Transformational French-speaking world: What successful bi/plurilingual and bi/multicultural education in sub-Saharan Africa?

During a number of year, the multilingual and multicultural context of Africa has favoured the implicit use of African cultural and linguistic aspects in primary school lessons. The advent of the Common European Charter of Reference for Languages in 2001 brought countries from different continents to an awareness of the existence of less used languages and cultures.

It is with this in mind that, experimentations begun by the Operational Program for Teaching Languages in Cameroon (PROPELCA). These are continuing through sub-regional experiences such as the School and Language in Africa project (in French, ELAN-Afrique). While the Francophone Initiative for Teachers’ Distance Training  (IFADEM) articulates the conditions for teacher training according to the educational policies of the concerned countries.

The said training is in French if the country has expressed an interest in this language and bilingual if the country's response is favorable. Other programs of the International organization of the French-speaking world (OIF) and the Francphone University Agency (AUF) operate in accordance with these bi-multilingual orientations.

This is the case of “Languages in dialogues.”  Education in the French-speaking world becomes a catalyst for linguistic and cultural expansion while prioritizing cultural roots. This conference aims to explore African cultures and languages from the different bi/plurilingual training programs and in light of the application of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). In addition, it aims to provide a database of bi/plurilingual teaching approaches used in pilot schools in sub-Saharan Africa.