After quitting two private schools where she taught Serbian, English, and German part-time, Sonja Panić, a professor of Serbian literature and language, decided at the age of 26 to venture into entrepreneurship and try to create the job she had been dreaming of.
Apart from her knowledge, creativity, and free time, she had one computer, an old printer, and some tape.
Her budget in 2019 was zero dinars, she had no special plan or “connections,” so with her brother and then-boyfriend, now husband, she decided to put up as many as 1,000 ads in the neighborhood where she lived.
The first interested people started calling after two days, and two weeks later she had 10 students who very quickly started recommending her to others.
When she couldn’t do everything herself, with her mother’s support in Kruševac, she registered an online foreign language school called Modern Talking.
“I was aware that I had to stand out somehow. It somehow naturally came to me that my classes were personalized. I sincerely tried to get to know each student, to know how they learn, what subjects they like, what games they play, what hobbies they have, how they spend their day. I realized that everyone learns best through areas that they love and that interest them,” Sonja told Priče sa dušom.
“Very quickly, we started creating and using additional materials that were in line with the learners’ personal interests: apps, YouTube videos, podcasts, audiobooks, flashcards, quizzes… The textbooks were the base, and we combined them and added a bit of our own,” said Jelena Rakić, an English teacher, Jovana Savić, and Aleksandra Miladinović, Serbian teachers, who joined Sonja for the Priče sa dušom filming.
In addition to them, the Modern Talking team also includes Russian, French, and German language teachers.
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The Serbian language in this school is mostly learned by students who come to Serbia for work: foreign diplomats, representatives of foreign companies and organizations, but also the Serbian diaspora.
“Our people from abroad contact us who, due to work and obligations, don’t have time to speak Serbian with their children, but they don’t want them to forget the language and customs. Grandmothers and grandfathers are most happy that their grandchildren who don’t live in Serbia learn Serbian well.”
“The second and third generations of our people who grew up abroad also call us, and today they want to learn the language of their ancestors and get to know their roots.”
“Even teenagers find the classes interesting because they don’t have many opportunities to learn a language that is used daily, so they often say about themselves that they speak old Serbian, meaning that they don’t know the jargon and can’t easily understand their peers when they come to Serbia,” said Sonja.
An accelerated online Serbian language course is also available for those who are very busy but would like to acquire some basic knowledge of the language and culture in a short time.
“We created our own learning program and our own materials, combined grammar, culture, history, everyday dialogues, and devised a Crash course that 30 students attended this year. Everyone was delighted and continued learning. These are mostly students who have not previously found group courses that they can fit into their busy schedule or who are preparing for their first visit to Serbia and want to have a basic knowledge of the language for their friends or relatives.”
Their youngest student is 3 years old, and the oldest student is 71 (in the picture below).
Students come from 5 continents, most of them from America, Russia, and Switzerland, and there are also students from South Africa and Australia.
The entire team works online and everyone is in different cities, even in different countries.
The Modern Talking school is also known for its online workshops dedicated to Serbian culture. There is also a traditional workshop on Women’s Day dedicated to women who changed the world in Serbia, as well as workshops dedicated to writers and painters (Sonja highlights the one about Momo Kapor), and the most popular is the workshop dedicated to the history of Serbian cafes, which were once a gathering place for the most educated people, a place to start new ideas.
Although Serbian as a foreign language is definitely their focus, Sonja emphasizes that in Modern Talking they are not and will never stop teaching Serbian as a mother tongue.
“Last year we offered for the first time a complete program of preparation for the small matura, and a special program for those who start preparing late. Although none of us are fans of running, we called the program Small Matura – Sprint program, because sometimes you have to run and sprint.”
“The program was completed by 20 students, all of them enrolled in the desired schools, and we were happiest when we saw the happiness of their parents who were under enormous stress when we first started preparing, knowing that there was not much time for preparation.”
From January 2025, a classic program for preparing for the small matura will also be available, as well as for entrance exams at universities (for philological and law faculties), for those who do not want to rush and who like to prepare without stress.
“We must also mention our most successful program, the program that we started in the first year of opening the school, a program for mothers and pregnant women, specially designed for the busiest among us, for women who want to improve themselves despite all the obligations they have. They have been learning English, German, Russian, and French with us for years, and that is really a special energy. Sometimes they have a class during a twenty-minute lunch break at work, sometimes in the car or at the airport. Their perseverance to ensure a better future for themselves and their families is incredible.”
During 2024, the teachers of the Modern Talking school also had more opportunities to see the students in person, so they met some students for the first time after several years of online work. These are, as they say for Priče sa dušom, moments to remember and that are especially precious.
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Source: Priče sa dušom, Photo: Nenad Blagojević i tim škole Modern Talking