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TEF :(

Catnat

Star Member
Feb 9, 2019
55
23
Hi,
For writing part do the question include letter writing, because I can't find anywhere in the formats for TEF Canada.
Can anyone who has recently given the exam can share the types of questions received in writing part.
Hi, the writing part has 2 sections. For Section A you are given an opening paragraph for a story and you then have to complete the story with between 80 - 100 words. Note that you must not exceed 100 words.
Section B is the letter part. You are given a statement (e.g. social media is harmful) and you have to state whether or not you agree, giving examples to support your arguments. You have to write at least 3 arguments and your letter must be at least 200 words.
(Apologies for any spelling errors. My phone is set to French so the autocorrect isn't set to English.)
 
Last edited:
Oct 16, 2019
14
9
I doubt you can do it in 3months. Most tutors dont understand the structure of the TEF exam. It requires that you actually know French. 3months of French learning is not enough for TEF unless you have studied French before and attained some level.

I learnt french intensively for 6months and wrote TEF the 7th month. I got 45 extra points from Tef.

Achieving it in 3months is impossible. 6months of intensive study both within and outside classroom can get you to Level B2 which can make you get very decent scores
Hi Dayo,
Could you please share the lettre formats and fait divers samples with me on prafullk345@gmail.com.
 

Igor_K

Star Member
Jun 15, 2015
57
53
I don’t know if anyone would be interested but I would like to share my experience in learning French for immigration purposes and passing TEF with C1 results for all modules. A brief recup: I learned French as an adult (30yo) within a limited time (2 years) from absolute zero with a goal to pass TEF Canada. I do not want to give any advice or suggestions because I am not a prof or teacher; I want simply to share my experience and strategies.
I started learning French in January 2016 from absolute zero. However, I had just passed IELTS so knowing English was certainly an advantage. My native language is Russian by the way. Even though my goal from the very beginning was to pass TEF, I realized that knowing French would be a great asset in general, so I decided to learn French “to speak it fluently” instead of “to pass TEF and forget about it”. I have my own notion of fluency which is: to be able to understand any idea in depth transmitted to you either orally or in writing in a said language as well as to be able to express any idea in depth either orally or in writing. So, for it does not matter if I use sophisticated wording and long phrases or if my sentences have 3-4 words: as long as those 3-4 words express what I would like to say and as long as I am perfectly understood - I consider myself fluent.
As an adult language learner I realized that the only strategy to master a language was learning grammar. So, in January 2016 I purchased a book called Easy French step-by-step by Myrna Bell Rochester. This book is for very beginner but it is priceless. It contains almost all basic grammar and the vocabulary is almost everything you need to know to speak French fluently. I gave myself two months to complete the book and to finish all exercises. I think it was very important to set up rigid deadlines, otherwise I would have never finished anything. I worked on that book every single day for about an hour.
Yet, to learn a language quickly I needed something more than just a grammar book. Grammar is good but spoken French was just a noise to me. So, I downloaded some podcasts by French Pod. I do not think they still do podcasts but the complete collection of the show is certainly somewhere on the internet for free. These podcasts are divided into different levels and I have to say that I enjoyed them so much that I listened to them even after I spoke well French because I enjoyed them so much! I listened to each episode several times in repeat usually on my way to work and back (my path to work gave me an hour of free time for podcasts every single day except for weekends). From my experience, in the beginning French was just a noise to my earls. In a couple of weeks I started to notice some patterns and I could understand where different words end and begin. Fast forward a few weeks more, I could distinguish different phrases. In just no time I could see the structure of the language and understanding spoken French was just a matter of my vocabulary. Yet, I felt I needed more French in my life. So I found this TV show called French in Action which I watched after working on grammar every day. French in Action! Oh, man, this is the single most valuable source for learning French one could find! And it is totally free on youtube. The show consists of 52 (or 56) episodes, each episode is about 30 min. First 10mins there is a short film about a french girl and an american guy and their adventures while the rest of the episode a very nice prof of french explains vocabulary and grammar and the most understandable way possible, using songs, french films, advertisement and what not. I watched two episodes in a week (one episode from monday till wednesday and another from thursday to weekend) and it took me half a year to finish the show. I still watch it from time to time on youtube because it is a great piece of art. It was made in the 80s but in my opinion there is no better source for learning french.
After two months I started a new, serious, grammar book: Shaum’s outline French Grammar. That was all. In my life I have only used 2 grammar books to learn french. I don’t understand people who jump from one source to another hoping they will progress faster. That only slows them down. Choose a source and stick with it. French grammar is the same in every book after all. By that time (in March) I started to read something in French. The important thing was to find something in simple tense and gain some vocabulary. I chose the book Fifty Shades of Grey in french. It was simply written with modern vocabulary. I used to read books “actively” which means I noted every new word in a notebook (I always wrote them down in the content, as a phrase or sentence) and every night before going to bed I tried to memorize what I wrote down during the reading.
After some time I downloaded an application called HelloTalk to practice with native speakers. I quickly found some people to practice who did not mind enduring my dreadful grammar.
By October 2016 I could understand almost everything. By that time I listened to some French talk-shows and news in french instead of my regular podcasts. That month in October 2016 I abandoned all hope to immigrate to Canada and abandoned learning French.
In the middle of 2018 I renewed my plans regarding Canada and started counting my points. My IELTS has expired and French was forgotten. So I decided to start from the very beginning and used the path I explained above for the second time, this time a little quicker. In January 2019 I started to prepare myself for TEF.
I purchased/downloaded all available tests and was more or less satisfied with the results. I could understand well written and spoken French but I had a hard time expressing myself. So I made a new habit: every night before going to bed I wrote a short letter on the topics I found online (Task 1) and every weekend I wrote an essay (Task 2). I also found a person on iTalki who helped me to practice my speech. I also watched many films and a lot of videos on YouTube. I have never been discouraged by the fact that sometimes I did not understand them fully. I just knew that as long as I put effort, the success would come.
I took my first TEF in June 2019 and received the following: (listening, reading, writing, speaking) C1, C1, B2, B1. As I expected my weakest point was speaking because I had too little practice.
Well I worked some more (more books read, more podcast listened to, more essays written and more native speakers annoyed by my struggle to speak) and I took the second TEF in October 2019. The result was the following C1, C1, C1, B1. My speaking wronged me again…
Still, it was something I wanted to win so I continued with French. By accident I found a good teacher on iTalki who explained to me the secret I ignored for so long:
During the language thest they do not care how interesting of a person you are, if you speak intelligent or stupid things or the content of your speech - the only thing they care about is your ability to speak (or write) in another language. So, basically, if you are tasked to write a letter- it does not matter how stupid it is - as long as you did what they ask (write formal letter to your boss) - you are safe. THe same with essays - it does not matter how strong your points are - as long as your banal point of view is structured - you are safe (a point, a short explanation and example; a point, a short explanation, an example then conclusion and voila).
The same with my speaking. In the second task where I had to convince someone to do something or participate in something, I was always discouraged by the fact that I could not convince. Yet, that girl opened my eyes: just use patterns and structure. The examinator will always refuse - my job was to engage the conversation like:
  • If he or she says: I am not interesting - I say: you are not interested because you do not have enough information! Have you heard about this or have you read about that?
  • If he or she says: I have no time for this - I say: there is always time for what you need. I think you need to do/participate because of this or that
  • If he or she says: I do not want: I say: well, let’s do it together!
Before you know it, you are already talking with the examiner and you use his or her word to rebound! This is what they want to hear. Long story short. My last TEF was taken in February 2020 with the results C1, C1, C1, C1.
Now, after passing TEF and IELTS again, I still wait for my WES credentials. All in all I will only have around 422 score so I am no threat for you, guys. But I enjoyed learning French and TEF experience so I hope it will motivate some of you to not give up.
 

orwell46

Hero Member
Apr 29, 2020
249
104
I don’t know if anyone would be interested but I would like to share my experience in learning French for immigration purposes and passing TEF with C1 results for all modules. A brief recup: I learned French as an adult (30yo) within a limited time (2 years) from absolute zero with a goal to pass TEF Canada. I do not want to give any advice or suggestions because I am not a prof or teacher; I want simply to share my experience and strategies.
I started learning French in January 2016 from absolute zero. However, I had just passed IELTS so knowing English was certainly an advantage. My native language is Russian by the way. Even though my goal from the very beginning was to pass TEF, I realized that knowing French would be a great asset in general, so I decided to learn French “to speak it fluently” instead of “to pass TEF and forget about it”. I have my own notion of fluency which is: to be able to understand any idea in depth transmitted to you either orally or in writing in a said language as well as to be able to express any idea in depth either orally or in writing. So, for it does not matter if I use sophisticated wording and long phrases or if my sentences have 3-4 words: as long as those 3-4 words express what I would like to say and as long as I am perfectly understood - I consider myself fluent.
As an adult language learner I realized that the only strategy to master a language was learning grammar. So, in January 2016 I purchased a book called Easy French step-by-step by Myrna Bell Rochester. This book is for very beginner but it is priceless. It contains almost all basic grammar and the vocabulary is almost everything you need to know to speak French fluently. I gave myself two months to complete the book and to finish all exercises. I think it was very important to set up rigid deadlines, otherwise I would have never finished anything. I worked on that book every single day for about an hour.
Yet, to learn a language quickly I needed something more than just a grammar book. Grammar is good but spoken French was just a noise to me. So, I downloaded some podcasts by French Pod. I do not think they still do podcasts but the complete collection of the show is certainly somewhere on the internet for free. These podcasts are divided into different levels and I have to say that I enjoyed them so much that I listened to them even after I spoke well French because I enjoyed them so much! I listened to each episode several times in repeat usually on my way to work and back (my path to work gave me an hour of free time for podcasts every single day except for weekends). From my experience, in the beginning French was just a noise to my earls. In a couple of weeks I started to notice some patterns and I could understand where different words end and begin. Fast forward a few weeks more, I could distinguish different phrases. In just no time I could see the structure of the language and understanding spoken French was just a matter of my vocabulary. Yet, I felt I needed more French in my life. So I found this TV show called French in Action which I watched after working on grammar every day. French in Action! Oh, man, this is the single most valuable source for learning French one could find! And it is totally free on youtube. The show consists of 52 (or 56) episodes, each episode is about 30 min. First 10mins there is a short film about a french girl and an american guy and their adventures while the rest of the episode a very nice prof of french explains vocabulary and grammar and the most understandable way possible, using songs, french films, advertisement and what not. I watched two episodes in a week (one episode from monday till wednesday and another from thursday to weekend) and it took me half a year to finish the show. I still watch it from time to time on youtube because it is a great piece of art. It was made in the 80s but in my opinion there is no better source for learning french.
After two months I started a new, serious, grammar book: Shaum’s outline French Grammar. That was all. In my life I have only used 2 grammar books to learn french. I don’t understand people who jump from one source to another hoping they will progress faster. That only slows them down. Choose a source and stick with it. French grammar is the same in every book after all. By that time (in March) I started to read something in French. The important thing was to find something in simple tense and gain some vocabulary. I chose the book Fifty Shades of Grey in french. It was simply written with modern vocabulary. I used to read books “actively” which means I noted every new word in a notebook (I always wrote them down in the content, as a phrase or sentence) and every night before going to bed I tried to memorize what I wrote down during the reading.
After some time I downloaded an application called HelloTalk to practice with native speakers. I quickly found some people to practice who did not mind enduring my dreadful grammar.
By October 2016 I could understand almost everything. By that time I listened to some French talk-shows and news in french instead of my regular podcasts. That month in October 2016 I abandoned all hope to immigrate to Canada and abandoned learning French.
In the middle of 2018 I renewed my plans regarding Canada and started counting my points. My IELTS has expired and French was forgotten. So I decided to start from the very beginning and used the path I explained above for the second time, this time a little quicker. In January 2019 I started to prepare myself for TEF.
I purchased/downloaded all available tests and was more or less satisfied with the results. I could understand well written and spoken French but I had a hard time expressing myself. So I made a new habit: every night before going to bed I wrote a short letter on the topics I found online (Task 1) and every weekend I wrote an essay (Task 2). I also found a person on iTalki who helped me to practice my speech. I also watched many films and a lot of videos on YouTube. I have never been discouraged by the fact that sometimes I did not understand them fully. I just knew that as long as I put effort, the success would come.
I took my first TEF in June 2019 and received the following: (listening, reading, writing, speaking) C1, C1, B2, B1. As I expected my weakest point was speaking because I had too little practice.
Well I worked some more (more books read, more podcast listened to, more essays written and more native speakers annoyed by my struggle to speak) and I took the second TEF in October 2019. The result was the following C1, C1, C1, B1. My speaking wronged me again…
Still, it was something I wanted to win so I continued with French. By accident I found a good teacher on iTalki who explained to me the secret I ignored for so long:
During the language thest they do not care how interesting of a person you are, if you speak intelligent or stupid things or the content of your speech - the only thing they care about is your ability to speak (or write) in another language. So, basically, if you are tasked to write a letter- it does not matter how stupid it is - as long as you did what they ask (write formal letter to your boss) - you are safe. THe same with essays - it does not matter how strong your points are - as long as your banal point of view is structured - you are safe (a point, a short explanation and example; a point, a short explanation, an example then conclusion and voila).
The same with my speaking. In the second task where I had to convince someone to do something or participate in something, I was always discouraged by the fact that I could not convince. Yet, that girl opened my eyes: just use patterns and structure. The examinator will always refuse - my job was to engage the conversation like:
  • If he or she says: I am not interesting - I say: you are not interested because you do not have enough information! Have you heard about this or have you read about that?
  • If he or she says: I have no time for this - I say: there is always time for what you need. I think you need to do/participate because of this or that
  • If he or she says: I do not want: I say: well, let’s do it together!
Before you know it, you are already talking with the examiner and you use his or her word to rebound! This is what they want to hear. Long story short. My last TEF was taken in February 2020 with the results C1, C1, C1, C1.
Now, after passing TEF and IELTS again, I still wait for my WES credentials. All in all I will only have around 422 score so I am no threat for you, guys. But I enjoyed learning French and TEF experience so I hope it will motivate some of you to not give up.
Hi Igor, thanks for this most useful post. I have a question regarding practicing writing in French. How did you evaluate or correct the essays that you practiced writing? Did somebody do that for you?
 

ns317

Hero Member
Aug 29, 2019
264
262
^ From my experience, self-evaluation works very well once you get a hang of what they are looking for. In order to do that, get the prepmyfuture course, and study the structure that they need in both Fait Divers and the Letter. Prepmyfuture will give you a very clear idea of the structure, the keywords that you need to use, and which tenses to use in either writing exercise. Subsequently, you can keep practicing until you get a hang of it.

But before all that, grammar is the most fundamental thing. Once you learn French grammar thoroughly (this won't take more than 2-4 months), your foundation is set. Everything will become much easier after that.

With fundamentals in place, Writing is easy to score points in. I was surprised when I got C1 - the only thing I did was avoiding grammatical mistakes, and ensuring that I used the right tenses. There was nothing lofty about the actual texts.
 
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Reactions: orwell46

ns317

Hero Member
Aug 29, 2019
264
262
I don’t know if anyone would be interested but I would like to share my experience in learning French for immigration purposes and passing TEF with C1 results for all modules. A brief recup: I learned French as an adult (30yo) within a limited time (2 years) from absolute zero with a goal to pass TEF Canada. I do not want to give any advice or suggestions because I am not a prof or teacher; I want simply to share my experience and strategies.
I started learning French in January 2016 from absolute zero. However, I had just passed IELTS so knowing English was certainly an advantage. My native language is Russian by the way. Even though my goal from the very beginning was to pass TEF, I realized that knowing French would be a great asset in general, so I decided to learn French “to speak it fluently” instead of “to pass TEF and forget about it”. I have my own notion of fluency which is: to be able to understand any idea in depth transmitted to you either orally or in writing in a said language as well as to be able to express any idea in depth either orally or in writing. So, for it does not matter if I use sophisticated wording and long phrases or if my sentences have 3-4 words: as long as those 3-4 words express what I would like to say and as long as I am perfectly understood - I consider myself fluent.
As an adult language learner I realized that the only strategy to master a language was learning grammar. So, in January 2016 I purchased a book called Easy French step-by-step by Myrna Bell Rochester. This book is for very beginner but it is priceless. It contains almost all basic grammar and the vocabulary is almost everything you need to know to speak French fluently. I gave myself two months to complete the book and to finish all exercises. I think it was very important to set up rigid deadlines, otherwise I would have never finished anything. I worked on that book every single day for about an hour.
Yet, to learn a language quickly I needed something more than just a grammar book. Grammar is good but spoken French was just a noise to me. So, I downloaded some podcasts by French Pod. I do not think they still do podcasts but the complete collection of the show is certainly somewhere on the internet for free. These podcasts are divided into different levels and I have to say that I enjoyed them so much that I listened to them even after I spoke well French because I enjoyed them so much! I listened to each episode several times in repeat usually on my way to work and back (my path to work gave me an hour of free time for podcasts every single day except for weekends). From my experience, in the beginning French was just a noise to my earls. In a couple of weeks I started to notice some patterns and I could understand where different words end and begin. Fast forward a few weeks more, I could distinguish different phrases. In just no time I could see the structure of the language and understanding spoken French was just a matter of my vocabulary. Yet, I felt I needed more French in my life. So I found this TV show called French in Action which I watched after working on grammar every day. French in Action! Oh, man, this is the single most valuable source for learning French one could find! And it is totally free on youtube. The show consists of 52 (or 56) episodes, each episode is about 30 min. First 10mins there is a short film about a french girl and an american guy and their adventures while the rest of the episode a very nice prof of french explains vocabulary and grammar and the most understandable way possible, using songs, french films, advertisement and what not. I watched two episodes in a week (one episode from monday till wednesday and another from thursday to weekend) and it took me half a year to finish the show. I still watch it from time to time on youtube because it is a great piece of art. It was made in the 80s but in my opinion there is no better source for learning french.
After two months I started a new, serious, grammar book: Shaum’s outline French Grammar. That was all. In my life I have only used 2 grammar books to learn french. I don’t understand people who jump from one source to another hoping they will progress faster. That only slows them down. Choose a source and stick with it. French grammar is the same in every book after all. By that time (in March) I started to read something in French. The important thing was to find something in simple tense and gain some vocabulary. I chose the book Fifty Shades of Grey in french. It was simply written with modern vocabulary. I used to read books “actively” which means I noted every new word in a notebook (I always wrote them down in the content, as a phrase or sentence) and every night before going to bed I tried to memorize what I wrote down during the reading.
After some time I downloaded an application called HelloTalk to practice with native speakers. I quickly found some people to practice who did not mind enduring my dreadful grammar.
By October 2016 I could understand almost everything. By that time I listened to some French talk-shows and news in french instead of my regular podcasts. That month in October 2016 I abandoned all hope to immigrate to Canada and abandoned learning French.
In the middle of 2018 I renewed my plans regarding Canada and started counting my points. My IELTS has expired and French was forgotten. So I decided to start from the very beginning and used the path I explained above for the second time, this time a little quicker. In January 2019 I started to prepare myself for TEF.
I purchased/downloaded all available tests and was more or less satisfied with the results. I could understand well written and spoken French but I had a hard time expressing myself. So I made a new habit: every night before going to bed I wrote a short letter on the topics I found online (Task 1) and every weekend I wrote an essay (Task 2). I also found a person on iTalki who helped me to practice my speech. I also watched many films and a lot of videos on YouTube. I have never been discouraged by the fact that sometimes I did not understand them fully. I just knew that as long as I put effort, the success would come.
I took my first TEF in June 2019 and received the following: (listening, reading, writing, speaking) C1, C1, B2, B1. As I expected my weakest point was speaking because I had too little practice.
Well I worked some more (more books read, more podcast listened to, more essays written and more native speakers annoyed by my struggle to speak) and I took the second TEF in October 2019. The result was the following C1, C1, C1, B1. My speaking wronged me again…
Still, it was something I wanted to win so I continued with French. By accident I found a good teacher on iTalki who explained to me the secret I ignored for so long:
During the language thest they do not care how interesting of a person you are, if you speak intelligent or stupid things or the content of your speech - the only thing they care about is your ability to speak (or write) in another language. So, basically, if you are tasked to write a letter- it does not matter how stupid it is - as long as you did what they ask (write formal letter to your boss) - you are safe. THe same with essays - it does not matter how strong your points are - as long as your banal point of view is structured - you are safe (a point, a short explanation and example; a point, a short explanation, an example then conclusion and voila).
The same with my speaking. In the second task where I had to convince someone to do something or participate in something, I was always discouraged by the fact that I could not convince. Yet, that girl opened my eyes: just use patterns and structure. The examinator will always refuse - my job was to engage the conversation like:
  • If he or she says: I am not interesting - I say: you are not interested because you do not have enough information! Have you heard about this or have you read about that?
  • If he or she says: I have no time for this - I say: there is always time for what you need. I think you need to do/participate because of this or that
  • If he or she says: I do not want: I say: well, let’s do it together!
Before you know it, you are already talking with the examiner and you use his or her word to rebound! This is what they want to hear. Long story short. My last TEF was taken in February 2020 with the results C1, C1, C1, C1.
Now, after passing TEF and IELTS again, I still wait for my WES credentials. All in all I will only have around 422 score so I am no threat for you, guys. But I enjoyed learning French and TEF experience so I hope it will motivate some of you to not give up.
Lovely to read this! I've done the TEF twice so far.. B2, B2, B2, B2 after 4 months prep, and C2, C2, C1, B2 after another 3 months. I think I have enough points now to get an ITA, but it bugs me that my speaking refuses to move from B2 (280 points the first time, 279 the second time). Even after doing exactly what you described to address the 'convaincre un ami' part, somehow I just stumble onto wrong grammar or wrong usage. I feel I'll never get to an Advanced level in speaking without actually living in Montreal or any other francophone city for a couple of months.
 

Igor_K

Star Member
Jun 15, 2015
57
53
Hi Igor, thanks for this most useful post. I have a question regarding practicing writing in French. How did you evaluate or correct the essays that you practiced writing? Did somebody do that for you?
I agree with @ns317 , actually. After having finished 2 grammar books and completing all grammar excersises in those books alomg the way, I got a feeling what souds right or doesn't. Moreover, from what I noticed, they do not lower your score severly for punctuations and writing mistakes. I am convinced that I made tons of typos and wrote many words wrongly (you know, these little markings above certain letters in french words)in my essays and letters on the exam, but as long as I had correct GRAMMAR and as long as my wring had STRUCTURE, they gave me good marks. What important was to write letters in correct style (personal, proffessional) and have structure in your essays.
But here is how I practices essays, for exampel. THis is impoertnat point, I think I have missed it in my post. I simply created a skelet of a generic essay and memorized it. Like:

"Cher redacteur en chef, je viens de lire un article dans votre journal qui m’a beaucoup interesse. Etant un lecteur assidu de votre journal, je voudrais exprimer mon point de vue a ce sujet. L’auteur de l’article remarque que...................... Je suis d’avis que ce serait une erreur de croir que..................puur leas raisons qui suivent."

As you see, there are tons of words already and you have to include just a few that you take from the question itself.
So basicly I had the whole essay (and letter) in my head and I always finished whriting in less than 20 mins both parts.
If you are in terestested here is on of my essays. You can use this scelet to create any other essay.

Cher redacteur en chef, je viens de lire un article dans votre journal qui m’a beaucoup interesse. Etant un lecteur assidu de votre journal, je voudrais exprimer mon point de vue a ce sujet. L’auteur de l’article remarque qu’il faut d’urgence supprimer la publicite a la television. Je suis d’avis que ce serait une erreur de croir que la publisite sur nos ecrans tele est mal puur leas raisons qui suivent.
La premiere remarque importante que je veux faire est que la publisite sur la tele permet les nouveax produits a gagner sa place sur le marche. Parfois, les gens ne savent rien des derniers vetement ou produits et la publisite aide les promouvoir. Selon le sondage mene en Canada en 2011, 90 percent des telespectateurs preferent se rensegner sur les nouvautes de marcher en regardant leurs series prefere sur la tele.
A l’avantage de la publicite sur la tele s’ajoute le fait que les gens qui font lea programmes gagnent de l’argent en vendant la publisite sur la tele. Il est evident que les programmes les plus apprecies sur la tele sont celles qui ont un drand budget. La publicite fait possible a tourner les series grandes et interessantes.
Il faut maintenant s’interroger sur l’argument que si on supprime la publisite a la tele, les lpectateur resteront plus de temps devans leur petits ecrans et ca affecera leur sante. Il y a 2 ans, un sondage mene en Russie parmi 2000 telespectsteurs a montre que sans publicite les gens restent devant leur tele 2 fois plus que sil y a de pubs. Pour que la population soit plus saine, il faut laisser la publisite sur la tele.
Pour conclure je vourdais dire que la publisite aide l’economie, les realisateurs et garde la sante de dens intacte.
Je vous prie d’agree mes salutation destinguees.
 
Last edited:

orwell46

Hero Member
Apr 29, 2020
249
104
^ From my experience, self-evaluation works very well once you get a hang of what they are looking for. In order to do that, get the prepmyfuture course, and study the structure that they need in both Fait Divers and the Letter. Prepmyfuture will give you a very clear idea of the structure, the keywords that you need to use, and which tenses to use in either writing exercise. Subsequently, you can keep practicing until you get a hang of it.

But before all that, grammar is the most fundamental thing. Once you learn French grammar thoroughly (this won't take more than 2-4 months), your foundation is set. Everything will become much easier after that.

With fundamentals in place, Writing is easy to score points in. I was surprised when I got C1 - the only thing I did was avoiding grammatical mistakes, and ensuring that I used the right tenses. There was nothing lofty about the actual texts.
Thanks! If I may ask, is French your mother tongue/ first language? If not, how long did it take for you to prepare?

Some tips on speaking practice would also be great. Are apps like hello talk useful?
 

ns317

Hero Member
Aug 29, 2019
264
262
Thanks! If I may ask, is French your mother tongue/ first language? If not, how long did it take for you to prepare?

Some tips on speaking practice would also be great. Are apps like hello talk useful?
No, I'm not a native speaker nor have I had any brush with French before Nov 2019. I have lived in Italy and learned Italian a decade before, so that might have helped me a little in grasping the basics faster, but no other experience beyond that.

And sorry, I dunno anything about that app. For speaking, I just practiced with my wife who knew some French, that's all. I certainly need to improve Speaking much more.

I had written about my experience learning French in another thread:

https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/ray-of-hope-fsw-1.690705/page-103#post-8708344
 
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santiago.ac

Star Member
Sep 24, 2019
102
30
Hey, anyone knows how much time results may take during this time? My partner took the TEF on July 30th, we're guessing two months?
 

Praveen32

Full Member
Jun 23, 2020
32
18
I doubt you can do it in 3months. Most tutors dont understand the structure of the TEF exam. It requires that you actually know French. 3months of French learning is not enough for TEF unless you have studied French before and attained some level.

I learnt french intensively for 6months and wrote TEF the 7th month. I got 45 extra points from Tef.

Achieving it in 3months is impossible. 6months of intensive study both within and outside classroom can get you to Level B2 which can make you get very decent scores
Hi
I would be obliged to you if you can guide me to kick start the french preparation... my wife is planning to take up the french exam in order to gain those extra points .. how realistic is it to gain 30 additional points from TEF, with about 16/17 months of training?
 

Praveen32

Full Member
Jun 23, 2020
32
18
S
Hello Again Everyone,

I hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy and progressing well with their French studies.

A short bio: From India, so not a native speaker, started from scratch and cleared TEF Canada with C1 score with 7-8 months of rigorous studies.

A teacher/programmer by profession, can be of help to anyone who is preparing for TEF Canada to get the ITA. Please write to me at kguionista@gmail.com

Also, recently, I have started a lecture series on YouTube for TEF Canada preparation. I request you to visit my YouTube channel BBarters and see if it's helpful to you.

Bonne chance!
Sure
Thanks for the info ..
I ll mail you , kindly help me please