TEF Canada Preparation

TEF Canada is the exam most people meet on the way to Canadian permanent residence through the francophone streams. Since December 2023 it runs as 40 multiple-choice reading questions in 60 minutes, 40 listening questions in 40 minutes, and four production tasks that were left unchanged by the revision: continue a fait divers news item in at least 80 words, write a 200-word letter to a newspaper arguing a position with at least three arguments, make a formal phone call to ask about an advertisement (in vous, aiming for around ten questions), and persuade a friend to join an activity (in tu, with the examiner playing the reluctant friend).

Every one of those tasks runs on set language: journalistic past-tense narration for the fait divers, letter openings and argumentation connectors for the letter, polite question formulas for the call, proposal-and-reassurance moves for the persuasion task. Examiners reward candidates who deploy that register effortlessly — and it is exactly the layer a general French course never drills.

How the course maps to the exam

The French for TEF Canada & TCF Canada course teaches that layer directly: eleven vocabulary lessons covering the domains the exam draws on (immigration paperwork, work, housing, services, health, news items, the big debate topics — plus the Canadian French of the life you're moving to), two lessons of argumentation formulas both exams share, and a dedicated kit lesson for each TEF task — Writing A, Writing B, Speaking A, Speaking B — whose lecture explains the task's format, timing and register before drilling its formulas.

The course assumes roughly B1 French. If you're earlier than that, start with the main French course, which runs from beginner to B2 — the level band CLB 7 sits in — and come back to aim it at the exam.

Start the French for TEF Canada & TCF Canada course — free

No sign-up needed to start. Every lesson is free.

What this deliberately does not do

Nobody here grades your letters or simulates the speaking examiner, and the comprehension exercises are not in the exam's multiple-choice format — we drill the language, not the test mechanics. For format practice, the official free materials (CCI Paris's app and the published test blanc) are good, and we'd rather point you there than pretend. What you get here is the part that compounds: the vocabulary and the formulas, held in memory by a schedule that brings each one back just before you'd lose it.

Start the French for TEF Canada & TCF Canada course — free

No sign-up needed to start. Every lesson is free.

Frequently asked questions

What score do I need for Express Entry?

The French-language category and the CRS bilingual bonus require CLB 7 in all four skills. On TEF Canada that means roughly 207–232 in reading, 249–279 in listening, and 310–348 in each of writing and speaking. CLB 7 in all four with CLB 5+ English earns +25 CRS points; CLB 9+ earns +50.

Does this course grade my writing or speaking?

No, and we say so plainly. The exam's production tasks are scored by trained human examiners, and nothing online replaces practicing them with a person. What this course does is make sure the words and the set formulas those tasks demand are already automatic when you practice.

TEF or TCF — which should I take?

Both are accepted by IRCC and score to the same CLB levels. TEF has two writing and two speaking tasks with a formal/informal register split; TCF has three of each. The course covers the task language of both, so you can decide on format preference and test-date availability. See the TCF Canada guide for that exam's format.

Is the course really free?

Yes. Every lesson and exercise is free and you can start without an account.

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