Bi Drombé Djandué

Background

In Côte d’Ivoire, a French-speaking country in West Africa, English is taught as the first compulsory foreign language when students begin secondary school. In the third year, students choose either Spanish or German as their second foreign language. I was fortunate enough to begin studying Spanish in 1993, and ever since that remarkable year, I have never stopped.

I never stopped because I quickly discovered both a passion and an aptitude for the language. In 1997, I enrolled in the Bachelor’s programme in Hispanic Philology at the University of Abidjan. Without fully realising it at the time, I had embarked on a path towards teaching, as this has traditionally been the main professional destination for graduates in Spanish studies in my country who wish to work with the language.

In 2005, I passed the national competitive examination for secondary school teachers and entered the École Normale Supérieure of Abidjan. After two years of intensive theoretical and practical pedagogical training, I was appointed to a public secondary school in the coastal town of Sassandra, in southern Côte d’Ivoire. During that period, I also completed a Postgraduate Diploma (Diplôme d’Études Approfondies) in Spanish Literature and, encouraged by my elder brother, enrolled in a doctoral programme at a French university.

However, deep down I knew that this was not the path I truly wanted to follow. Spain was where I felt I belonged. In 2009, after two years of teaching and inspired by two close university colleagues, I applied for a doctoral scholarship from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). I was awarded a four-year scholarship to pursue my doctoral studies at the University of Granada.

Although my scholarship covered four years, I devoted myself entirely to completing my research as quickly as possible. In just over two years, I defended my doctoral dissertation on 27 April 2012. My thesis, entitled Teaching and Learning Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE) in Côte d’Ivoire: The Use of the Target Language in the Initial Course, was supervised by Professor José Luis Ortega Martín.

By mid-May, I had returned to Abidjan and soon afterwards to Sassandra to resume my teaching position. I continued teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language at Lycée Goffri Kouassi Raymond for two additional academic years before officially joining the Department of Iberian and Latin American Studies at Félix Houphouët-Boigny University in 2015.

I am a native speaker of Gouro, one of the approximately sixty indigenous languages spoken in Côte d’Ivoire, a country renowned for its rich ethnic and cultural diversity. I am married and the proud father of two wonderful daughters, Bélizie (12) and Widotchie (9), whose names in my mother tongue mean “path to salvation” and “wisdom,” respectively. I greatly enjoy spending time at home with my family, although I also love travelling—as long as it does not involve long-haul flights, which I have always found rather intimidating.

Since joining Félix Houphouët-Boigny University in 2015, my primary professional activity has been teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE) methodology and conducting research. Alongside my academic work, I also work as a conference translator and interpreter, with French and Spanish as my working languages. Although my spoken English is limited, I read and write it confidently.

Research is one of my greatest passions. I regularly serve as a reviewer for national and international academic journals, including Nzassa (University of Bouaké), Akounda (University of Bouaké), El Guiniguada (Spain), Recursos para el Aula de Español (Spain), and Práctica Docente (Mexico), among others. I have authored and co-authored numerous publications examining the status and development of Spanish in Côte d’Ivoire. My scientific publications can be accessed through the following platforms:

A few years ago, I joined a team dedicated to developing teaching materials for Spanish as a Foreign Language. Our textbook series, Estrellas Ñ, was launched in 2024 with the publication of its first three volumes. We are currently completing the final two textbooks that will cover all five levels of Spanish learning in Ivorian secondary education. At the same time, together with colleagues from across the continent, we are developing a new Spanish textbook designed for use in five Central and West African countries: Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, and Senegal.

Although I can sometimes be reserved when meeting new people, I consider myself a cheerful, approachable, and collaborative person with a strong sense of humour. I value teamwork, respect diversity, and strive to honour every commitment I undertake. I am an accredited DELE (Diplomas of Spanish as a Foreign Language) examiner and a long-standing collaborator of the Aula Cervantes in Côte d’Ivoire. I also serve as an advisor to the President of the Association of Secondary School Teachers of Spanish in Côte d’Ivoire (APESCI).

Throughout my career, I have sought to contribute not only to the teaching of Spanish, but also to strengthening the place of Hispanic studies in West Africa through research, teacher education, international collaboration, and the development of high-quality educational resources. I firmly believe that language education is a powerful bridge between cultures and an essential tool for fostering mutual understanding and global citizenship.