Congratulations! You’ve just made the great decision of moving to Canada. The country with the best immigration policy in the world. Just one hurdle to overcome. The TEF exam.
TEF stands for Test d’Évaluation de Français. Just like the IELTS for English countries, TEF is a French language proficiency examination. It’s aimed at evaluating your French reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills.
Whether you are coming in for a career, settlement, academics, or other purposes, the Canadian government recognizes TEF as part of the immigration procedures.
As you prepare to undertake this exam, below are some tips that should give you a headstart.
Put In The Effort
Hard work is the key to success. You might want to ask yourself again, am I ready for this? If that’s a yes, plan your time to make sure you cover the whole syllabus.
You can start by downloading “TEF le manuel du candidat”. You will find every bit of information about the exam in this manual. It will also help you to understand the style, structure, format, and other insights regarding the exam.
The manual also recommends relevant material for practice. You can find more resources such as ebooks, online tutorials, CDs, French grammar books, and YouTube videos created to help candidates excel.
Seek Professional Help
Getting guidance from professionals cannot be overstated. Seek out teachers whose area of expertise is in helping people like you.
Professional guidance saves you from stacking yourself with unnecessary books. There are lots of TEF exam prep programs organized by TEF experts online. These programs will cut the chase for you. They also allow you to put your focus where it matters most.
Self-study might not get you prepared better. Plus, the process can be too slow. Professional TEF Exam trainers can walk you through to success without wasting time on irrelevant things.
Know Your Position
The American Council of Teaching Foreign Language (ACTFL) states it takes an estimated 500 hours of professional learning curriculum to learn a new language. Is this a hard rule about how long it takes to master the French language? No, there are other factors.
The outcome of your preparation will be determined by how much you understand the language beforehand. By assessing your stand, you will know your weak areas and understand what aspect needs improvement.
Are you a total beginner? Have you learned a foreign language in the past? Which country do you live in? Believe it or not, these are some factors that will influence how quickly you grasp the language.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
No one learns a language by memorizing thousands of words every day. That’s not the smartest thing to do. Create a plan based on the available time and amount of study you need to complete.
If you have the opportunity, communicate with native speakers. Write frequently to express your thoughts. Watching French movies and listening to TV channels will also help.
Go for success
With everyday practice and a solid plan, success in the TEF exam is not out of reach. Just make sure you work out a plan that suits you best. Commit to consistent practice. And success will be yours.