The HiT-1 Croatian internet course is the first university on-line course teaching Croatian as a second and foreign language in the Republic of Croatia, launched at the initiative of the CHF. This year’s course was successfully completed December 6th with a final exam for the fourteen participants of the autumn semester.
The HiT-1 Croatian language on-line course, providing instruction in Croatian as a second and foreign language, was successfully completed on Friday, December 6th with a final exam for the fourteen participants of the autumn semester.
The HiT-1 Croatian internet course is the first university on-line course teaching Croatian as a second and foreign language in the Republic of Croatia, launched at the initiative of the CHF. The course is the fruit of the cooperation of the CHF, the University of Zagreb and its SRCE University Computing Centre, with the support of the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sport. The course was in the development phase from 2009 to 2010 and had its first trial run in March of 2011. Eleven semesters have been staged up to the end of 2015, with classes attended by eight-seven participants from thirty countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, South Africa, Canada, Columbia, New Zealand, Germany, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Russia, the USA, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Uruguay, Great Britain, Venezuela and Croatia. In the just completed autumn course four of the participants were involved via scholarships awarded by the State Office for Croats Abroad.
The HiT-1 course is a form of distance learning staged twice a year (spring and summer semester). It is conducted via the e-learning system, and includes a mandatory 24 hours of classes with an instructor via the Internet (Skype and Webinar). It consists of seven instructional units that participants have a total of twelve weeks to master, in which they are assisted by experienced instructors and experts for Croatian as a foreign language Lidija Cvikić DSc, Marija Bošnjak BA, Maša Musulin BA and Zrinka Kolaković BA – also the authors of this unique programme. Instruction is interactive and the approach to learning the language individualised.
The HiT-1 Croatian internet course is an important project that allows people who are unable to travel to Croatia for instruction, or who have limited opportunities to learn Croatian in their country of residence, to learn Croatian. There is a great need for learning Croatian as a foreign language among hereditary speakers, especially among those encountering the Croatian language for the first time and those who have never received any formal instruction (as determined in a survey on the need for Croatian language instruction conducted by the CHF during the HiT project preparatory phase on a sample population of 700). We are happy to see that the State Office for Croats Abroad has conducted a tender for and awarded five scholarships for the twelfth semester, to be staged from the 7th of March to the 29th of May 2016. It would also be important that the State Office for Croats Abroad continues to support this project with its scholarships and provide an opportunity for the learning of the Croatian language to as many people as possible around the world.
More detailed information about the HiT-1 Croatian Internet course is available at: www.matis.hr
Videos about the course can be found at the following web sites:
• Croatian language e-learning – CROnline
• Croatian language e-learning – Croatian public TV broadcaster news
Text by: Lada Kanajet Šimić