Zéro à NCLC 7
Odedara Labs
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01 · Tableau de bord

Where you actually are

Everything on this page is computed from what you have actually done — not from the plan's promises. If a number here looks bad, it is because the week was bad.

RankDébutant
Streak0
Days done0
Words mastered0
B2 / NCLC 7 by

Start with today's lesson. Everything you answer is stored and fed into the weekly test.

À faire maintenant

    Projection

    Recomputed every time you finish a weekly test. The model is printed underneath — nothing here is a guess dressed up as a number.

    What you are aiming at

    NCLC 7 in all four skills — not on average. That threshold opens the French-language category draws, whose CRS cut-offs run well below the general draws. The same level paired with CLB 5 English is worth +50 CRS points.

    TEF Canada paperFormatNCLC 7NCLC 9
    Compréhension orale listening60 q · 40 min249–279298–315
    Compréhension écrite reading50 q · 60 min206–232248–262
    Expression écrite writing2 sections · 60 min310–348371–392
    Expression orale speaking2 sections · 15 min310–348371–392
    Check the numbers before you book. The TEF Canada scale was rescaled in December 2023 and IRCC revises its equivalency tables periodically. These bands are for setting targets — confirm the current ones on canada.ca before you pay for a test date or count on a score.
    02 · Mots du jour

    Today's words

    Twelve words a day, six days a week, then four drills on those same words. A word only counts as known once you have got it right reading, hearing, writing and saying it.

    Today's lesson

    Twelve words a day, six days a week, then four drills on the same words — read, listen, write, speak. Nothing here is a link to somewhere else; the whole loop happens on this page.

    Week 1 · Day 1

    Salutations et politesse

    Greetings and courtesy — the first twelve words, and the ones you will use every single day for six months.

    Grammar target this week

    Watch / listen for this block

    Film of the week

    Mon lexique

    Every word you have been given, and how solid it is in each of the four skills. A word counts as mastered only when you have got it right in all four — reading it is not knowing it.

    FrançaisEnglishL · É · W · PWeek

    L = lire · É = écouter · W = écrire · P = parler

    03 · Dictionnaire

    Le dictionnaire

    Cherche n'importe quel mot — français ou anglais. Tu n'auras pas juste une traduction: le genre, le registre, ce qui se dit vraiment, les pièges, et des exemples. A translation tells you what a word means; this tells you how to use it without sounding foreign.

    Tape un mot ci-dessus. Les mots que tu as déjà appris répondent instantanément, même hors ligne — les autres demandent une explication complète à Claude, puis sont gardés en mémoire pour toujours.

    03 · Tests

    The weekly test

    Twenty questions across all four skills, drawn from the week's words and weighted three-to-one toward the ones you got wrong. Then it is marked, rated, and folded into your projection.

    The weekly test

    It unlocks once you have finished four of the week's six lessons. Twenty questions across all four skills, drawn from that week's words and weighted three-to-one toward the ones you got wrong. Then it rates you, tells you what your error pattern actually is, and moves your B1 and B2 dates.

    Week 1

    Test de la semaine 1

    Locked — finish four lessons this week to open it.

    Every test so far

    The average across all tests is the number that drives your B1 and B2 dates. One bad week moves it very little; four bad weeks move it a lot.

    WeekOverallLireÉcouterÉcrireParlerRating
    04 · SRLW

    Speak · Read · Listen · Write

    NCLC 7 is required in all four, separately. Your worst skill is your score — the other three cannot carry it. This page exists to tell you which one is currently sinking you.

    Which one needs the attention

    Ranked worst first, with what to actually do about it. The card outlined in orange is the one to spend this week on.

    Score by skill, week by week

    Four panels rather than four lines on one chart: at this scale you need to see which single skill is lagging, and a shared axis hides exactly that. The dashed line is 80% — the working target for NCLC 7.

    05 · Ressources

    What to watch, read and listen to

    Ordered so each thing is just inside what you can follow at that point in the plan. Every film carries a link that shows where it is streaming in Canada right now, because that changes month to month and I will not pretend otherwise.

    Listening — podcasts, radio, music

    The passive hours. Three and a half of them a day, which over 26 weeks is more input than the desk work. Start at the top of this list and move down as it stops being hard.

    The film list

    One film a week, ordered so that each is just inside what you can follow at that point. It starts with a film that has almost no dialogue and ends with one you will understand completely. From week 12 the list turns Québécois on purpose — the TEF has Canadian voices on it, and a learner raised only on Parisian French hears them as a different language.

    How to watch. French audio, French subtitles, always. English subtitles turn a film into reading practice with a soundtrack. Watch it once for the story and once for the language — the second pass is where the learning is.

    The library

    The standing resources, as opposed to the week-by-week ones. These are the things you keep open for six months. I have linked channels and sites rather than individual videos on purpose: a specific video URL rots within a year, a channel does not.

    06 · Jeux

    Arcade

    Five modes, all drawing on the words you have actually been taught, weighted toward the ones you keep getting wrong. Everything you answer here still counts toward mastery in your lexicon — it is the same data, played instead of drilled.

    Pick a mode

    Rewards

    Six month rewards, each unlocked by finishing the month, each one editable so it is something you actually want. The week rewards live on your profile with the day grid.

    08 · IA

    Parler à quelqu'un

    Quatre modes. Un tuteur qui corrige ton français, des jeux de rôle pour t'entraîner à parler, un prof de grammaire qui répond à n'importe quelle question, et un coach qui voit tes vrais chiffres et te dit quoi faire cette semaine.

    Chaque message utilise ton propre quota Claude. Les conversations ne sont pas gardées entre les sessions — copie ce qui compte.

    07 · Anglais

    The English track

    You already function in English. The job is not to improve it — it is to convert a level you already have into CRS points, at the lowest possible cost in time stolen from French.

    The English track

    You already function in English. The goal is not to improve — it is to convert a level you already have into points, at the lowest possible cost in time stolen from French.

    PeriodLoadWhat
    Months 1–2 · W1–W930 min/dayUpkeep only: reading or a podcast in English in the evening. No exam preparation — it would go stale before you sit anything.
    Month 3 · W10–W1290 min/dayThe intensive block. CELPIP-General (computer-based, Canadian accents) or IELTS General. Format work only: task structure, timing, the marking criteria. Sit it at the end of W12.
    Months 4–6 · W13–W260Done. Every minute goes back to French.
    Why not chase CLB 9. NCLC 7 French paired with CLB 5 English already triggers the +50 CRS points. Pushing English higher earns a few more points but costs weeks taken from French — and it is French that gets you into a category draw, which is worth far more than any marginal point.

    CELPIP or IELTS

    Both are accepted for Express Entry. Pick one in week 9 and never revisit the decision — switching costs you a week of format learning for no gain.

    CELPIP-GeneralIELTS General Training
    FormatFully computer-based, one sitting, about 3 hoursPaper or computer; speaking is a separate in-person interview
    AccentsCanadian throughoutBritish, Australian, and others
    SpeakingRecorded answers to a screen, no interviewerFace to face with an examiner
    ResultsUsually within daysUsually within 1–2 weeks
    Pick this ifYou would rather talk to a machine than a stranger, and you want Canadian accentsYou perform better with a human, or a test centre near you only offers IELTS
    What score you actually need. CLB 5 is the threshold that unlocks the +50 CRS bonus when paired with NCLC 7 French — and CLB 5 is a low bar for you. CLB 7 is worth taking because it costs you nothing extra. Do not chase CLB 9. The marginal points are small and the weeks come straight out of French, which is what actually gets you into a category draw.

    The three-week block

    Weeks 10 to 12, ninety minutes a day, and then it is closed forever. This is format work, not language work — treat it as learning a form, like a driving test.

    WeekFocusWhat you actually do
    W10DiagnoseSit one full timed practice test cold, on day one, before studying anything. It tells you which of the four papers is the only one worth your ninety minutes.
    W11Drill the formWriting and speaking templates. Both tests reward a predictable structure — an opening, two developed points, a close. Memorise the shape, not the content.
    W12Sit itTwo more full timed papers early in the week, then the real test. Book it in week 9 so this date exists before you need it.
    One trap worth naming. Strong English speakers routinely underperform on these tests, because they answer like a fluent person in conversation rather than like a candidate hitting a rubric. The examiner is ticking boxes. Give them the boxes.
    08 · Argumenter

    Argumenter

    The TEF does not test your French. It tests whether you can take a position and defend it, in writing and out loud, inside a fixed time. That is a separate skill from knowing the language, and most candidates who fail have the French but not this.

    The shape of a 200-word argument

    Section B of the written paper, and the second half of the oral. Learn one structure so completely that you can run it under pressure without thinking about it — then all your attention goes on the French.

    PositionOne sentence, no hedging. « Je suis convaincu que … » · « Il me semble essentiel de … »
    Argument 1Claim, then a concrete example. « D'abord, … En effet, … Par exemple, … »
    Argument 2A different kind of reason, not a restatement. « Par ailleurs, … » · « De plus, … »
    ConcessionThe move that separates B2 from B1. Grant something real, then turn it. « Certes, … Néanmoins, … » · « Il est vrai que … Cependant, … »
    CloseRestate, then widen slightly. « En définitive, … » · « C'est pourquoi il me paraît indispensable de … »
    The concession is where the marks are. A candidate who argues one side for 200 words reads as B1 however clean the grammar is. A candidate who concedes a real point and then answers it reads as B2 even with mistakes. If you learn one thing on this page, learn « Certes … néanmoins … ».

    Connecteurs, by the job they do

    Do not learn these as a list. Learn two per job, and use those two until they are automatic.

    Addingde plus · par ailleurs · en outre — never aussi at the head of a written sentence
    Opposingcependant · néanmoins · en revanche · toutefois
    Concedingcertes … mais · bien que + subjunctive · même si + indicative
    Causingcar · puisque (known cause) · étant donné que · en raison de + noun
    Concludingainsi · par conséquent · c'est pourquoi · en définitive
    Illustratingpar exemple · notamment · en effet (confirms, never indeed-as-contrast)

    The subjunctive, by trigger

    Never learn the subjunctive as a conjugation table. Learn the phrases that force it, as fixed units, and the verb form follows on its own. These six carry almost all of the exam.

    Necessityil faut que · il est essentiel que · il importe que
    Concessionbien que · quoique — the highest-value pair on this page
    Purposepour que · afin que
    Doubtje doute que · il n'est pas certain que · je ne pense pas que
    Emotionje regrette que · il est dommage que · je crains que
    Beforeavant que — but après que takes the indicative, which almost everyone gets wrong
    Register. The written paper wants vous, full negation (ne … pas, not the dropped ne of speech), and nous rather than on for the formal first person. The oral tolerates spoken forms. Writing the way you speak is the single most common way to lose marks on Section B.

    Practise it

    Give yourself a position you do not hold and defend it in 200 words in 45 minutes. Arguing a side you disagree with forces the concession move, which is the one that earns the level.

    09 · Badges

    Badges

    Earned only, never given. Each one is a real threshold rather than a participation mark — which is why several of them will sit locked for months.

    Badges

    Earned only, never given. Each one is a real threshold rather than a participation mark.

    10 · Profil

    The plan, the dates, the backups

    Le plan sur 26 semaines, the admin milestones with longer lead times than you would guess, et tout ce qui concerne les profils et les sauvegardes.

    Qui apprend ici

    Chaque profil a ses propres mots, ses propres scores, sa propre série. Les leçons sont partagées — écrite une fois, elle sert à tout le monde. Classement par points, so there is something to argue about at dinner.

    Une limite à connaître. Cette page utilise une base partagée, ce qui la rend interne à ton organisation Claude : la personne que tu ajoutes doit être connectée à Claude sur la même organisation. Sinon, elle utilise la copie locale (french/) sur sa propre machine, avec Export / Import pour comparer. Et les profils ne sont pas privés entre eux — chacun voit les chiffres de l'autre. Entre deux personnes qui apprennent ensemble c'est un avantage, mais autant le savoir.

    Admin milestones

    These are not learned, they are triggered — and several have longer lead times than you would guess. Missing the first one pushes everything else back.

    W1Start the credential assessment (ECA)6–12 weeks of processing. Started in W1 it is never on the critical path. Started in W20 it is the critical path.
    W12Sit the English testCELPIP or IELTS. Valid two years, which comfortably covers the rest of the process.
    W16Book the TEF Canada for W22Seats go 6–8 weeks ahead. Booking late means sitting a month later, and every downstream date moves with it.
    W22Sit the TEF CanadaCut the week back to 3 h/day. The result is valid two years.
    W25Results — and the retake decisionOne section below NCLC 7 cancels the benefit of the other three. Rebook the same day if it happens.
    W26Create the Express Entry profileThen calculate your CRS and watch the French-language category draws. That is what all of this was for.

    Working offline

    This page normally writes your progress to a synced database and asks Claude to compose each new lesson. Neither works without a connection — so it keeps a local copy of everything and lets you run days ahead of yourself.

    Cache the days ahead

    Weeks 1 and 2 — twelve lessons, 152 words — are built into the page and need nothing at all. Beyond those, this writes the next seven lessons now and stores them locally. Do it on a Sunday.

    Nothing cached ahead yet.

    Export everything

    One JSON file with every lesson, every score, every word in your lexicon and every test result. This is your backup and the way you move between this page and the local copy.

    Run it on your own machine

    A copy of this page lives in your project at french/index.html. It needs no build step and no internet — your Mac has python3, which is all it takes:

    python3 french/serve.py

    Then open localhost:8125. Export from here, import there, and a flight or a dead router costs you nothing.

    The shape of a day

    Three day shapes, repeated 26 times. What fills each block changes every month; the clock does not — that is what makes six months survivable. ≈ 6 h 50 of active work plus 3 h 30 of passive immersion, Monday to Friday.

    Build day Mon – Fri · 6 h 50 active

    TimeLengthBlockHow
    06:4515 minShadowingRepeat aloud behind a 2-minute clip. Ear first, before coffee.
    07:0045 minBreakfastPodcast running. Passive — take no notes.
    07:4590 minBloc 1 grammarNew structures from the course. Hardest work at the freshest hour.
    09:1520 minBreakAway from the screen. Walk.
    09:3545 minBloc 2 AnkiReviews first, then the day's new cards. Never skipped, not once.
    10:2010 minBreak
    10:3060 minBloc 3 readingRead, then mine whole sentences into Anki — never isolated words.
    11:3060 minLunch + walkPodcast on the walk.
    12:3060 minBloc 4 speakingLive tutor. The one block of the day that is not negotiable.
    13:3030 minBreak
    14:0060 minBloc 5 writingWrite, then submit it for correction. Writing without correction teaches you nothing.
    15:0030 minBreak
    15:3060 minBloc 6 listeningActive: dictation, transcription, replay. No subtitles.
    16:3090 minSport / outsideRecovery is part of the method, not time lost from it.
    18:0020 minAnki, 2nd passCatches the morning's new cards at the right interval.
    18:2030–90 minEnglishMonths 1–3 only. See the English track. Zero from Month 4.
    19:3060 minDinner
    20:3090 minImmersionA series or film in French, with French subtitles. Never English ones.
    22:0020 minReading in bedThen sleep. Consolidation happens there, not in a 13th hour.

    Review day Saturday · 5 h 30 active

    TimeLengthBlockHow
    08:0045 minAnkiSaturday excuses nothing.
    09:00120 minTimed testA weekly check; from Month 5, a real TEF section under exam conditions.
    11:1560 minError analysisEvery mistake goes into the error log and into Anki. This hour is what makes the test worth taking.
    12:3090 minLunch
    14:0060 minTutor — free talkNo prepared topic. This is the week's real test.
    15:1545 minWeek reviewHours done, cards added, what slipped, what changes on Monday.
    20:00120 minFrench filmFor pleasure. French subtitles.

    Active rest Sunday · 2 h — compulsory

    TimeLengthBlockHow
    09:0030 minAnkiThe only obligation of the day. Skipping one Sunday costs three days of catch-up.
    open90 minInput for pleasureComics (Astérix, Tintin, Persepolis), music, YouTube. No dictionary, no notes, no guilt.
    restEverything offThis is not a reward, it is engineering. Full-time learners collapse around week 8 — the ones who skip Sunday collapse sooner.
    The hour budget is deliberately generous. This pace adds up to roughly 1,083 active hours over 26 weeks. NCLC 7 needs about 650, so you should cross it around week 16. The surplus is not waste — it buys margin on exam day and puts the NCLC 8–9 bands within reach, and those are worth real CRS points. If a week falls apart, cut Bloc 6 first — never Anki, never the tutor.

    The six months

    Tick each day you actually did. Open a week for its five tasks. The grid remembers, so you can mark days from your phone and see them here.

    Month 1 · Weeks 1–4Target A1Page English

    Sound before sense

    Build the ear and the mouth before the grammar has anywhere to land. Ten days of pure phonetics at the start — the only point in six months where you can afford to spend time that way, and the one thing that is genuinely hard to fix later.

    What changes in the blocks

    • Bloc 1 — phonetics only for the first 10 days: nasal vowels (an / on / in), /y/ against /u/ (tu vs tout), the uvular R, liaison and linking. Only then: present tense, être / avoir, articles, gender, negation, questions.
    • Bloc 3 — graded A1 readers only. No native text: at this stage it teaches you nothing and costs you morale.
    • Bloc 4 — tutor 3×/week from Week 2, daily from Week 3.
    • Bloc 6 — slow French: Coffee Break French, Français Authentique.

    Grammar

    phoneticsprésentêtre / avoirarticlesgendernegationquestions

    Anki

    • 0 → 800 words · 30 new cards a day

    English

    • 30 min/day upkeep. No test preparation — it would be stale by the time you sit it.

    Admin

    • Start the ECA in Week 1. It takes 6–12 weeks and is only off the critical path if you begin now.
    Month reward — unlocked at 28/28 days A proper dictionary — Le Robert Micro. Earned in month one rather than bought on day one. Click to rewrite it. Make it something you actually want.
    Month 2 · Weeks 5–8Target A2Page mostly English

    Talking about the past

    The month French becomes usable. Everything that has ever happened to you becomes tellable — and the split between passé composé and imparfait is the most expensive single difficulty at this level.

    What changes in the blocks

    • Bloc 1 — passé composé (with avoir, then être, then participle agreement), imparfait, then the two in opposition. Near and simple future. Reflexive verbs.
    • Bloc 3 — A2 readers plus your first real articles (1jour1actu, Le Journal des Enfants).
    • Bloc 4 — tutor daily, 60 min. Topic prepared, wording not.
    • Bloc 5 — 150-word récits, corrected every day.
    • Bloc 6 — InnerFrench: B1 content at a slow delivery, built for exactly this moment.

    Grammar

    passé composéparticiple agreementimparfaitpc vs imparfaitfuturreflexives

    Anki

    • 800 → 1,800 words

    English

    • 30 min/day upkeep.
    Month reward — unlocked at 28/28 days A French film in an actual cinema, or the next volume of the comic series you started on Sundays. Click to rewrite it.
    Mois 3 · Semaines 9–12Target B1Page mixed

    Les pronoms — and the English test

    The pronoms compléments are what separate A2 from B1: as long as you keep repeating the noun, you sound like a beginner. This is also the only month where English deserves your time.

    Ce qui change — what changes

    • Bloc 1pronoms COD / COI, y, en, and above all their order. Conditionnel présent et passé. Relatifs qui / que / dont / où.
    • Bloc 3 — switch to native: Le Monde, Radio-Canada.
    • Bloc 4 — add a second tutor. One person recycles their own vocabulary after ten weeks, and you stop hearing anything new.
    • Bloc 5 — 180-word opinion pieces.
    • Bloc 6 — France Inter at full speed, first listen with no transcript.

    Grammaire

    COD / COIyenordre des pronomsconditionnelrelatifs

    Anki

    • 1 800 → 2 800 mots

    English — the intensive block

    • W10–W12: 90 min/day. CELPIP-General or IELTS General. Format only — your English is already there, the exam is the obstacle. Sit it at the end of W12.
    Récompense du mois — unlocked at 28/28 days Dinner out the night the English test is done. That track is closed for good — mark it. Cliquez pour réécrire — click to rewrite.
    Mois 4 · Semaines 13–16Seuil B2Page surtout français

    Argumenter

    Le TEF ne teste pas votre français — il teste votre capacité à défendre une position, à l'écrit comme à l'oral. On commence cette forme précise maintenant, quatre mois avant l'examen.

    Ce qui change dans les blocs

    • Bloc 1le subjonctif présent, appris par déclencheur et jamais par tableau : il faut que, bien que, pour que, je doute que. Connecteurs logiques : cependant, néanmoins, en revanche, or, ainsi. Le registre : tu / vous, et l'écart entre l'oral et l'écrit.
    • Bloc 3 — natif exclusivement : éditoriaux, essais, tribunes.
    • Bloc 4débat structuré avec le tuteur : vous défendez une position qu'on vous impose.
    • Bloc 5 — 250 mots argumentés en 45 minutes. C'est déjà exactement la Section B de l'expression écrite.
    • Bloc 6JT de TV5Monde, accents québécois.

    Grammaire

    subjonctifconnecteursregistrediscours rapportéaccents régionaux

    Anki

    • 2 800 → 3 600 mots

    Anglais

    • Zéro. Le test est passé — récupérez les 90 minutes pour le Bloc 5.

    Administratif

    • Réservez le TEF Canada en S16 pour une date en S22. Les centres se remplissent 6 à 8 semaines à l'avance.
    Récompense du mois — 28/28 jours Un week-end entier sans rien : deux jours, zéro Anki. Le seul des six mois — et il se mérite. Cliquez pour réécrire.
    Mois 5 · Semaines 17–20NCLC 7 franchiPage français

    Le format TEF

    Arrêtez d'apprendre le français. Apprenez l'examen. Des candidats parfaitement B2 ratent une section parce qu'ils en découvrent le format le jour même.

    Les quatre épreuves, en détail

    • Compréhension orale — 60 questions en 40 minutes. Débit rapide, non scénarisé, accents régionaux, aucune réécoute. La contrainte est le temps, pas le vocabulaire.
    • Compréhension écrite — 50 questions en 60 minutes. On y teste le survol sous pression, pas la compréhension fine.
    • Expression écrite — Section A : compléter un fait divers, ≈ 80 mots. Section B : défendre une position, ≈ 200 mots. 60 minutes au total.
    • Expression orale — Section A : obtenir une information à partir d'une annonce, 5 min. Section B : convaincre quelqu'un, 10 min. Deux jeux de rôle, pas une conversation.
    • Le samedi devient un test blanc complet : les quatre sections d'affilée, chronométrées.

    Focus

    CO chronométréeCE en survolEE section AEE section BEO jeux de rôle

    Anki

    • 3 600 → 4 200, et bascule des mots isolés vers les collocations : c'est ce qui fait monter les notes d'expression.

    Anglais

    • Zéro.
    Récompense du mois — 28/28 jours Un bon casque audio pour la section de compréhension orale. Utile le jour J, et mérité. Cliquez pour réécrire.
    Mois 6 · Semaines 21–26ExécutionPage tout en français

    L'examen, puis l'attente

    Six semaines et non quatre : les résultats mettent trois à quatre semaines à arriver, et cette attente fait partie du plan au lieu d'être un trou dedans.

    Semaine par semaine

    • S21 — dernier test blanc complet. Repérez la section la plus faible et passez la semaine entière dessus, sur elle seule.
    • S22TEF Canada. Allégez la semaine : 3 h par jour, parlez tous les jours, dormez. Réviser intensément la semaine de l'examen fait baisser les notes, ce n'est pas une légende.
    • S23–S24 — maintien à 3 h par jour. Ne vous arrêtez pas : si une section passe sous le seuil vous repassez tout de suite, et un repassage rouillé est un droit d'inscription jeté par la fenêtre.
    • S25 — résultats. Toute section sous NCLC 7 → réinscription le jour même (attention au délai obligatoire entre deux tentatives), et travail sur cette seule section.
    • S26 — ECA en main, résultat d'anglais en main, TEF en main : création du profil Entrée express et calcul du CRS.

    À avoir réuni

    • L'évaluation des diplômes (ECA) — lancée en S1
    • Le résultat d'anglais — obtenu en S12
    • Le résultat du TEF Canada — S25
    • Passeport valide et fonds de subsistance

    Après

    • À NCLC 7 vous avez les points, pas encore un français confortable. Si vous visez le Québec ou une communauté francophone, prévoyez de continuer vers C1 après le test : l'examen est la porte, pas la destination.
    Récompense finale — 42/42 jours Celle-ci, vous la choisissez maintenant, avant de commencer. Et faites-la grande. Cliquez pour l'écrire. Aujourd'hui, pas dans six mois.