Le message sur répondeur : noter la bonne version
A candidate practises with a 1 min 20 answering-machine message: slight background noise, slightly muffled voice. The message runs: « Bonjour, c'est Mme Roussel, du cabinet Delmas. Votre entretien de jeudi, 10 heures, est décalé… en fait, non, je me corrige : vendredi, 14 heures. Même adresse, 12 rue des Lilas, mais l'entrée se fait par la cour : le code 41A27 ne marche plus, il faut composer le 2083. Pensez à apporter votre CV et une pièce d'identité - le diplôme, on l'a déjà. Ah, oui : demandez l'accueil, bureau B, troisième étage ; l'ascenseur est en panne depuis lundi. » The candidate's notes read: « jeudi 10h - 12 rue des Lilas - code 41A27 - CV + diplôme ». He then says he found the message « facile ».
1. Which two items in the candidate's notes are the most costly errors, and what in the audio should have triggered a correction?
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1. The day and time - the costliest error. The message contains an explicit self-repair: a false start (jeudi, 10 heures) immediately cancelled by « en fait, non, je me corrige : vendredi, 14 heures ». Two things make this hard at B1:
- the first version is delivered slowly and clearly, the correction faster and with falling intonation;
- the repair arrives after the listener has already written something down, so the brain treats the first number as settled. Consequence: the candidate turns up on the wrong day. No recovery is possible on site.
2. The document list - the trap of the excluded item. « le diplôme, on l'a déjà » mentions the diploma only to exclude it. Learners at B1 tend to record every noun they recognise and to drop the polarity (ne… plus, déjà, sauf, pas). The candidate will carry an unnecessary document and may believe the file is complete.
The wrong access code is also an error, but a recoverable one: the message itself signals the change (ne marche plus… il faut composer le 2083) and the candidate can ask at the entrance. The general rule: note the last version of any number or time, and write down the polarity word next to every item on a list.
2. Rewrite the candidate's notes as four usable lines for the day of the interview.
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VENDREDI 14h (corrigé - pas jeudi 10h) Cabinet Delmas, 12 rue des Lilas - entrée par la cour Code 2083 (le 41A27 ne marche plus) Apporter CV + pièce d'identité - diplôme inutile Accueil → bureau B, 3e étage - ascenseur en panne
Why this shape:
- Time first, correction in brackets. If the candidate only writes vendredi 14h, he will doubt his own notes later (« mais le message disait jeudi ? »). The bracketed correction closes the question.
- The excluded item is kept, marked « inutile ». Deleting it would leave a hole; keeping it prevents re-checking the audio.
- The code sits next to the address, because the two are used together at the door, and the old code is mentioned so he does not use it out of habit.
- Action words, not sentences. A note read while walking into a building must be scannable in three seconds.
3. The candidate says he did not understand « composer le 2083 ». What can he infer from context, and does the gap matter for the exercise?
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Inference from context. Composer collocates with numbers on a keypad; the sentence is inside an access instruction (l'entrée se fait par la cour) and is contrasted with a code that no longer works. So the function of the number is clear even if the verb is not: you type it on a keypad to open the door.
Does it matter? For the exercise, no: the item tested is whether the candidate captured the updated number, not the verb. For real life, yes, but the failure is self-correcting (you arrive, you look for a keypad, you ask).
Rule to teach: when a word is missing, ask what function the unknown item has - place, time, action, document - and whether not knowing it changes what you will physically do. If yes, keep listening or plan a repair; if no, let it go and stay with the flow. Candidates who stop on one word lose the two sentences that follow - which here contain the corrected time.