The aim of this valorization project was to publish and distribute an Eton-French dictionary and launch formal teaching of the Eton language in a pilot school in the town of Obala, Cameroon.
At the request of the Eton community, represented by a language development committee, an Eton-French dictionary was finalized in April 2022. It comprises a 17-page introduction, a 53-page simplified grammatical outline in French, an Eton-French dictionary with 3,400 entries and a French-Eton index. Entries include grammatical information and examples for each meaning.
This dictionary was published in Cameroon in October 2022 by Editions CLE. A PDF version was published on the Internet for free download. Labex EFL funding enabled the purchase of 150 copies, which were distributed among students and teachers at the bilingual Collège La Charité in Obala. An Android application for the dictionary has also been developed. It can be downloaded free of charge from Play Store.
The dictionary was presented to the press at a grand ceremony held on December 8, 2022 at the Yaoundé French Institute. National television and a number of private channels reported on the event.
Two part-time teachers were hired, thanks to financial support from Labex EFL, to start teaching the spelling used in the dictionary.