Monologue de 2 minutes : passer du récit au projet
Oral exam, part 1: guided interview, then a two-minute monologue on « un projet qui vous tient à cœur ». The candidate speaks for 3 min 40, narrating a trip to Lisbon in chronological order - the flight, the hostel, the tram, the pastries - without ever naming a project or a next step. The examiner interrupts: « Et concrètement, où en êtes-vous de ce projet ? » The candidate answers: « Euh… oui, c'était super. » Six seconds of silence follow. The examiner moves on to the next part of the test.
1. What is the examiner testing with that follow-up, and why does the answer fail?
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What is being tested. Not the trip. The examiner is checking whether the candidate can move from narrative to project logic: state where things stand now, and what happens next. The word concrètement signals that an evaluation (« c'était super ») will not do; où en êtes-vous asks for a stage, not a memory.
Why the answer fails:
- it answers a question about the present with a comment on the past;
- it does not recycle the question's vocabulary - the expected shape is « j'en suis à… / j'ai déjà… / il me reste à… »;
- the six-second silence costs more than a small grammar error would: B1 oral interaction is graded on keeping the exchange alive.
What a passing answer sounds like:
« J'en suis au stade où j'ai déjà pris contact avec deux écoles de langue ; il me reste à choisir la date et à vérifier le budget logement. Concrètement, je dois décider avant la fin du mois. »
Three moves in two sentences: stage, remaining step, deadline. That is exactly what où en êtes-vous asks for.
2. Rebuild the two-minute monologue: give a plan with timings.
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0:00–0:20 - Name it and commit. One sentence: what the project is, and why you. « Mon projet, c'est de partir étudier six mois à Lisbonne l'an prochain, parce que je veux travailler dans le tourisme. »
0:20–0:50 - Origin, compressed. The trip becomes two sentences of evidence, not a travel diary. « J'y suis allé deux semaines l'été dernier, et c'est là que j'ai eu envie de m'y installer pour étudier. »
0:50–1:20 - What is done. Past tenses at the service of the project: budget estimated, two schools identified, level test taken.
1:20–1:45 - Next step and obstacle. The examiner is waiting for this: what you still need, what could block you, what you would do about it.
1:45–2:00 - Close. One line back to the opening: « Donc l'objectif, c'est de déposer le dossier avant mars. »
Why this works: the trip stops being the topic and becomes a supporting fact. Chronology is the enemy here - a monologue organised by time produces a list; organised by project stage it produces an argument, which is what the grid rewards. Rehearse the 20-second framing separately: if the opening names the project, the rest cannot drift.
3. Give three French phrases for repairing or gaining time, and say exactly where each would fit in this exam.
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1. Reformulate the question before answering.
« Si je comprends bien, vous me demandez où j'en suis aujourd'hui ? » Where: right after the examiner's follow-up. It buys 3–4 seconds, checks you have understood, and forces you into the vocabulary of the question (où j'en suis).
2. Re-centre after drifting.
« Ce que je veux dire, c'est que… » Where: mid-monologue, when you notice you have been describing pastries for 90 seconds. It signals to the examiner that you are aware of the drift and are correcting it - which itself is a B1 skill.
3. Buy time without silence.
« Comment dire… enfin, disons que… » or « Laissez-moi reformuler : … » Where: on the six-second gap. Any of these is better than silence: hesitation markers are part of spoken French, whereas a blank is a breakdown in interaction.
Also legitimate: « Pardon, vous pouvez répéter la dernière partie ? » - cheaper than answering the wrong question confidently.
Caution: two repairs per exam, maximum, and always followed by content. Three « comment dire » in two minutes stops sounding like a strategy and starts sounding like a wall.