TEF Écrite Section B (Tâche 3) gives you a short newspaper excerpt making a claim or expressing an opinion, and asks you to write a letter to the paper reacting to it: you state your position and defend it with at least three arguments, in a minimum of 200 words, in roughly 35 minutes. The scoring rewards a clearly stated, well-justified position over a perfectly dressed envelope — the letter FORM taught below is the conventional wrapper prep sources use, but examiners are marking your argument, not your stationery etiquette. If time is short, protect the body of the letter, not the salutation.
This lesson teaches the letter's structural furniture: how to open (addressing the editor), how to restate the claim you are reacting to before you argue with it, and how to close formally. It does NOT teach the opinion formulas ("pour ma part, je pense que...") or the connectors that carry your three arguments (en premier lieu, de plus, cependant, en conclusion...) — those are in Lessons 12–13, and this letter is exactly where you deploy them.
A typical answer runs: salutation → claim restated → your position → three connected arguments (Lessons 12–13) → formal closing. For example:
| Following your article stating that..., I would like to respond. | Suite à votre article indiquant que..., je me permets de réagir. |
"Madame, Monsieur," and "Monsieur le Rédacteur en chef," play the genre straight; "Bonjour," is a plainer, still-acceptable opener if you would rather skip the full epistolary register. Whichever you choose, restate the claim early — it shows the examiner you read and understood the article — then move straight into your justified position with the Lesson 12–13 toolkit, and close with one of this lesson's formal valedictions.
