US Embassy To Promote English In Cameroon

By Joe Dinga Pefok

The US Embassy in Cameroon has stepped up efforts to promote the English language in the country.

This is in line with one of the goals of the US State Department to promote English language throughout the world.One of the major activities that the US Embassy is embarking on to attain that objective is to organise a teacher development program.

This has to do with organising or supporting the organisation of seminars and workshops among others, for the enhancement of the knowledge of English language teachers in different parts of the country.

It was within this framework that the US Embassy and the Littoral branch of the English Language and Literature Association, CAMELTA, jointly organised an English language workshop in Douala on August 31. Participants at the workshop which held at the American Language Centre were English and Literature teachers from colleges across the Littoral Province. 

The chief resource person at the workshop was one of the US Department of State English Language specialists in the person of Kathleen Saville, who holds a Masters degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from St. Michael's College, Vermont, USA.

Meanwhile, the August 31 workshop which focused on English language teaching methodology and practices, featured topics like pre-writing techniques for academic writing, technique for large classes and reading poetry for cultural understanding.

CAMELTA Asks For More

In a chat with The Post at the end of the workshop, the President of the Littoral Branch of CAMELTA, Mrs. Beatrice Bessem Bate of Lycée Jos, Bonanjo, while stating that the workshop enriched the teachers, prayed the US Embassy to assist the association members with more of such seminars. "We greatly need things like these, to enhance our skills.

Also, if one considers that some of our colleagues never had any professional training as teachers, then one can better appreciate the importance of such workshops," said Bessem.
She was positive that all the topics were relevant to the needs of the teachers, citing the technique of teaching large classes.

Mrs. Bate noted that even though the government text talks of at most 60 students or pupils per class, it is quite common to find classes across the country, especially in big towns, with over 100 students or pupils.

She asserted that it is far more difficult for a teacher to handle a large class, than a small class as regards the number of students or pupils, thus a teacher needs some extra skills to effectively teach a large class.