The importance of the Croatian Overseas Schools of America and Canada (HIŠAK-CSAC) is immeasurable. In its 50 years of existence, it has coordinated and networked Croatian schools abroad, facilitated teacher training, the production of textbooks and other teaching materials, and the strengthening of ties between expatriates and their homeland of Croatia.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Croatian Overseas Schools of America and Canada (HIŠAK-CSAC), an international scientific and professional conference titled “Croatian Language and Culture Schools Overseas” was held on 19 and 20 September at the premises of the Croatian Heritage Foundation. It was organised by the Institute for Migration Studies and the Croatian Heritage Foundation, under the auspices of the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth of the Republic of Croatia, the Central State Office for Croats Abroad and the Directorate for the Ministry of Education of Croats Abroad, along with the institutional support of the Centre for Croatian Studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.
The importance of HIŠAK is immeasurable. In its 50 years of existence, it has coordinated and networked Croatian schools abroad, facilitated teacher training, the production of textbooks and other teaching materials, and the strengthening of ties between expatriate and homeland of Croatia.
The day before the conference, the exhibition “Textbooks and Manuals of Croatian Education Abroad in the 20th Century” by Prof. Vinko Grubišić, PhD, and Vladimir Bubrin, PhD was opened at the National and University Library (NSK). The exhibition, which also included the presentation of the book “Croatian Schools in Exile” by th author Renata Burai, was organised by the NSK, the Migration Institute and the Croatian Heritage Foundation.
– Exhibition “Textbooks and Manuals of Croatian Education Abroad in the 20th Century” at the National and University Library and presentation of the book “Croatian Schools Abroad”
The material on display includes works from the Croatian National and University Library’s Foreign Collection, which holds publications by Croatian authors printed outside their homeland, works by foreign authors on Croats, the expatriate press and publications by Croatian minorities abroad. Part of the exhibited material, which is privately owned by Prof. Vinko Grubišić, PhD and Vladimir Bubrin, PhD, will be donated to the collection after the exhibition closes on 27 September 2024.
LANGUAGE AS A KEY DETERMINANT OF NATIONAL IDENTITY
The moderator of the two-day conference was Petar Bilobrk, PhD, and the opening session was welcomed by prominent representatives of organisations and institutions working to support schools abroad: Marina Perić Kaselj, PhD, Director of the Institute for Migration Research and Chairperson of the Conference Organising Committee; Mijo Marić, Director of the Croatian Heritage Foundation; Milan Bošnjak, Envoy of Zvonko Milas, State Secretary of the Central State Office for Croats Abroad; Assoc. Prof. Iva Ivanković, PhD, Representative of the Minister of Science, Education and Youth of the Republic of Croatia, Radovan Fuks; and Ivana Perkusić, Representative of the Minister of Demography and Immigration, Ivan Šipić.
In his welcoming speech, director Mijo Marić stressed the importance of the Croatian language as a key part of national identity and emphasised how deeply it influences the personality of each individual.
“Due to the awareness of this, responsible and hard-working people, together with an institution, in this case the Church, and at a time when this was the exception, came up with the idea 50 years ago to work out a programme on the basis of which the Croatian language would be studied. Today we are discussing how to find the best elements from 50 years of experience in the implementation and application of Croatian language learning, to improve them in the meantime and to adapt them to the conditions in which Croatian emigrants live today.”
– Mijo Marić, Director of the Croatian Heritage Foundation.
The panel brought together a wide range of experts and academics who, in addition to the topic of HIŠAK, analysed the history, current situation and future perspectives of Croatian language learning and teaching in overseas countries. Seven panels discussed the establishment of Croatian schools in the USA, Canada and Australia, and the role of the Catholic Church, through missions and parishes, in preserving the Croatian language, religion and cultural identity in these communities.
One of the key objectives of the conference was to explore the possibilities for stronger links between schools overseas and institutions in Croatia. In particular, the need for a common curriculum and teaching methods that would enable uniform Croatian language teaching in different parts of the world was highlighted.
Participants also discussed contemporary challenges in language learning, especially in the context of digital technologies, with a particular focus on e-learning and virtual reality as potential tools for improving teaching. The panels also included examples of good practice from different parts of the world, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Switzerland, Germany and Hungary.
This event served as a platform for the exchange of experiences and the creation of new initiatives that could contribute to the preservation of the Croatian language and culture among the expatriates, with a special focus on the new generations who are facing the challenges of preserving their identity in a globalised world.
All contributions to the International Scientific Meeting will be published in the Proceedings.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND MEANING OF HIŠAK
Founded in New York in 1974, HIŠAK was created in response to the needs of Croatian emigrants who, having lost contact with their homeland, wanted to preserve their language, culture and identity. The Catholic Church, particularly in North America, played a key role in creating an infrastructure through which the emigrants could organise school activities, cultural events and nurture Croatian traditions. The founders are professors of Croatian language and culture, Vinko Grubišić, PhD, Fr. Ljubo Krasić, Ante Beljo and Gojko Šušak. HIŠAK became an umbrella organisation that coordinated the work of Croatian language and culture schools and supported teachers with professional seminars, the production of teaching materials, textbooks and manuals.
The conference emphasised that HIŠAK has played a key role in the preservation of the Croatian language among emigrants over the last 50 years, not only in America and Canada, but also in Australia and some European countries. The role of this organisation has been invaluable in maintaining contact between Croatian communities abroad and in the homeland.
KEY TOPICS AND PANELS
The first panel focused on the history of the establishment of Croatian schools in America and Canada: Milan Bošnjak, Ante Beljo and Vladimir Bubrin
Through seven panels, the conference provided a detailed insight into the history, current situation and future of Croatian schools overseas. The first panel was dedicated to the history of the establishment of Croatian schools in America and Canada, with special emphasis on the role of the Catholic Church in preserving language and identity among the expatriates, as discussed by Ante Beljo. “Our generation that came to Canada after the Second World War, especially in the 1960s, was looking for ways to learn the Croatian language. As the children grew up, we made sure that they learned Croatian, which was first in church settings, and later we fought to have them learn it in Canadian public schools. First in elementary schools, then in secondary Canadian public schools, where the Croatian language was recognised and we had paid teachers. When the children were already at university level, the Department of Croatian Language and Culture was established at the University of Waterloo, where they could receive diplomas from the Canadian school system. And so the diplomas were recognised in the US and Australia.” Beljo, referring to the current situation, pointed to the disastrous phenomenon of the introduction of the “BHS” language in some countries.
Vladimir Bubrin, PhD, spoke about Croatian education until the founding of HIŠAK (from the 1930s to the Second World War) and the reorganisation after the Second World War within the newly established Croatian Catholic missions, using the example of the Croatian school “Kardinal Stepinac” in Toronto.
Reverend Tomislav Markić, Director of the Pastoral Care for Croatian Migrants, spoke about Croatian Catholic parishes and missions as key points for gathering the community and preserving Croatian cultural values. Although the number of emigrants and their descendants is increasing, the number of Croatian Catholic missions is decreasing. Today there are 181 Croatian Catholic missions in the world, 130 in Europe, 17 in Canada, 15 in the USA, 15 in Australia (Oceania), 2 in South America and one in South Africa. Markić highlighted the importance of the Croatian Franciscan Custody of the Holy Family in Chicago as the most important institution in the pastoral care of North American Croats, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in two years.
In his presentation on the example of Voice of America in the 1950s, Ivan Tepeš, PhD, spoke about the struggle for the Croatian language as an important identity factor of the Croatian political emigration, and Dragan Nimac, PhD, analysed education and schooling in the Croatian emigrant newspaper “Danica”.
The second panel, chaired by Vladimir Bubrin, PhD, focused on pedagogical work and teaching methodology. Prof. Vinko Grubišić, PhD, presented the drama texts used in HIŠAK schools. Philologist, writer and translator Vinko Grubišić contributed to the development of an innovative methodology, i.e. an approach to teaching Croatian as a heritage language outside the homeland, which outlined the basic principles of language teaching abroad in HIŠAK curricula, manuals and textbooks. Together with Vladimir Bubrin, he edits the most widely read expatriate journal in English, the “Journal of Croatian Studies” of the Croatian Academy of America. They have also published together the bilingual Renaissance reader “The Glory and Fame / Dike ter hvaljen’ja”. An overview of the development of Croatian Studies and Croatian Studies in Australia from the recognition of Croatian to the 40th anniversary of Croatian Studies was given by Prof. Luka Budak, of whom he has been the director and professor for many years. Budak pointed out that one of the main roles in the recognition of the Croatian language was played by the Central Committee of Croatian Nationality Schools (SOHIŠ), which unites all Croatian schools in the area of not only Sydney, but also the state of New South Wales. in Australia in 1979. Even then, they recognised the uniqueness and identity of the Croatian language and introduced it into state secondary schools and later into the faculty, where it was taught for many years by Budak.
Jasna Novak Milić, current Chair of Croatian Studies in the Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, spoke in her presentation about the transition from traditional teaching methods (such as sending envelopes and audio cassettes) to modern methods of flexible blended learning. Novak Milić also touched on the current situation with the announcement by the university management to discontinue the Croatian language programme at Macquarie University (in addition to three other language programmes). Negotiations are ongoing and for the time being Croatian will continue for the next two years, but there will be no new students.
An interesting presentation on linguistic and ethnic identity, using the example of the Croatian diaspora communities in Chile and Argentina (where HIŠAK did not yet exist), was given by Marina Perić Kaselj, focusing on the returnees and immigrants from these countries, as they are (already) the seventh generation of descendants of our emigrants.
STRATEGIC INITIATIVES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES
In the third panel, which dealt with the situation and perspective of Croatian language and culture schools in the world, Milan Bošnjak and Staša Skenžić looked at new strategic documents, measures and acts adopted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia, as well as at potential publications that could help in the development of a unique curriculum for Croatian language learning abroad. Renata Burai and Ivan Burić presented the results of a survey on the expectations of the new diaspora regarding Croatian language education.
Lada Kanajet Šimić, Head of the Croatian Heritage Foundation’s Science and Education Department, spoke about the role of the Croatian Heritage Foundation in preserving the language and culture and the many programmes and projects it runs for the purpose of teaching Croatian as a second language. From organised “live” schools to online courses. A special part of the presentation was devoted to the cooperation of this department with HIŠAK in the joint project “Croatian Days for Children, Youth, Teachers and Parents”, which took place in the USA in 2004-2008.
Lidija Cvikić cleverly rounded off the story by stressing the importance of literacy as a cornerstone of the future curriculum of Croatian as a heritage language, stating that the psycholinguistic characteristic of whether someone is a native or heritage speaker should be the starting criterion for future changes to the curriculum. She stressed the need to involve experts from expatriate communities and experts from the homeland, people who work with students on a daily basis, in curriculum development.
“The Croatian National Institute in Chicago is the most important Croatian cultural institution in America, containing almost everything that was published in emigration. ” – Prof. Vinko Grubišić. PhD.
Fr Antonio Musa, head of the Croatian National Institute in Chicago, within which HIŠAK operates, and head of the Croatian Franciscan Custody of the Holy Family, announced that preparations are already underway for two new major celebrations. Next year, the Croatian National Institute will celebrate 50 years since its foundation, and the Custody from which the Institute originated will celebrate its 100th anniversary of independence in two years’ time.
“In the Croatian National Institute we are trying to collect, preserve, systematically and scientifically process, scientifically process and exhibit material about Croats on the North American continent. We have some material from emigration from Australia and Western Europe, but the focus has remained on the USA and Canada,” said Fr Musa, stressing that from the very beginning it was important for the Institute not to separate what is Catholic and what is Croatian in our communities, to preserve and nurture these values at the same time. The majority of the HIŠAK archive is housed in the Croatian National Institute, as well as the digitised archive of the Curatorship.
“All the manuals/textbooks that Prof. Grubišić and his late brother Ljubo published have many editions and that is what we have today in our Institute and in that sense the Institute remains the place from where this learning continues, where new generations find the content and everything they need to continue their work in Croatian schools all over the world and in Canada. In this sense, it is important to note that today we are facing new generations, especially the second generation born in America, which requires a methodologically different approach, a more systematic turn towards these generations.
“It is gratifying that the Croatian state is interested in its emigrants, it is interested in these new generations. My wish and the wish of all of us who work in the Institute, around the Institute and in our Custody is that it would be even more intensive, even more systematic, that it would be more open to whatever comes next.”- Fr Antonio Musa, Head of the Croatian Nationality Institute and the Croatian Franciscan Custody of the Holy Family in Chicago
Vesna Kukavica, Head of the Publishing Department of the Croatian Heritage Foundation and Editor of the Croatian Emigrant Almanac, as an excellent expert on expatriate journalism, spoke about her collaboration with prominent individuals in the Matica Yearbook, from Branko Franolić, brother of Ljub Krasić. And Prof. Vinko Grubišić to Luka Budak. Meritorious donors of expatriate publications in the Croatian National and University Library’s Inland Collection were mentioned and presented by the librarian Tomislava Živić, PhD.
MODERN TECHNOLOGY AND NEW TEACHING METHODS
An interesting part of the conference was dedicated to modern technologies in Croatian language teaching. In a panel on the use of technology, Natasha Kathleen Ružić presented the benefits of virtual reality and online multiplayer metaverse as tools for language learning and cultural interaction. Kristina Posavec spoke about the use of generative artificial intelligence in teaching Croatian as a second language, and Marija Bošnjak presented the benefits and challenges of e-learning, using the example of the HiT-1 course implemented by the University of Zagreb, the Croatian Heritage Foundation and the University Computing Centre “Srce”.
LESSONS FROM PRACTICE AND GUIDELINES FOR THE FUTURE
The conference ended with an exchange of experiences of Croatian language teachers and lecturers from different parts of the world, with a special focus on the challenges and opportunities of language learning in heterogeneous groups. Examples of good practice from Australia (Katica Perinac), Canada (Ana Bačić), Argentina (Martina Prpić and Anamarija Sučec), Chile (Kristina Barišić), Switzerland (Mija Rajić), Germany (Marija Borović) and Hungary (Ana- Marija Posavec) where Croatian language schools and lecturers have successfully combined cultural heritage with modern teaching methods.
The International Scientific and Professional Consultation “Croatian Language and Cultural Schools in Overseas Countries” highlighted the need for further coordination between the home institutions and schools and lecturers abroad, with an emphasis on the creation of a unified curriculum, continuous teacher training and adaptation to modern technological tools.
Text and photo by Snježana Radoš
