Which mistakes cost marks in TCF Canada speaking task 1?

On paper, task 1 is the easiest of the three. You talk about yourself, your family, your work and your plans. That is exactly why candidates miss it, by answering too fast, too briefly or with a ready-made text.

Each mistake carries a label. “Named by FEI” means the candidate handbook names it. “Our reading” means it is our interpretation of the speaking criteria (linguistic, pragmatic and sociolinguistic, set out in how speaking is scored). FEI publishes no detailed scale and no commented recordings.

Mistake	Status
One-word answers	Our reading of the pragmatic criterion
A recited self-introduction	Named by FEI
Everything in the present	Our reading of the linguistic criterion
Calques from another language	Our reading of the linguistic criterion
Saying tu to the examiner	Our reading of the sociolinguistic criterion
Going silent while searching for a word	Our reading of the pragmatic criterion
Running out before 2 minutes	Our reading

One-word answers

Examinateur. Vous avez des frères et sœurs ?

Candidate. Oui, deux.

(Do you have brothers and sisters? Yes, two.) The answer is correct but shows nothing. The examiner has to prompt again, and ends up talking instead of you. Add a detail, then a reason or a short story.

Candidate. Oui, j’ai deux frères plus jeunes. L’un est encore étudiant, l’autre travaille dans une banque à Abidjan. On s’appelle presque tous les dimanches.

(Two younger brothers, one a student, one at a bank in Abidjan, and they call almost every Sunday.)

A recited self-introduction

Many candidates arrive with a one-minute introduction learned word for word. It is easy to hear, with a rhythm that is too even and sentences that sound written, such as « Je suis une personne dynamique, rigoureuse et passionnée par les défis » (I am a dynamic, rigorous person who loves challenges). The FEI handbook says the examiner may interrupt you if they think you are reciting, and that a memorised text could get the test rated “A1 non atteint” (details).

Keep an order in your head (name and origin, job, family, plan), not sentences. Say it with different words every time you practise.

Everything in the present

Examinateur. Qu’est-ce que vous avez fait pendant vos dernières vacances ?

Candidat. Je vais chez ma tante à Kinshasa, je mange bien, je vois mes cousins.

(What did you do on your last holiday? The answer stays in the present, “I go to my aunt’s, I eat well, I see my cousins”.) It is often the first thing you hear from a candidate who has plateaued. FEI’s themes for this task include a past event and plans, which call for the past and the future.

Candidat. Je suis allé chez ma tante à Kinshasa. Il faisait très chaud, alors on sortait surtout le soir. J’ai revu des cousins que je n’avais pas vus depuis des années.

The passé composé tells what happened, the imparfait sets the scene. For plans, the near future is often enough, « je vais chercher un poste à Moncton » (I’m going to look for a job in Moncton).

Calques from another language

Wrong	Fixed
Je suis trente et un ans.	J’ai trente et un ans.
Je travaille comme un ingénieur.	Je travaille comme ingénieur.
Je suis intéressé dans l’informatique.	Je m’intéresse à l’informatique.
J’ai étudié l’économie pour quatre ans.	J’ai étudié l’économie pendant quatre ans.
Je suis excité de venir au Canada.	J’ai hâte de venir au Canada.

These sentences are understood, but they come back in every answer and make your French sound translated. Find yours by recording yourself, then fix them one by one.

Saying tu to the examiner

The examiner is a stranger, and the handbook sets this task the goal of talking with someone you don’t know. Stay with vous from start to finish, including when you ask them to repeat or clarify a question.

Fautif. Pardon, tu peux répéter ?

Corrigé. Pardon, vous pouvez répéter la question, s’il vous plaît ?

(Sorry, could you repeat the question, please?) The opposite mistake happens in task 2, when the topic asks you to talk to a friend. It is covered in the task 2 mistakes.

Going silent while searching for a word

A silence of several seconds breaks the exchange more than an approximate word. Buy time with a natural phrase, then talk around the missing word.

Fautif. Je travaille dans… (silence)… dans le…

Corrigé. Je travaille dans… comment dire… dans une entreprise qui fabrique des pièces pour les voitures.

(I work for… how can I put it… a company that makes car parts.) « Comment dire », « disons que », « c’est-à-dire » and « vous voyez ce que je veux dire » are real conversation tools. Describing a word you can’t find also shows fluency.

Running out before 2 minutes

Some candidates answer each question well, then go quiet waiting for the next one, and the interview runs out of steam before the end. The 2 minutes are yours. To fill them without reciting, keep three ways to stretch any answer.

• A reason, with « parce que » or « surtout parce que ».
• A precise example, with « par exemple » or « la semaine dernière ».
• A comparison, with « avant… maintenant… » or « chez moi… ici… ».

Examinateur. Vous aimez votre quartier ?

Candidat. Oui, surtout parce qu’il est calme. Le soir, on entend à peine les voitures. Avant, j’habitais en plein centre de Lagos, et je dormais mal à cause du bruit.

(Yes, mainly because it is quiet. Before, I lived in central Lagos and slept badly because of the noise.) The first sentence answers, the next ones add a reason, a detail and a comparison. The examiner can pick up on any of them, and you set the pace.

Before test day

1. Record yourself on five questions from FEI’s themes, without preparing a text.
2. Listen back and mark every one-sentence answer.
3. Spot present-tense verbs in answers to questions about the past or the future.
4. List your calques and say the fixed version out loud.

To hear what a good interview looks like, read the task 1 sample. NCLC Prep grades writing, not speaking. If your writing needs work too, you can have a written task corrected there, with a limited free trial.