1. My YouTube channel www.youtube.com/learnserbian has 100 videos more (there were only about 20 up to 2011, and now there are 125, with 99 being visible).
2. The initial concept of an online session which was to consist of a language exercise, recipe and a song, has been changed, according to the feedback of all the subscribers. Still, at the end of each session, we enjoy singing one of the songs which I carefully choose each week.
3. I started adding all the explanations and exercises into PDF files, and also creating fun quizzes with the instant feedback. Some of the pages based on the situational phrases can be downloaded in pdf format from www.SkolaSrpskog.com.
4. During Easter, I organized some kind of an "online language quest" and we all had fun chasing Easter eggs on the site (some of them are still hidden there :) and doing fun exercises in Serbian. Some of the participants won free SkolaSrpskog Activator subscription, some won free 1:1 lessons, and I won many new friends and great ideas for our lessons :-)
5. I started gathering anonymous feedback, and here are just a few lines:
"Everything is super"
"I appreciate the amount of work the instructor puts into the experience. The YouTube videos are helpful"
"Everything, and my teacher is lovely and flexible, she loves teaching us"
However, all that I've done and created so far is hardly worth mentioning in comparison to the effort my students have put into their work. They regularly attend the lessons and I am really proud of each one of them.
Today, on Britannia bookshop site, one of my most proficient students of Serbian, Jelena from Санкт-Петербург, Russia published the first part of our interview, which was very much inspired by our SkolaSrpskog Activator lessons.
Hvala Jelena i hvala svim đacima, Jani, Fabijanu, Matiji, Lari, Mirku, Milici, Toniju, Silvini, Ljubi i Tini na ukazanom poverenju, istrajnosti i velikom trudu :) U avgustu ćemo napraviti mali raspust, i onda opet nastavljamo sa časovima u septembru.
For all of you who'd like to learn more about SkolaSrpskog Activator, do join FB SkolaSrpskog Podcast group and you will be invited to attend our Third Friday Free Serbian lessons.
Six months measured in student activity
The revised Activator grew through feedback: sessions changed, songs remained, PDFs and instant quizzes were added, and an Easter language quest brought play into regular study.
The important verbs describe development rather than promotion: kreirati, menjati, dodavati, organizovati and učestvovati. They show how teaching responds to learners.
Progress hidden behind the numbers
A larger video collection matters only when learners use it actively. One useful routine is to watch without subtitles, write two remembered phrases, then return to verify them. The recording becomes material for retrieval, not background entertainment.
Weekly meetings add something a PDF cannot: another person reacts. A student must select a form quickly, repair misunderstandings and continue speaking. Songs then provide a lighter closing ritual while still repeating pronunciation and grammar.
The Easter quest shows why play belongs beside serious study. A hidden clue creates a genuine need to read accurately; a recorded answer gives speech a purpose; a prize marks effort. The activity is memorable because language performs a job inside the game.
Five habits behind an active online school
| Latinica | Ћирилица | English |
|---|---|---|
| Polaznici su tražili više razgovora tokom susreta. | Полазници су тражили више разговора током сусрета. | Participants asked for more conversation during the sessions. |
| Svake nedelje nova pesma pokreće drugačiju temu. | Сваке недеље нова песма покреће другачију тему. | Each week, a new song introduces a different topic. |
| Kratak kviz odmah pokazuje koje oblike treba ponoviti. | Кратак квиз одмах показује које облике треба поновити. | A short quiz immediately shows which forms need revision. |
| Uskršnja potraga je povezala jezik sa igrom. | Ускршња потрага је повезала језик са игром. | The Easter quest connected language with play. |
| Iskrena povratna informacija promenila je ritam kursa. | Искрена повратна информација променила је ритам курса. | Honest feedback changed the pace of the course. |
Turn feedback into the next learning choice
Choose one quoted comment and turn it into a concrete change you would make as a learner or teacher. State the change in Serbian with sledeće nedelje ću….
- Translate povratna informacija.
- Complete: Mi smo ______ materijale. (kreirati)
- Write učestvovati in Cyrillic.
- What gave instant feedback?
- Name one retained activity.
The activator keeps its name
- feedback
- kreirali
- учествовати
- the quizzes
- the weekly song / singing
Count progress in things learners can now say and understand, not only in the number of uploaded pages.
Marina Petrović