Ross French Academy
Format officiel de la section A vérifié
Expression écrite (Writing) • Section A
Continue a Fait Divers Clearly
You understand the opening, but do not know what should happen next. Many candidates restart the story, repeat the prompt, add impossible details, or change tense without control. A stronger continuation preserves the facts already given and develops a believable sequence with new, precise information.
Simple English guidance • récit, temps du passé et exemples en français
You restart instead of continuing
Your first sentences reproduce information the reader already knows and use valuable time without moving the event forward.
New details contradict the prompt
A person, place, time, or cause changes without explanation, so the continuation no longer fits the opening.
Events and background are unclear
Passé composé, imparfait, and plus-que-parfait are used randomly instead of showing sequence and context.
Réponse rapide • Answer in 20 seconds
Continue the event—do not rewrite the opening
Read the title and the beginning carefully, then identify what is already fixed: the people, place, time, and initial event. Your response should add a logical next action, concrete details, reactions, and a believable outcome. Use the Ross FAIT Method to keep the continuation focused.
Amorce : « Un incendie s’est déclaré mardi matin dans une boulangerie du centre-ville. Les employés ont immédiatement appelé les secours. »
Do not begin again with « Mardi matin, un incendie s’est déclaré… ». Continue with the firefighters’ arrival, the evacuation, the cause, damage, witnesses, and what happens next.
Protect the fixed information
Keep the same people, location, time frame, and event unless the continuation explains a change.
Move the story forward
Decide what happens immediately after the last sentence of the prompt.
Add useful details
Include who acted, what they did, why, how, and what witnesses or authorities reported.
Give an outcome
End with the result, investigation, condition of those involved, or a planned follow-up.
Format officiel • Section A at a glance
What Section A requires
temps de rédaction
writing time
mots minimum
minimum word count
continuer un article
continue the text
ajouter des informations
develop new details
Official preparation guidance explains that you must continue the beginning of a text coherently and relevantly while adding details, explanations, and new information not already present in the prompt. It also recommends reading the subject carefully and using the title to guide the next events.
Do I need to write a title?
The task gives you the beginning of an article and normally provides the context or title needed to guide the continuation. Focus your exam response on continuing the text. Do not spend time inventing a second title or repeating the supplied opening unless the on-screen instruction explicitly asks for something different.
What official evaluation guidance considers
Do the new facts fit the subject and the beginning of the article?
Does the continuation develop events through details, explanations, and illustrations?
Do the people, actions, causes, and outcomes form a believable sequence?
Do sentences connect clearly through time, cause, contrast, and consequence?
Are structures and words varied, accurate, precise, and suitable for the event?
Are agreements, accents, sentence boundaries, and punctuation controlled?
Diagnostic • Find the real Writing problem
Why your fait divers loses coherence
You do not understand part of the prompt
Your priority is identifying the essential nouns, verbs, time expressions, and the final sentence before inventing anything.
You have no next-event plan
Your priority is a four-line event chain before writing: action, reaction, explanation, and outcome.
You invent too many dramatic details
Your priority is plausibility. One clear event with useful details is stronger than several unrelated surprises.
Your sequence is clear but language is unstable
Your priority is past-tense control, agreements, event vocabulary, and a short correction routine.
Méthode FAIT • Plan the continuation
Build a believable event chain
Faits donnés
Write four notes: who, where, when, and what has already happened. These facts become your boundaries.
Action suivante
Choose the immediate next event. Avoid jumping several hours or days ahead without a transition.
Informations précises
Add two or three useful details: witness reaction, cause, rescue action, damage, identity, or official statement.
Terminer par la suite
Close with the result, investigation, recovery, reopening, arrest, warning, or future preventive measure.
Useful detail categories
Age, role, relationship, witness, employee, resident, emergency worker.
Alerted, evacuated, searched, discovered, transported, questioned, repaired.
Weather, technical failure, distraction, misunderstanding, damaged equipment.
Injury, delay, closure, damage, reunion, investigation, public warning.
Witnesses called for help, residents were surprised, officials reassured the public.
An inquiry begins, the site reopens, the person recovers, or new measures are announced.
Temps du passé • Make the sequence visible
Give each tense a clear job
The official task does not prescribe a mandatory tense formula. The system below is a practical Ross French Academy strategy for making a past event easy to follow.
Main completed events
Les pompiers sont arrivés. Ils ont évacué le bâtiment. Le feu a été maîtrisé.
Background and ongoing conditions
La rue était calme. Plusieurs clients attendaient. Il pleuvait fortement.
An earlier past event
Un employé avait oublié d’éteindre une machine avant de quitter les lieux.
Official statement or next measure
La police indique que l’enquête se poursuit. La mairie installera de nouveaux panneaux.
Sequence example
Plan de 25 minutes • A practical routine
Protect time for the final check
3 min • Read and plan
- Underline fixed facts.
- Identify the last completed action.
- Write a four-step FAIT plan.
18–19 min • Write
- Continue immediately from the prompt.
- Add precise new information.
- Keep the sequence believable and easy to follow.
3–4 min • Check
- Confirm at least 80 words.
- Review verb tenses and agreements.
- Remove repeated or contradictory details.
Modèle original • 97 words
See a coherent continuation
Un chien retrouve un enfant perdu
« Samedi après-midi, une famille se promenait dans un grand parc lorsqu’elle a perdu de vue son fils de huit ans. Après plusieurs minutes de recherche, les parents ont remarqué que leur chien avait disparu lui aussi. »
The continuation must begin after both the child and dog have disappeared. It should not retell the family walk.
Suite de l’article
Alertés par les parents, plusieurs promeneurs ont immédiatement commencé les recherches dans le parc. Le chien de la famille, qui suivait une piste depuis quelques minutes, s’est soudain dirigé vers une petite cabane abandonnée.
L’enfant s’y était réfugié après avoir perdu de vue ses parents près du lac. Il était fatigué et légèrement déshydraté, mais ne présentait aucune blessure. Les secours l’ont examiné avant de le rendre à sa famille, très émue.
Selon la police, le garçon avait marché près de deux kilomètres. La municipalité prévoit maintenant d’installer de nouveaux panneaux afin de mieux indiquer les sentiers.
Facts preserved
The same family, child, dog, park, and Saturday event remain central.
Immediate next action
Other visitors begin searching and the dog follows a trail.
Precise new information
The cabin, lake, dehydration, distance, and rescue examination develop the story.
Clear follow-up
The child returns safely and the municipality announces a preventive measure.
Mini-entraînement • Plan the next events
Build three FAIT continuations
Before revealing the suggested direction, identify the fixed facts and plan an action, two precise details, and an outcome.
1. Une valise oubliée
« Un voyageur a découvert une valise abandonnée sur le quai d’une gare très fréquentée. Il a immédiatement prévenu un agent de sécurité. »
Voir une piste FAIT
Details: specialist team, delayed trains, owner identified through a label.
Outcome: no dangerous item; service resumes and the owner is questioned.
2. Un restaurant évacué
« Vendredi soir, une forte odeur de fumée a surpris les clients d’un restaurant. Le responsable a demandé à tout le monde de sortir calmement. »
Voir une piste FAIT
Details: overheated electrical equipment, no injuries, nearby street closed.
Outcome: temporary closure and safety inspection before reopening.
3. Une découverte au bord du lac
« Deux adolescents faisaient du vélo près d’un lac lorsqu’ils ont aperçu un animal incapable de sortir de l’eau. »
Voir une piste FAIT
Details: injured young deer, safe intervention, veterinary examination.
Outcome: recovery centre and later release planned.
Journal de cohérence • Review the continuation
Track where the story breaks
| Problem | What it looks like | Correction question |
|---|---|---|
| Prompt repetition | The first two sentences retell the opening. | What is the first genuinely new action? |
| Contradiction | A person or place changes without explanation. | Does every new detail respect the fixed facts? |
| Unclear cause | A major event happens with no logical trigger. | What caused this action or discovery? |
| No outcome | The response stops during the action. | What happened to the people, place, or investigation afterward? |
Plan de 7 jours • Focused practice
Seven days to a clearer fait divers
Fixed facts
Extract who, where, when, and what from ten short prompts.
Next actions
Write three logical next events for five openings.
Precise details
Add causes, reactions, and consequences without changing the main event.
Past tenses
Practise background, completed events, and earlier past actions.
25 minutes
Write one full continuation under test conditions.
Coherence audit
Check repetitions, contradictions, missing causes, and weak outcomes.
Rewrite
Improve the same response after feedback instead of changing topics immediately.
Votre prochaine étape • Your next step
Turn your plan into accurate French
The Ross French Academy Expression écrite course teaches separate strategies for Sections A and B, past-tense control, fait divers planning, vocabulary, model answers, timed practice, and self-review. If you already complete the task but cannot see why your story loses coherence or accuracy, personalised correction identifies the exact problems in your own writing.
Questions fréquentes • FAQ
Expression écrite Section A FAQ
How long is TEF Canada Expression écrite Section A?
Should I repeat the beginning of the article?
Do I need a new title?
Which tense should I use?
Can I invent new information?
How many paragraphs should I write?
Should a fait divers include my opinion?
Can I use a dictionary during the test?
Is the sample story an official TEF question?
Continuez votre préparation • Related guides
More Expression écrite Guides
Sources officielles • Official verification
- Format officiel du TEF Canada • Official test format
- Le fait divers • Official Section A preparation guidance
- Évaluation du TEF • Official assessment information
Ross French Academy provides independent TEF Canada preparation. The Ross FAIT Method, original prompt, model continuation, tense guidance, diagnostic framework, and practice activities in this article are independent learning materials. They are not official TEF questions or past exam papers.
Last verified against official sources: July 27, 2026