TEF Canada Speaking Section A: strategy, questions, and phrases

Section A of the TEF Canada speaking test is a role-play with a clear job: you've seen an advert — a club, a course, a rental, a service — and you telephone to get more information. It lasts about five minutes after a short preparation time. It sounds simple, and that's the trap: candidates lose points not because their French fails, but because they run out of questions, repeat the same structure ten times, or forget the scenario is a phone call with social conventions.

What the examiner is actually scoring

• •Variety of question forms — est-ce que, inversion, question words, indirect questions.
• •Coverage — do your questions explore the offer from multiple practical angles?
• •Interaction — greetings, transitions, reacting to answers, closing politely.
• •Fluency and accuracy under light time pressure.

The 10-angle question checklist

Memorise this list and you will never run dry. For any advert, you can ask about:

• •Price and payment options (Pourriez-vous me préciser les tarifs ?)
• •Schedule and frequency (À quelle fréquence… ? Quels sont les horaires ?)
• •Location and access (Où cela se passe-t-il exactement ? Est-ce accessible en transport ?)
• •Duration (Quelle est la durée… ?)
• •Conditions and requirements (Faut-il une expérience préalable ?)
• •What's included / not included (L'équipement est-il fourni ?)
• •Group size or capacity (Combien de participants par groupe ?)
• •Supervision or qualifications (Les séances sont-elles encadrées par un professionnel ?)
• •Registration process (Comment puis-je m'inscrire ?)
• •Cancellation or insurance (Que se passe-t-il en cas d'annulation ?)

Phrases that structure the call

• •Opening: « Bonjour, je vous appelle au sujet de l'annonce concernant… J'aurais quelques questions, si vous permettez. »
• •Transitions: « Très bien, et concernant… », « Une dernière chose… », « J'aimerais aussi savoir… »
• •Reacting: « Ah, c'est intéressant. », « Parfait, c'est bon à savoir. »
• •Closing: « Je vous remercie pour toutes ces informations. Je vais réfléchir et je vous rappellerai. Bonne journée ! »

The mistakes that cost points

• •Using only one question form ('Est-ce que… ?' fifteen times reads as limited French).
• •Interrogating instead of conversing — no reactions, no transitions, just a list.
• •Forgetting the phone-call frame: no greeting, no closing.
• •Reading the advert back instead of asking about what it doesn't say — the missing information is exactly what you're meant to probe.

How to practise

Take a topic, give yourself the official one-minute preparation, then record a five-minute call using the 10-angle checklist. Listen back for question variety and dead air. Compare against model questions, steal the structures you like, and re-record. Ten recorded topics later, Section A stops being improvisation and becomes a routine you perform — which is exactly what a top score sounds like.