French Oral Testing

[Montcascade]

有谁有成功的经验可以分享一下呢？谢了！我就要考了。。。。

 

[marklin]

for government? what requirement? B or C? I passed B few years ago, mind you the system might have changed nowaways..

 

[Montcascade]

for government? what requirement? B or C? I passed B few years ago, mind you the system might have changed nowaways..

yes. for government. Level B.
I　think the system definitely has changed since this June, because the PSC website says so. but still your experience might be very interesting and helpful. like, how did you prepare for the test? was it much more difficult than the Reading and the Writing?

It's so crazy.....I passed all 3 graduate recruitment exams and got referral to these 2 computer-related positions, and they all require BBB. That's so demanding.....why do they expect a computer person who passed those exams and still knows French? French is not my second language but 4th.

 

[SweetBunny]

Just my own experience, hope a little bit helpful:

After June, a new component was added to the French Oral Interation Test, i.e., now you need to do about 4 (not sure if there are 4 such questions everytime, but I did 4) listening questions. The examiner will let you listen to 4 listening questions (she will randomly choose 4 listening questions in her computer) one by one, and tell her what each question (normally the questions is either a brief telephone message, or a short conversation between government employees, etc.) is about.

I think this is the tough part, because, for the speaking part, you could prepare a few topics and try to lead your conversation with the examiner to these topics you prepared, but for the listening questions, practically there is no way for you to prepare for them.

Good luck!

yes. for government. Level B.
I　think the system definitely has changed since this June, because the PSC website says so. but still your experience might be very interesting and helpful. like, how did you prepare for the test? was it much more difficult than the Reading and the Writing?

It's so crazy.....I passed all 3 graduate recruitment exams and got referral to these 2 computer-related positions, and they all require BBB. That's so demanding.....why do they expect a computer person who passed those exams and still knows French? French is not my second language but 4th.

 

[Montcascade]

Just my own experience, hope a little bit helpful:

After June, a new component was added to the French Oral Interation Test, i.e., now you need to do about 4 (not sure if there are 4 such questions everytime, but I did 4) listening questions. The examiner will let you listen to 4 listening questions (she will randomly choose 4 listening questions in her computer) one by one, and tell her what each question (normally the questions is either a brief telephone message, or a short conversation between government employees, etc.) is about.

I think this is the tough part, because, for the speaking part, you could prepare a few topics and try to lead your conversation with the examiner to these topics you prepared, but for the listening questions, practically there is no way for you to prepare for them.

Good luck!

Agreed. Thank you.

 

[marklin]

the oral test is definitely the toughest for immigrants whose mother tongue is not latin-based. French was also my 4th language. I did not receive any formal training whatsoever prior to the exam.

I remember it was straight conversation between me and the tester. He started off with some warm and comfortable conversation just so make you at ease, we talked about weather, the family and life in Ottawa, this part did not count in as part of test. Then once you are comfy, he would start the recorder and from that point on marks the start of the test. Typical question he asked:

- tell me what your department does and describe your current role
- situational: am your manager and you are trying to convince me to let you take a course

I think the idea for them is not to see how well you answer each question, but rahter how you structure your sentences using different tenses (past, future, conditional..) and the choices of vocabulary you can use. Also they want to see your degree of elaboration, i.e. not just simple yes or no or a short sentence, but also the degree of expression.

Hope this helps.. bonne chance!

 

[SweetBunny]

You are lucky as you passed the oral test before the listening questions are added. Based on my personal experience, it is not that hard to pass the test if there is only this conversation part. The tough part is the listening comprehension --- as per my previous post, there is barely any possibility to prepare these questions --- you have to obtain a decent level of listening capability to pass these questions.

Good luck!

the oral test is definitely the toughest for immigrants whose mother tongue is not latin-based. French was also my 4th language. I did not receive any formal training whatsoever prior to the exam.

I remember it was straight conversation between me and the tester. He started off with some warm and comfortable conversation just so make you at ease, we talked about weather, the family and life in Ottawa, this part did not count in as part of test. Then once you are comfy, he would start the recorder and from that point on marks the start of the test. Typical question he asked:

- tell me what your department does and describe your current role
- situational: am your manager and you are trying to convince me to let you take a course

I think the idea for them is not to see how well you answer each question, but rahter how you structure your sentences using different tenses (past, future, conditional..) and the choices of vocabulary you can use. Also they want to see your degree of elaboration, i.e. not just simple yes or no or a short sentence, but also the degree of expression.

Hope this helps.. bonne chance!

 

[Montcascade]

the oral test is definitely the toughest for immigrants whose mother tongue is not latin-based. French was also my 4th language. I did not receive any formal training whatsoever prior to the exam.

I remember it was straight conversation between me and the tester. He started off with some warm and comfortable conversation just so make you at ease, we talked about weather, the family and life in Ottawa, this part did not count in as part of test. Then once you are comfy, he would start the recorder and from that point on marks the start of the test. Typical question he asked:

- tell me what your department does and describe your current role
- situational: am your manager and you are trying to convince me to let you take a course

I think the idea for them is not to see how well you answer each question, but rahter how you structure your sentences using different tenses (past, future, conditional..) and the choices of vocabulary you can use. Also they want to see your degree of elaboration, i.e. not just simple yes or no or a short sentence, but also the degree of expression.

Hope this helps.. bonne chance!

very helpful tips. thank you.

 

[Montcascade]

You are lucky as you passed the oral test before the listening questions are added. Based on my personal experience, it is not that hard to pass the test if there is only this conversation part. The tough part is the listening comprehension --- as per my previous post, there is barely any possibility to prepare these questions --- you have to obtain a decent level of listening capability to pass these questions.

Good luck!

oh, man. so they make it harder.....well, just keep my finger crossed then.....

 

[wiiwii]

i heard it is tough. good luck

 

[rayzhang]

if you still have time, you should go to Agonquin College to attend one of its French training course for Oral test. The training will provide all the details about your exam and provide a lot of oral practice to help you pass the test. The French training is a very important job market in Ottawa and the teachers have very detailed information about the Oral test. Oral test is much more difficult than written and reading test. With the new format, it becomes even harder. here provides some information for you: SLE - Test of Oral Proficiency in the Second Official Language