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.
