Understand Your French Oral Exam Evaluation Grid
Congratulations! You have made the commitment to register for your French oral exam. Perhaps you need to demonstrate proficiency in French in order to study in France, be qualified for a role with the United Nations or World Bank, support your immigration application, be a server in a French restaurant, or just to focus on learning a new skill for the fun of it. The source of motivation may originate from a multitude of sources, but they all link to the same expectation — you want to succeed!
This blog post is targeted at anyone that has made the commitment to be assessed in French, yet does not have the luxury of participating in a paid training program or even the luxury of time. We propose that by following our 5 stage incremental progression method during 90 days that you will greatly improve your French speaking skills.
Sceptics will ask the first question — can I really learn French in only 90 days? Our answer is yes, however, you need to make an honest self-assessment since experience has already proven that most people require more time. Also, we are offering the 5 stage incremental progression method for free, so there is nothing to buy, which is always the excuse for getting started. We make our approach free and accessible to everyone and you are welcomed into our French learning community.
If we use the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages as a benchmark, then we can see that going from no experience to a B2 level would take :
600 hours / 35 hrs per week = 17.4 weeks.
This is clearly more than our target of 12 weeks, but you must be honest and consider your current level of knowledge. Are you truly a beginner? What is your actual French foundation? How intense will you be in studying and practicing during the 90 day period? Do you learn best in a classroom setting or can you learn independently?
| CEFR Level | Number of Hours (approximate) |
|---|---|
| C2 | 1,000—1,200 |
| C1 | 700—800 |
| B2 | 500—600 |
| B1 | 350—400 |
| A2 | 180—200 |
| A1 | 90-100 |
There are a number of factors to consider and each of us are different, so be honest with self-assessing your current skill level, and be realistic in selecting your target. Do not target a C2 level when even people that have a B2 level find it difficult to achieve on their first try.
A key starting point in determining your French self-assessment is to confirm that you understand how your exam will conduct its assessment and scoring. For instance, if you are planning on taking a DALF exam (DALF C1 and DALF C2) then be sure that you review and understand the requirements for a DALF C1 level and a DALF C2 level. If you plan on taking the DELF exam (DELF A1 – DELF A2 – DELF B1 – DELF B2) then it is imperative that you understand the difference between a DELF A1, DELF A2, DELF B1 and a DELF B2.
Only once you have an understanding of how you will be assessed and your required or target level, can you move on to our next step which is aimed at helping you develop a personalized learning plan to meet your French oral exam learning needs.
Tips for developing your Personal Learning Plan
You may have heard the saying – fail to plan, plan to fail. In our post Free DALF C1 Personal Learning Plan we introduce the notion of incremental progression. The first step to prepare for your French oral exam is to read the requirements or expectations from the evaluating organization. Contact your test centre or discuss the requirements for your target level with the organization that is performing the evaluation. Once you understand the evaluation requirements, and you have defined your desired level of proficiency, then be prepared to do an honest self-assessment of your current French communication skills.
When you use our incremental progression framework with its five stages then you will go through the exercise of listing your goals and making a plan to meet your goals. Each goal should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.
- Stage 1 – MA FONDATION, builds your base with verbs, nouns, and adjectives
- Stage 2 – MON EXPANSION – builds upon your foundation and introduces more vocabulary
- Stage 3 – MA TRANSITION – continues to build upon your foundation and introduces multiple verb tenses so that you can discuss the past, present and future
- Stage 4 – MON LIEN – helps you to make complex responses, logical arguments, and ability to debate
- Stage 5 – MA COMPLEXITÉ – further expands your ability to speak in the hypothetical and abstract with more complex sentence structures
Review how each of the 5 stages work to incrementally prepare you for your French oral exam and check our Downloads link to find additional templates and study aids that are developed to support the learning plan.
Don’t forget to also browse our Library which is filled with popular published study aids to help all learners from Beginner to Advanced.
Set yourself up for success
As you make the first important decision to invest time to improve your French communication skills, then you can increase your chances of success by adopting the following behaviors.
Prepare a studying environment
Find a location at home, or at work, that matches your needs. Do you need absolute quiet, do you need natural sunlight, do you need a lot of desk space to lay out your notes, books or technology devices?
Learn from different mediums
Read the daily local and international news in French. Read blog posts in French on topics pertaining to your work. Watch the news in French or other videos online. Listen to podcasts in French or even French radio.
Follow up on the references
If you read an interesting article, which includes other sources of information, then take the time to review the additional materials in order to help reinforce key vocabulary terms or concepts pertaining to various themes.
Study every day!
1hr each day is more productive than one session of 7hrs.
Join online communities
Share your experiences and learn from others that are their own stage of learning. Check out our own Facebook group to share learning tips and chat with our students from around the world.
Set goals
There is a big difference between working on become conversational in French versus mastering the language. What is your actual goal and what are the incremental milestones that you want to set each week or month to plan out your progress?
Make your learning relevant
Search for articles or videos that are related to what you need to do at work. However, there are common topics that are relevant to everyone regardless of your job role , such as: managing stress, work-life balance, motivation, or even training.
Have a schedule
Fit your self-learning period in your weekly schedule as a regular activity with deadlines and responsibilities.
Take notes
Every error or challenge is a chance to improve your French communication skills. You’ll face disappointment, discouragement, confusion and lack of inspiration as you progress, however if you make an effort to note and then correct your errors, then you will avoid repeating the same error and you will be on your way to improving.
Free tools to help you prepare for your French oral exam
Since everyone learns differently, then every self-learner will have their own approach to study, practice, and prepare for their language interview / French oral exam. There are some universal needs that all students will require as they independently practice French.
The following sites are recommended to be used each day as tools that can help you search for definitions, verify the proper context of words and phrases, and find additional vocabulary to add to your personal French lexicon. The recommended tactic is to have each of these websites open as individual tabs within a web browser window so that they are ready and waiting to help you study and practice when using your technology device of choice – i.e. PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone.
https://www.wordreference.com/
Benefits:
- search for words in French to find their definition and a sample sentence – a word in English to find its French equivalent
- the search window supports auto-complete when typing so this can correct your assumed spelling of a word
- the list of proposed terms that are presented by the auto-complete can introduce you to new terms
- try typing “faire preuve de” and you will be presented with new terms that you may not have even considered
Benefits:
- insert the French word or phrase in the search window in order to find examples of the word or phrase in use by existing publications, such as government websites or published reports
- an English term can also be used to find its French equivalent
- it can help to identify grammar rules, such as confirming if a French verb is followed by DE or AVEC or if a verb requires the subjonctif form of a verb
https://www.the-conjugation.com/french/
Benefits:
- when reading an article, or listening to an audio, you may need to confirm the tense of the verb because confusing the past, present, or future of a verb can greatly change the context of a message
https://www.deepl.com/translator
Benefits:
- having the direct ability to translate between English and French is probably the most important tool to have in your arsenal, however you must ensure that you avoid literal word-by-word translations that result in the wrong context or meaning, so that is why using the previous tools can help a self-learner validate their French in the absence of an instructor to provide correction
https://translate.google.com/?hl=fr
Benefits:
- Google translate is another helpful translation tool however it tends to have less accurate results when compared to Deepl Translator
Benefits:
- insert a known French word in the search window and then you will be returned with alterative words to express the same or similar concept
- also provides the antonyms, or opposite meaning, for the searched word
- helps to grow your French vocabulary and demonstrate a greater breadth of knowledge
https://www.youtube.com/user/france24
Benefits:
- France 24 provides news from France and internationally in French which can aid learners in hearing multiple accents from the multiple presenters
- the YouTube channel provides the ability to pause and replay the video so that you can research the phrases or key words being discussed
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvg4_wSz4Cmo4xRPXaKU47A
Benefits:
- provides weekly discussion and debate on topics of interest
- the conversations will provide the typical language that is used when submitting an opinion, debating a point of view, and general back and forth conversation, which are all skills that you must develop
Benefits:
- provides you with the means to visually map out the core concepts of a theme or topic and then link the concepts to other relevant themes
- this can help you to gather your thoughts and structure responses to typical questions pertaining to managing stress, managing work, working overtime hours, or working in a team
Benefits:
- offers a variety of articles, audios, and activities aimed at French language learners
https://www.europe1.fr/direct-audio
Benefits:
- offers audio and video options to listen to live French discussions
- choosing audio can use less data
https://www.timeanddate.com/timer/
Benefits:
- As you progress in speaking French and building up your vocabulary and bank of phrases then you will be capable of speaking for an extended period of time, however effective communication is about the clarity of the message and not the quantity so you will have to get into the habit of timing your responses to aid you in staying concise and providing a direct response to the question being asked
LOW TECH VERSION
If you are unable to have access to a technology device or a reliable internet connection, then make sure that you have access to the following tools:
A French-English dictionary
Benefits:
- search for the translation of search terms in either language
- confirm the attributes associated to the term, such as if the term is masculine or feminine, a noun, verb, adjective, etc..
A Bescherelle
Benefits:
- translation of verbs
- conjugation of the verb in all verb tenses, such as: past, present, and future
NOTE: Remember to use translation tools as a guide to determine the context of a sentence or phrase versus its direct translation word by word. The translation tool may not be 100% correct based upon the ambiguity, multiple word meanings, idioms, or cultural nuances of the words.
Grow your French vocabulary with our free 30 subjects
You can find access to over thirty (30) work related themes at https://teachableskills.com/downloads/french-oral-exam-subjects/ which you can use to identify keywords, new vocabulary, and reference videos and articles from external sources. Having the ability to speak about a wide range of topics in a comfortable manner will demonstrate to your French exam evaluator that you have a French lexique this is both deep and broad.
We recommend that you try to build upon the existing list of words for each theme and concentrate on memorizing a minimum of fifteen (15) terms from each theme or subject area. Select two themes each week during your three months and immerse yourself in the theme by finding additional references from the perspective of an employee, the manager, and the overall organization. Does a tele-work policy have the exact same benefit to a manager as it does their employee? What arguments, for or against, may each person make to express their point of view?
After you practice asking and responding to questions then you will notice that you can link themes together or transition between each topic. For example, if you are discussing stress at work then can you not also incorporate the need for communication, health, and even hobbies as a distraction to stress? This is where you need to download our free mindmap template and build out your mindmap as mentioned within our previous blog post titled “How can mind maps prepare you for DELF, DALF, or TEF French oral interviews and exams?”.
Be prepared for the 7 common French evaluation question types
In our previous blog post series titled “7 Tips to Pass Your French Oral Exam in 2021“, we introduced the idea of a adopting a best practice to not memorize responses to specific questions as part of your study plan. We recommend that you take the time to identify the common types of French oral exam evaluation questions and train your listening skills to notice when a keyword or clue is given by the evaluator.
We recommend that you review and understand each of the seven types of French oral exam questions and then practice developing sample questions and responses exhibiting your ability to understand and respond to a wide variety of French verb tenses, introductory and closing phrases, and nuancing an argument or debate with the evaluator.
- Getting up close and personal (present)
- One or many (singular vs plural)
- Let me tell you what I think (opinion)
- Yes, but on one condition (conditions)
- For better or worse (comparison)
- Tomorrow is another day (future)
- Give me one more chance (retrospective)
A Flexible Response for common French Oral Exam Questions
In a previous post titled Follow 3 Simple Steps to be ready for French oral exam questions, we recommended that you should not attempt to memorize a response for your actual interview or exam because your ability to speak naturally on any topic will present you as a confident French speaker. However, you should work on developing response structures that are relevant to the type of question being asked.
You should also work toward maturing your responses by adding more complex grammar and by adding a variety of stock phrases that you can readily draw upon when required. Therefore, the following content will outline a template that you can use as your personal baseline.
It is highly recommended that you treat it simply as an example and do the required work to make it more natural to you, which means that you can substitute the phrases, verbs, nouns, or even the general structure to better make it fit your way of speaking. It can be assumed that a typical response to a question will require the following elements:
What is the point of view being communicated?
What is the context or the topic being discussed?
Are you in agreement or disagreement?
Is it a question seeking a personal opinion or is it abstract?
What are the two to three arguments that can be used to reinforce the point of view being expressed?
Can concrete examples be referenced?
What is being impacted (I.e. stress, performance, health, finances, etc..) and is it being increased or decreased?
What is the conclusion?
What is the consequence, positive or negative, if the previous arguments are considered?
Does the conclusion require the point of view to be reiterated?
The following three paragraphs represent the concept of the Flexible Response. Note that each paragraph serves a specific purpose in helping to create a well structured, yet a concise response for common interview style questions. If you think in terms of a simple mathematical equation, which can be broken down to the following formula, then you can work on developing a response structure that is supported by a variety of complex phrases.
The Flexible Response is a method that you can use to practice developing responses to common French oral evaluation questions. By using this method you can create variety and options within your responses and avoid memorizing a single response for common questions. More importantly the Flexible Response can help you to mentally stay on track when responding to interview style questions and it reduces the risk of speaking around a question or getting lost in the details.
A (X) + B(Y) = C(X)
the Flexible Response formula
- A = your introduction where you confirm your understanding of the question and identify the key considerations to be discussed
- X = the concrete or abstract item that is impacted, such as health, stress, finances, performance, or even motivation
- B = the key points or arguments that you are using to reinforce the point of view that you have selected, which can also be referred to as the “cause”
- Y = the concrete or abstract item that is impacted positively or negatively within each argument
- C = the conclusion of your response reinforces the “consequences”, either positively or negatively, of following your argument.
We described a full example of using the Flexible Response in our previous blog post named “Follow 3 Simple Steps to be ready for French oral exam questions“. Read the post and then practice, practice, practice!
The Day of Your French Oral Exam
The post “Préparez-vous pour le jour de votre examen oral de français / Be prepared for the day of your French oral exam” shared with you several tips to help you reduce your stress during the day of your exam.
You may find that the majority of these steps are simple and seem like common sense, however, don’t forget to implement them into your preparation. We have compiled a few of the most important actions that you should consider doing in order to be ready to succeed during your interview of French oral DELF / DALF / TCF / TEF exam.
Parlez, parlez, parlez! Try to speak in French as must as possible with your colleagues, friends, or even simply by restating what you hear when listening to French audio.
First impression. Start speaking French as soon as you arrive or are able to interact with your evaluator. Demonstrating your ability to be at ease while making basic conversation, such as discussing the weather or traffic, can create a strong first impression that may also reduce your level of stress and help you to adapt to the interview environment before entering into the core of your evaluation.
It is not about perfection. Do not be overwhelmed with unrealistic thoughts of trying to have a perfect performance. If you are unable to think of a certain word, then use a simple substitute to explain the same concept. If you note that you made a mistake, then go ahead and immediately correct yourself, as in a normal conversation, however do not emphasis or dwell on your error.
Identification. Ensure that you bring the proper identifications that may be required prior to starting your French oral interview.
Be early. Know the route to arrive at the interview and plan on arriving at least 10 minutes in advance so that you have time to complete any required administration process and you have time to be calm and relaxed before starting the interview.
Essentials. Do not bring unnecessary materials to the interview which may just become a source of distraction. Typically, the evaluation office will have any required paper, pens, or pencils that you may need for your evaluation.
Notes. Usually, the evaluator will keep any notes that you may have made during the evaluation in order to avoid the potential of having the materials shared with others that may have to take the same evaluation.
Time management. Practice timing yourself performing common questions so that you can get a sense of how to manage your time during the evaluation, and ensure that you are able to answer all of the questions that may exist within a restricted time period.
Listen. Listen to the evaluator’s and know that it is acceptable to have a brief period of time to reflect upon the question instead of giving the evaluator the impression that you are able to respond quickly simply because you memorized responses.
In conclusion
If you have read all the way through this post then you are highly motivated and ready to commit to the required level of practice to pass your French oral exam. By focusing on our five stage incremental progression and tracking your progress, you will have a better chance of success and you will continue to focus on correcting any gaps that you may have in your French communication skills.
Don’t forget that you must set realistic goals and if you need to apply this method multiple times to go from beginner to expert then don’t be afraid to divide the work over a longer period of time.
“In life, most short cuts end up taking longer than taking the longer route.”
― Suzy Kassem
Finally, don’t forget to browse our ebook study guide series which can help you define your learning plan and give you additional tips and tricks to maximize your study time.
Stay positive and if you found this free method helpful then please share with anyone that is looking to improve their French communication skills!
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