Our Mythical Childhood...

Report by Dr. Eleanor A. Dasi, Department of English, ENS Yaoundé, email: wandasi5@yahoo.com 

In a special class organised by Prof. Divine Che Neba at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS), University of Yaoundé 1, a new batch of student teachers had the opportunity to be introduced to Our Mythical Childhood... Project yesterday Nov. 20, 2017. These are students who came into the school in October, having been declared successful in a national competitive entrance examination, for a two-year teacher training course. Upon graduation, they will become language/literature teachers in secondary/high schools in Cameroon.

As a State training institution, ENS often brings together a diversity of students from all cultural backgrounds in the country, since the policy of regional balance (Cameroon being a diverse country of more than 280 languages and ethnicity) is one of the most important criteria for admitting students into public service schools in the country. This was therefore an appropriate group to introduce the project to.

The discussion of the Project took 60 minutes of the two-hour class, in which Prof. Daniel A. Nkmleke and Prof. Divine Che Neba talked about the Project globally, and specifically the contribution that students can make, namely collection of myths from their villages and communities and writing entries. The myth-entries templates were read and distributed, as well as participant consent forms.

This was a mixed class of students: from Anglophone and Francophone backgrounds, and from the many regions of Cameroon. We expect to have a rich collection of myths in the months ahead from these new students.