Founder
Mirjana Ljiljak-Vukajlović
Director of Studies at LINGVA Language school
Educational Background and Work Experience
Mirjana was born on 29th June 1954 in Belgrade. In 1976, she graduated from the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, with a degree in English language and literature and an average mark during studies of 8.5. From September 1976 to July 1977 she worked as a teacher in the secondary economic school in Valjevo, then found employment as a translator in the company Krušik Investment Castings, and in 1981 she was transferred to Krušik Defence Production, where she worked as a scientific and professional translator - proof-reader until October 1993. In that period, and due to job requirements, she was in a position to master her English in the USA, Great Britain, as well as other countries of Europe, Africa and Asia. At the end of the 1980s, in the period of cooperation with the towns twinned with Valjevo - Sittard, Holland and Rehovot, Israel, she was engaged as the official head translator of the Municipal Assembly of Valjevo. In the meantime, on 24th April 1990, she established LINGVA Agency for Foreign Languages, Translation and Information Technology Services, located in Valjevo. The agency includes a school for English, German and Italian, and employs eleven people, ten of which are foreign language teachers, on a full or part-time basis. On October 2, 1990, she was appointed as sworn court interpreter with permanent commission for the territory of the District Court of Valjevo, by the Decision of the Republic Secretariat for Justice and Administration.
Professional Associations
She became a member of the Association of Scientific and Professional Translators of Serbia in 1980, in May 1998 a member of iATEFL English Language Teacher's Association Belgrade (ELTAB), Teacher Training and Development, ESP and Computer SiG's. In 2000, she incorporated her school in the Yugoslav Association of Private Language Schools (YALS), the organization which became an associate member of the European Association of Quality Language Services (EAQUALS) in December 2001. In 2001 she became a member of the Yugoslav Association of English Language Teachers (YELTA). In 2002 she joined ELTA, the new association of English language teachers, formed by merging ELTAB and YELTA. Since 2005 she has been ELTA Regional Coordinator for Kolubara District. From 2006 to 2008 she was Chair of YALS Executive Board.
Organization of Professional Gatherings:
- 12.10.2002 – Trainer in the seminar ''Integrated Use of internet in ELT'' held for teachers from YALS schools, at Lingva Language School, Valjevo
- 23.11.2002 – Trainer in the second round of the above seminar for teachers from YALS schools, at LINGVA Language School, Valjevo
- 25-28.06.2003 – Trainer in the seminar ''English in the New Curriculum'' in Prijepolje
- 02-05.07.2003 - Trainer in the seminar ''English in the New Curriculum'' in Valjevo
- 08.11.2003 – Trainer in the seminar ''Integrated Use of internet in ELT'', for members of ELTA, British Council Belgrade
- 27.02.2004 – Introductory presenter of ''Integrated Use of Internet in ELT'' at the first regional video conference ''English Across Associations'' designed by the British Council Belgrade and ELTA.
-07-08.05.2004 – One of the trainers in the seminar ''Computers in EFL Classroom'' coordinated by Vesna Alaburić. Mirjana presented '' Authoring tools in EFL classroom - Hot Potatoes''.
-27-30.05.2004 – One of presenters at the regional ''ICT Compass'' teacher training workshop in Tyszafüred, Hungary. The project was coordinated by Imre Szabo. Mirjana presented the project ''Students as M(ultimedia) ELT designers'' to teachers from Hungary, Romania and Serbia.
-5-11.06.2004 – One of presenters at the regional Film Meeting of Hungarian, Bulgarian and Serbian students and teachers in Gyor, Hungary. The project coordinator was Tünde Fustos. The Serbian team presented student film project ''Green Impulses from Valjevo – Attachment to Nature in Lifestyles and Traditions of Valjevo''.
- 27-30.06.2005 – Author and coordinator of the regional seminar ''ICT Across Curriculum'', British Council, Belgrade, covering the area of film and sound editing, PP presentations, Hot Potatoes, Authoring programs, web-site making, and weblog publishing. The seminar is the result of fruitful cooperation between domestic teacher trainers Mirjana Ljiljak-Vukajlović, Olja Milošević and Vesna Alaburić with their Hungarian counterparts Tunde Fustos and Imre Szabo.
- January 2006 – Teacher trainer at the seminar “Winter School for English Language Teachers: Teaching English to Young Learners“, with colleague Nada Čićić, Majšanski Put Primary School in Subotica and Dušan Jerković PS in Užice. Two seminars lasting four days each, for 41 participants, organised by the Serbian Ministry of Education, American Embassy and British Council.
- 15.04.2006 – Organiser of Regional Elta Seminar in Kolubara District „Motivation Makes the Class Go Round“, Lingva-Valjevo, for 20 participants from state and private schools. Two sixty minute sessions “Integrated Internet in ELT“ were presented by the organiser, and there were also four 30 minute sessions by Lingva teachers: Comics in the Classroom by I.Brkljač, Using Songs in the Classroom by A. Novosel, Poetry on the Spot by D.Bojanić and Competitive Activities in ELT Classroom by B.Nikić.
- 17.-18.11.2006, - Representative of YALS Association at EQUALS AGM and International Conference, San Sebastian, Spain. The event was held under the title ‘’Best Practice in Language Teaching and Language Teacher Education’’ and included a wide variety of training workshops and presentations on current EAQUALS projects: ‘’European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL)’’ by David Newby from the European Centre for Modern Languages, The Cambridge ESOL Teacher Portfolio by Claire Harrison, Cambridge ESOL and A Profiling Grid for Language Teaching Professionals (Portfolio for Language Teachers) by Brian North and Galya Mateva.
- 02.12.2006 – Organiser of 2nd Inhouse YALS Seminar: Do You Mind Being Resourceful?, Lingva-Valjevo. It comprised three parts: Compulsive Interactive Stories presented by the organiser, Keep Up With the Times by D.Bojanic and Less is More by A. Novosel.
2-3 March 2007 – One of organisers of Regional YALS Seminar “Latest Developments and Practical Application of CEFR in Curriculum / Syllabus Design, and Use of Language Portfolio“, Guarnerius Art Centre, Belgrade. The seminar included two parts: Latest Developments and Practical Application of CEFR in Curriculum / Syllabus Design, presented by Maria Matheidezs, EAQUALS Operations Manager, and Use of the Language Portfolio presented by David Hill, Language Consultant. The event was attended by 62 teachers from Bulgaria and Serbia, from state and private schools.
- 24 March 2007 – Presenter of Integrated Skills Development through Interactive Stories Seminar, British Council, Belgrade. Three 90 minute sessions covered the following: Internet/CD-ROM stories for young learners, Students’ Authoring Tool: Storybook Weaver, Stories for teenagers based on CLIL, Fractured fairy tales, Open-end story writing using Quandary Authoring Tool, Story/Book/Film reviews, Electronic newspaper stories, Interactive video news stories, Students as creators of video news stories.
- 09.06.2007 – Presenter of „Integrated Use of Interenet in ELT“ seminar, Lingva-Valjevo. The programme is accredited by the Institute for Advancement of Education of the Republic of Serbia for 2006-2008.
- 24.11.2007 – Consultant to the organisers of YALS seminar “The latest achievements and the practical application of CEFR in creating the curriculum and the syllabus in foreign language schools”, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Niš.
- 04.01.2008 – Organiser of Inhouse Lingva Workshop 2008/1, Lingva, Valjevo, with the following sessions: ˝Humans and Other Animals˝ by M.Ljiljak-Vukajlović, ˝And You Are˝ by D.Bojanic, ˝Sob Story˝ by M. Bugarski, ˝Seven Dwarfs˝ by L.Petronic-Petrović, ˝How Well Do You Know Your Classmates˝ by S.Vasiljević.
-24.06.2008: - Organiser of Lingva Inhouse Workshop 2008/2 including the following: ˝How Can I Help˝ by M.Ljiljak-Vukajlović, ˝Smooth˝ by M.Đorđević, ˝Crime˝ by M.Bugarski, ˝Seven Dwarfs˝ by L.Petronić-Petrović and ˝Ambiguous Headlines˝ by D.Bojanić.