Teaching in Cameroon, Central Africa

by Jon Smythe

Teaching English in Cameroon, Central Africa, is a study in diversity and a case of teaching English in challenging circumstances. Often referred to as Africa in miniature because of its mix of climatic zones, language dialects, and plant and animal life, Cameroon offers a wide range of teaching and learning opportunities for EFL teachers. As a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer from 1996-1998, I taught English in a rural public secondary school in the arid north of Cameroon in a small, primarily Muslim, village.
Other EFL volunteers taught in villages that were in forest,
grassland, or tropical areas, some of which were predominantly Christian and others more traditional in their beliefs. Despite the different circumstances in which we found ourselves, many of our EFL teaching experiences were similar. In this article, I point out some generalizable challenges that the EFL instructor in Cameroon
may face, namely, the language backgrounds of the students, the lack of English teaching materials in the classroom, and the lack of qualified, local EFL instructors.

Although English is one of Cameroon’s national languages,
only two of Cameroon’s provinces are Anglophone; the other eight are Francophone. This reflects Cameroon’s British and French colonial history. Students in French-speaking Cameroon begin studying English at an early age, yet most arrive in secondary
school with little knowledge of English. This does not mean, however, that they are not skilled language learners. They learn their tribal language at home and often another language for doing business with other tribes. Some study Arabic as part of their Islamic education. In public schools, students learn French as the language of instruction and English as one of a number of required
courses. Because English is not widely used for social, business, or religious practices, a major challenge for me was to stimulate interest in studying English and to encourage students to use English. With these goals in mind, I tried to create social situations for English to be used through mini-role-plays and the use of realia. More importantly, I provided positive feedback as students made progress.

A major hurdle in accomplishing my goals was the lack of teaching
materials in the classroom. In general, my students did not have
textbooks, but they did take notes, which they guarded and studied
from year to year. Keeping this in mind, I included a writing portion in most classes so that my students would have notes for future reference. Unfortunately, chalk was in short supply. To
compensate for this shortage, I did three things. First, I learned to hoard chalk. Second, I put together a hectograph — a sort of homemade stamp pad with which to stamp individual copies of handwritten texts. And third, I wrote texts on brown butcher paper for the students to copy. (Some of these handwritten texts, I am told, are still in use today!)

Still, a larger problem with regard to teaching English in Cameroon is the lack of qualified and motivated English teachers. Most Cameroonian English teachers come from the more developed southern part of the country. As government employees, teachers have little say in where they will teach and are often forced to work in less developed areas. A few teachers see this type of posting as a punishment, and it is reflected in their attitude toward teaching. Some do not report to their new posts at all. Consequently, noncertified people are often recruited from the community to fill teacher shortages, or classes are simply dropped from the curriculum, including English classes. Despite a lack of teachers, however, there is no shortage of students. My classes were filled with an average of 80 students, many of whom had struggled
against their parents’ wishes for them to get married and leave school, grew cotton or peanuts to pay for their schooling, and fought constant sickness and poverty, all for the chance to get an education.

In sum, teaching EFL in Cameroon presents many challenges, but it also offers many benefits. The diversity and social nature found in Cameroonian societymake it a warm and welcoming as well as an interesting country in which to teach. In the right circumstances,
an EFL teacher could live relatively comfortably in one of Cameroon’s larger cities. For the more adventurous who want to sharpen their creative skills and experience tribal life, I suggest teaching and living in a smaller village. Either way, Cameroon, in my opinion, remains one of the safest countries in Africa today and one of the most open to foreign-development, including English language instruction.