TEF Canada speaking section A: getting information on the phone

What section A asks you to do

The TEF Canada speaking test, run by CCI Paris Île-de-France (Le français des affaires), lasts 15 minutes and has two sections: section A (5 minutes) and section B (10 minutes). Both are conversations with the examiner.

In section A, the starting point is an everyday advert or notice: a job offer, a service, a leisure activity, a flat… You phone to get more details and ask about ten questions. The examiner plays the person you are calling.

• Time: 5 minutes.
• Your role: the caller, the one asking the questions.
• The other person: the examiner, playing whoever placed the advert or handles it.
• Register: a formal conversation.

So you lead the exchange: if you run out of questions, the conversation stops. The whole challenge is having enough leads to fill the 5 minutes without asking pointless questions.

How section A is marked

According to CCI Paris Île-de-France, section A assesses three skills: getting information, asking the other person to clarify and holding a formal conversation. For the whole test, vocabulary, syntax (sentences, tenses, moods) and pronunciation are assessed too. Your performance is assessed by at least two graders.

Applied to a phone call, that gives very concrete questions:

• Do you get useful information? Questions that cover several aspects (price, conditions, how it works, special cases) and do not ask again what the advert already says.
• Do you get the other person to clarify? Following up on a vague answer, asking how something works, checking that you have understood.
• Is the conversation formal from start to finish? Greeting, reason for calling, « vous », the polite conditional, thanks and goodbye.
• Are your questions well formed? Syntax is one of the criteria, and in section A it shows mostly in your questions.
• Are you easy to understand? Pronunciation is assessed by the graders; our tool does not assess it.

Since 11 December 2023, TEF Canada speaking has been scored out of 699, with its own NCLC conversion bands: NCLC 7, for example, runs from 456 to 493 points. Your results also show an « Équivalence ancien score » (old-scale equivalent: 310 to 348 for the same NCLC 7). IRCC’s Express Entry page, updated 16 October 2026, says this is the figure to enter in an Express Entry profile. All the bands are in our NCLC score chart.

What a strong call does

• It opens with the reason for calling. A greeting, why you are calling and, if useful, one sentence of context: « Je viens d’emménager dans le quartier et je me demande si ce serait une bonne solution pour aller au travail. » (“I’ve just moved to the area and I’m wondering whether this would be a good way to get to work.”) The other person knows straight away what you are after.
• It goes beyond the advert. An advert is a few lines long: your job is to get what it does not say. Start from what it says and go further: « L’annonce parle d’une location à la journée ou au mois : proposez-vous une formule à la semaine ? » (“The advert mentions daily or monthly rental: do you offer a weekly option?”)
• It covers different topics. Price and payment, conditions (age, documents, level), how it works (place, hours, length), booking, special cases (cancellation, breakdown, bad weather).
• It asks for clarification. A vague answer (« ça dépend », “it depends”) calls for a follow-up: « Ça dépend de quoi, exactement ? » That is one of the three skills assessed.
• It varies the question forms: « est-ce que », inversion, question words, indirect questions (see the forms to know).
• It reacts to the answers. « C’est noté », « C’est rassurant », « Je vois » (“noted”, “that’s reassuring”, “I see”): a conversation is not a questionnaire.
• It ends properly: a summary of what you found out, what happens next (« Je vous rappelle d’ici jeudi », “I’ll call you back by Thursday”), thanks and a polite goodbye.

A 5-step method

1. Note what the advert says… and what it doesn’t

Every line of the advert is a lead for questions, and everything it leaves out is another one. With the bike rental advert used below:

Key words: tarifs (rates), une caution (a deposit), en cas de vol (if it is stolen), l’autonomie (battery range), les réparations (repairs).

2. Think in question families, not a list

When you practise, get used to thinking in themes rather than reciting ten memorised questions: price and payment, conditions, how it works, booking, special cases, next steps. With five or six themes in mind, you find your questions as the conversation goes and can bounce off the answers.

3. Open the call

Greet the person, say why you are calling and, if you like, add one sentence on why the advert interests you. Ask whether they have a moment: it is polite, and it gets the conversation going.

4. Ask, listen, follow up

One question at a time. Listen to the answer: it often contains your next question (« un dépôt de 200 dollars » → « Est-il encaissé tout de suite ? », “a $200 deposit” → “is it charged straight away?”). React briefly before moving on, and rephrase when a point matters: « Si je comprends bien, … ? » (“If I understand correctly…?”).

5. Sum up and say goodbye

To finish, sum up the key information in one sentence, say what happens next (booking, calling back, coming to the shop), thank the person and say goodbye. A call that ends with « bon, ok, merci » leaves the formal conversation unfinished.

One advert, two calls: B1 then C1

This advert was written for this site, like all our practice prompts: it is not a real exam question. The employee’s answers are invented too.

Call 1 — estimated B1 (10 questions)

The call does its job: the candidate greets the employee, says why they are calling, asks ten questions on different points (price, deposit, documents, battery range, opening hours, location, picking up the bike) and ends politely. What keeps it at B1:

• almost every question is built the same way (rising intonation or « est-ce que »), including several casual turns of phrase that clash with a formal conversation: « Combien ça coûte », « quels documents je dois apporter », « c’est où, le magasin ? »;
• one question asks what the advert already says: « Est-ce que le casque est fourni ? » (“Is the helmet provided?”);
• no follow-up at all: when the employee says « ça dépend du terrain » (“it depends on the terrain”) or mentions a $200 deposit, the candidate jumps to the next question;
• vague vocabulary (« une garantie », “a guarantee”, for « une caution », a deposit) and register slips: « Ouais », « Super », « Je veux » instead of « je voudrais »;
• two grammar errors: « Si je vais louer » → « Si je loue » (no future after this « si »); « c’est possible que je viens » → « que je vienne » (subjunctive).

Estimate: B1, roughly NCLC 6 if section B is at the same level. Our tool would then show the speaking band for NCLC 6, 422 to 455 out of 699: an estimated band, not a score.

Call 2 — estimated C1 (about twelve questions)

Key words: une empreinte de carte (a card pre-authorisation), une crevaison (a flat tire), porter plainte (to report it to the police), une franchise (a deductible), une côte (a hill), des garde-boue (mudguards).

Same advert, same answers from the employee, but a very different call:

Estimate: C1, roughly NCLC 9 if section B is at the same level (estimated band 518 to 555 out of 699). The second call is not better because it is longer, but because each answer from the employee helps the candidate ask a sharper question.

Asking questions in French: the forms to know

English builds most questions with “do” or “does”; French has several ways to ask the same thing, from casual to formal. In a formal conversation, alternate between them: that is what makes your questions varied without effort.

Question words give you ten different questions on the same topic:

• Quel, quelle, quels, quelles (what, which): « Quels documents dois-je apporter ? » · « À quelle heure ouvrez-vous le samedi ? »
• Combien (de) (how much, how many): « Combien coûte la location à la semaine ? » · « Combien de kilomètres peut-on parcourir ? »
• Où (where): « Où peut-on récupérer le vélo ? »
• Quand, à partir de quand, jusqu’à quand (when, from when, until when): « À partir de quand le vélo est-il disponible ? »
• Comment (how): « Comment se passe la réservation ? »
• Pourquoi (why): « Pourquoi déconseillez-vous la neige ? »
• Que, qu’est-ce que, qu’est-ce qui (what): « Que comprend le prix ? » · « Qu’est-ce qui est inclus dans la location ? »
• Qui (who): « Qui s’occupe des réparations ? »
• Lequel, laquelle (which one): « Lequel de vos modèles conseillez-vous pour une côte ? »

Useful phrases on the phone

Two phrases do most of the work in section A: « Pourriez-vous… ? » (Could you…?) and « J’aimerais savoir… » (I’d like to know…). They make any question polite.

Costly mistakes

• Asking what the advert already says. « Est-ce que le casque est fourni ? » when the advert says « Casque et antivol fournis »: a wasted question. Start from the advert and go further.
• Stopping at four or five questions. Section A asks for about ten: keep spare themes in reserve (special cases, conditions, next steps).
• Firing off questions without listening. An interrogation with no reactions or follow-ups does not show that you can ask for clarification, one of the skills assessed.
• Slipping into casual French. « Ouais », « Super », « Ça coûte combien ? », or « tu »: section A is a formal conversation, from the first word to the last.
• Building indirect questions like direct ones. « Pourriez-vous me dire qu’est-ce que vous proposez ? » → « … ce que vous proposez ? »; « J’aimerais savoir est-ce qu’il faut réserver » → « … s’il faut réserver ». Where English simply says “what” or “whether”, French needs « ce que » and « si » here.
• Mixing two question forms. « Est-ce que la location coûte-t-elle cher ? » → « Est-ce que la location coûte cher ? » or « La location coûte-t-elle cher ? ».
• Talking about yourself instead of asking. One sentence of context helps the other person; two minutes about your life make you lose sight of the goal, which is getting information.

To practise with our tool, record only your own lines: opening the call, your questions, your reactions and your thanks. Pause briefly after each question, as if the examiner were answering, and react as if you had heard an answer. The assessment is based on the transcript: pronunciation is not assessed. The level shown is an estimate; the preview is free and the full report comes with a pack or a pass (see pricing).

Your turn: call about this advert and get your call corrected

Record your answer (or type it): free preview with your estimated NCLC level and your 2 most important corrections. The assessment is based on the transcript: pronunciation is not assessed.

TCF Canada TEF Canada

Task Section A · Getting informationSection B · Convincing

Vélos électriques

Vous avez lu cette annonce et vous êtes intéressé(e). Vous téléphonez pour avoir plus d’informations. Posez une dizaine de questions. L’examinateur joue le rôle de votre interlocuteur.

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Section A FAQ