re interested in and there’s a lot of laughter. And, of course, it lasts more than it’s planned :).

READING HOUR

Reading Hour is an activity where older students read books to the
younger ones.

Projects

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Skype with Topeka, Kanzas

In November 2007 our students, 13 to 17 years of age had a Skype meeting with their friends from Topeka, Kanzas. Before that, we had shared a blog where our students had exchanged the information of their everyday life with their peers from Kanzas. The blogging lasted for about a month and then we agreed upon skyping. That was a real challenge for my students. I thought the conversation would last for a half an hour or so, but, to my surprise, it lasted for an hour and a half. That was the first project of that kind but hopefully there will be more of them, with other schools, of course.

Projects with Corfu

For more than a year, we've had a great cooperation with the Andrioti School of English in Corfu, Greece. We've done some great projects.

The first one was the SOUVENIR ECHANGE, where we exchanged PowerPoints presentations of our schools/countries and souvenirs. That was the best way to get to know each other.

Then we did the CHRISTMAS CARD EXCHANGE project, where our students exchanged their handmade Christmas cards.

And the last one was the LOVE project which was the most interesting for my students. They were supposed to make posters about their: LOVE for Festivals, LOVE for Fairytales (different versions of Cinderella); LOVE for Colours, LOVE for Education, LOVE for Environment, LOVE for Folklore and LOVE for healthy eating.

Here you can see our students making their Christmas card as well as the posters made for the LOVE project.

Cultural Project with Canada

Our 10-11 year olds made a great contact with their peers in SenPokChin School , Okanagan First Nations decent from Oliver BC, Canada. The children made the first contact through snail mail. This way of communication makes them all very excited. They LOVE getting letters. So, they got their first letters just after Christmas (exactly on the day of Orthodox Christmas). Yesterday (21st May) they got some postcards and photos of their friends. It's a great opportunity for my students to meet some Indians and learn something about the culture of the Okanagan First nation.

The Flag Project with Brazil

Our school agreed with the English For Ever School ftom Santa Branca in Brazil to do the Flag project. We sent them an envelope with our flag and the meanings of the symbols and here is what we received in their envelope.

The Speakup Times

Join our school internet magazine and tell us something about your town, school, area, heritage, the way you spend your free time. Or just read what our students have written.http://speakup.pnn.com/3764-the-front-page

Speak UP and Friends school blog

If you want just to chat with our students, or have something to say, join our school blog.http://sites.pals.com/englishwithfun/

Around the Globe wiki

Join our wiki and share your contributions with us.http://aroundtheglobe.wikispaces.com/

Contact Us

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Visnjiceva 31, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia

tel: +381 34 367 472; +381 63 78 77 153