ON THE AIR: REACHING OUT TO A WIDER PUBLIC

The Bilingual Training Programme has as mission to promote official bilingualism. It has taken this very seriously. In spite of the various and multiple media campaigns it carries out through its Pilot and Provincial Centres, the effective teaching done, the ratio of those directly benefiting from this coverage remains about 1:1000. It was therefore necessary to do something, and fast, for those who were neither privileged by proximity or by possessing the means, an interesting idea thus saw the light of day – English and French by radio.

Considering the fact that television was a dream to the majority of Cameroonians living in the hinterlands, it became obvious that the best means of reaching them was radio. Consequently, a team was set up to design, write up and present language lessons on the air. This experience was tried out by the Yaoundé Pilot Centre in collaboration with the Centre Provincial Station of the Cameroon Radio and Television Corporation in a programme called “Le Bilinguisme en  marche

Two identical lessons were written in both languages and presented one after the other. Radio listeners, prompted by the presenter are ready to work along. A simple dialogue on, for example, how to buy things is played for an easy initial comprehension activity. The relevant new vocabulary is then explained with examples of use in sentences for them to repeat. Prompts are then given for listeners to complete, followed by corrections. A final task is given them in which they are requested to practice with other people. To sustain interest, a one minute episode of a continuing story; alternating in French and English, is read for listeners’ enjoyment and exposure to language. Some language functions covered include: greetings and introductions, personal information, locating places, buying things, ordering and paying in a restaurant, making reservations for travel, talking about numbers, time, dates; etc.

The approach varied with the focus of the lesson according to what the language was doing (function), the structure of the language (grammar) chosen or the context (situation) for use.

The instant popularity and success drove the Pilot Centre to extend the experience to the whole national territory. This, without doubt, needed all hands on deck and contributions were solicited from all Provincial Centres of the Programme. The initial independent separate English and French lessons in the programme were now modified so that the French lesson was presented in English while the English lesson was presented in French with the added advantage that people who did not know a word of one or other of the languages could follow them conveniently. The lessons were built on dialogues from real life situations with exercises adapted for listeners to work along as the programme went on. Coupled with the very interesting and charismatic presenters, the programme “Le Bilinguisme aujourd’hui / Bilingualism on the move”, another co-production rode the waves of the National network of the Cameroon Radio and Television Corporation into every home in the country. It is certain that even neighbouring countries have been benefiting from this excellent initiative.

Its success helped build our reputation which contributed in, no small measure, to our being invited to participate in a BBC radio discussion programme ‘The Interview/L’intervue’ l’interview (its maiden edition) centering on bilingualism in Cameroon broadcast over FM 98.4 and BBC World Service respectively. There is no doubt that in our incessant quest to fulfill our mission we shall spare no effort to reach everyone in all the nooks and crannies of our dear fatherland and contribute in our own little way to transform dreams to reality.