Expression écrite en anglais : niveau B1+

Un billet de blog dans un registre personnel ("you must go", "my advice") qui traite les cinq points de la consigne, en paragraphes, avec des adjectifs précis et une adresse au lecteur.

Endroit et adresse (Café du Parc, Rue des Tilleuls), description (tables en bois, plantes, gâteaux), raisons (atmosphère calme, propriétaire aimable), horaires et prix (9 h à 18 h, sauf lundi ; café à deux euros), conseil (y aller l'après-midi, s'asseoir dehors).

My favourite place: the Café du Parc

If you visit Namur, you must go to the Café du Parc! It is a small café at the end of the Rue des Tilleuls, next to a beautiful park. I discovered it two years ago with my best friend, and now I go there almost every Saturday.

The place is very cosy. There are old wooden tables, lots of plants and a big window with a view of the trees. They sell delicious homemade cakes, and my favourite one is the chocolate and orange cake. The owner, Mrs Lambert, is really kind, and she always says hello with a big smile. What I like most is the quiet atmosphere: it's the perfect place to read a book or to do homework.

The café is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., every day except Monday, and a coffee costs about two euros. My advice? Go there in the afternoon and sit outside if the weather is nice. You will love it!

Le jury évalue l'expression écrite avec six critères : (1) pertinence, (2) cohérence et cohésion, (3) vocabulaire suffisant et adéquat, (4) orthographe, (5) temps et modes, (6) règles grammaticales de base et courantes. L'unité est considérée comme acquise quand l'ensemble des critères est satisfait.

1. Pertinence : en partie. Le courriel informel et le thème du voyage sont respectés, mais le texte compte 91 mots (120 demandés) et l'auteur ne raconte qu'une activité personnelle.
2. Cohérence et cohésion : non. Aucun paragraphe, aucun connecteur (first, then, because...), une répétition ("fun and fun").
3. Vocabulaire : non. Mots pauvres et répétitifs (nice, good, fun).
4. Orthographe : non. "familly", "to much".
5. Temps et modes : non. Récit au passé mais "I go", "We visit", "We seen", "The weather is hot".
6. Grammaire : non. "My brother he is playing", "I no like", "to much people".

Avant de rendre votre copie, relisez-la avec ces six critères, dans cet ordre : consignes et longueur, paragraphes et connecteurs, mots précis, orthographe, temps, grammaire de base.

Un texte argumentatif en quatre à cinq paragraphes : introduction avec la thèse, arguments avec exemples, concession et réponse, conclusion. Les connecteurs (First of all, Secondly, Of course, However, To conclude) marquent la structure.

Pertinence (tous les éléments demandés, 300 mots), cohérence et cohésion (paragraphes, connecteurs, ponctuation), vocabulaire, orthographe, temps et modes (présent, passé, conditionnel), règles grammaticales courantes.

Social media: closer together or lonelier than ever?

Most of us check our phones dozens of times a day. Social media promise to connect us with friends across the world, but do they really bring people closer? In my opinion, they often make us feel more isolated, even if they have some clear advantages.

First of all, social media give us the illusion of friendship. When I scroll through photos of my classmates at parties, I sometimes feel left out, although I know these photos show only the best moments. According to several studies, young people who spend more than three hours a day on social networks are more likely to feel lonely. For example, my cousin stopped seeing her friends after school because she thought talking online was enough, and she ended up feeling sad and alone.

Secondly, online conversations are poorer than real ones. A message cannot show a smile or a tone of voice, so misunderstandings are frequent. Last year, two of my friends stopped speaking to each other for a month because of a comment that one of them had posted as a joke. If they had talked face to face, the problem would have disappeared in a minute.

Of course, it would be unfair to say that social media have no benefits. They allow people to keep in touch with relatives who live abroad, and they help shy teenagers to find friends who share their interests. My grandmother, for instance, talks to her sister in Canada every week thanks to video calls. However, this only proves that social media are useful when they complete real contacts, not when they replace them.

To conclude, social networks can bring people closer, but only if we use them wisely. I believe that we should limit our screen time and spend more evenings with our friends, without our phones. Real friendship needs real moments together.

Un courriel formel ("Dear Sir or Madam", "Yours faithfully", "I am writing to complain") structuré en paragraphes : objet, faits, raisons du refus, demande, délai et suite. Le registre reste poli mais ferme.

I am writing to complain about..., I am afraid that this answer is not acceptable, Furthermore, Consequently, I would like to ask you to..., I look forward to hearing from you.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to complain about the way my order number 5521-88 was handled by your website.

On 3 September, I bought two tickets for the concert of The Northern Lights at the Royal Hall in London, which was to take place on 12 October. I paid 120 euros in total. Three weeks before the concert, I received an e-mail from the organisers, saying that the concert was cancelled because the singer was ill. I immediately contacted your customer service, but I was told that your website does not give refunds, and that you could only offer me a voucher for another event.

I am afraid that this answer is not acceptable, for several reasons. First of all, the voucher is only valid for six months, and I do not have any plan to go to a concert in that period. Furthermore, I bought these tickets for a special occasion: I wanted to give them to my parents for their wedding anniversary, and I organised a weekend in London around the concert. I have already paid 85 euros for a train ticket and a hotel room, and these costs cannot be refunded. According to the rules of your own website, an event that is cancelled by the organisers gives the right to a full refund, but nobody has explained to me why this rule does not apply to me.

Consequently, I would like to ask you to refund the 120 euros as soon as possible. I attach a copy of my confirmation e-mail and of the message from the organisers. If I do not receive a positive answer within fourteen days, I will contact the consumer protection service and I will write a review on several websites, so that other customers know about this situation.

I hope that we can find a fair solution quickly, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,
Julie Renard

Quelle que soit la tâche choisie, la correction applique les six mêmes critères : pertinence (consignes de contenu, longueur, type de production), cohérence et cohésion, vocabulaire, orthographe, temps et modes, règles grammaticales.

A series that made me think

Last month, I finished a series called The Quiet Year, and I have not stopped thinking about it. It is a British drama in eight episodes about a teenager, Maya, who has to look after her little brother while their mother is working abroad. I do not want to spoil the story, so I will not say how it ends.

There are two main reasons why I loved it. First, the characters feel real. Maya makes mistakes, gets angry and sometimes says things she regrets, exactly like a normal teenager. Secondly, the series talks about difficult subjects, such as money problems and loneliness, without being depressing. There are also many funny moments, especially the scenes between Maya and her brother, who never wants to eat vegetables.

The acting is excellent too. The young actress who plays Maya is a newcomer, and she is so natural that I sometimes forgot I was watching a series. The photography is beautiful as well, with grey skies and empty streets that reflect Maya's mood.

Of course, the series is not perfect. In my opinion, the fifth episode is too slow, and the music is sometimes a bit dramatic. However, these weaknesses are small compared with everything the series does well.

I would recommend it to anyone who likes stories about family and friendship, and who does not need action in every scene. If you prefer thrillers or science fiction, you will probably be bored. But if you want a series that will make you laugh and cry at the same time, watch it this weekend. I watched it with my sister, and we talked about it for hours afterwards. When you have finished the last episode, tell me what you think! I would love to know if you cried as much as I did.

Hi Sam,

I was really sorry to read your message. Fifteen days before an exam is a difficult moment, and I completely understand that you feel stressed. But please don't worry too much: you have plenty of time, and you have always been a good student.

I have three pieces of advice for you. First, make a plan for the next two weeks. Write down what you have to study every day, and cross it out when you have finished. It's much less scary when you can see that you are making progress. Secondly, don't work for hours without a break. I always study for forty-five minutes, then I walk or listen to music for ten minutes. It really helps me to concentrate. Finally, try to go to bed at the same time every night and to put your phone away an hour before. If you sleep well, you will remember more. Try to go for a walk outside every day, too: fresh air clears the mind.

I also want to say that it is normal to feel nervous. It means that you care about your results, and a little stress can even help you to work harder.

I know what you are feeling, because last year I had exactly the same problem before my maths exam. I was so nervous that I could not eat, and I got a terrible result in my first test. Then I decided to follow a plan like the one I have just described, and I passed the exam with a good mark. I am sure that you can do the same.

If you want, we can study together on video call this weekend. I could explain the parts that you find difficult, and you could help me with English! Remember that one exam does not decide your future.

Good luck, and write to me soon!

Your friend,
Léo

The day I climbed my first mountain

Last July, during a holiday in the Alps with my cousins, I did something that I had never thought I could do: I climbed a mountain that was more than three thousand metres high. Before that day, I was afraid of heights and I always refused to go on long walks. It was one of the most difficult and beautiful days of my life.

We left the small mountain hut at five o'clock in the morning. It was still dark, and it was so cold that I could see my breath. My uncle, who is an experienced climber, walked in front of us and told us to go slowly. During the first two hours, everything went well. Then the path became steeper and rockier, and I began to feel tired. After four hours, I wanted to stop. My legs were shaking, and I was sure that I would never reach the top.

At that moment, my cousin Clara took my hand and said, "We are almost there. Look up!" I looked and I saw the summit, only a hundred metres away. I do not know where my energy came from, but I continued. When we finally arrived, the sun was rising over the glaciers, and the view was so magnificent that I forgot my pain. I even started to cry a little, but nobody noticed because my face was already red from the wind. I was proud, happy and a little emotional. We took photos, we ate our sandwiches, and then we walked down.

This experience taught me two important things. First, we are often stronger than we think. Secondly, it is easier to succeed when we have people who support us. It also showed me that fear is often just a feeling, not a fact. Since that day, when I face a difficult situation at school, I think of that morning and I tell myself: just look up!

Une lettre formelle de réponse qui suit la structure de la lettre lue : on reprend chaque argument ("Mr Collins says that..."), on concède ("Mr Collins is right about one thing", "It is true that"), puis on répond avec un exemple et une solution.

La tâche demande d'utiliser ensemble ce que vous savez lire (repérer les arguments d'un texte) et écrire (concession, réfutation, exemples personnels, conditionnel).

Dear Editor,

I am writing in reply to the letter from Mr Collins, published last Tuesday, in which he asks schools to abolish homework completely. As a sixth-year student, I understand his concern, but I do not agree with his conclusion.

First, Mr Collins is right about one thing: some students do too much homework, and it can cause stress. I have friends who work until midnight almost every evening, and this is not healthy. However, the solution is not to remove homework, but to limit it. Teachers could, for example, coordinate their tasks, so that students never have three big assignments on the same day.

Secondly, Mr Collins says that homework reduces sleep. It is true that it does when it is badly organised. But homework also teaches us to plan our time and to work alone, two skills that we will need at university and at work. When I started my first year, I always did my homework at the last minute and I got bad marks. Now I make a weekly schedule, and my results have improved a lot. If I had never had homework, I would probably not have learnt to organise myself.

Mr Collins also worries about students who do not have a quiet place to study at home. This is an important point, and I fully agree that schools must help them. But this is a reason to improve the school, not to abolish homework. Many schools already open their library after lessons, with a teacher who can answer questions. If every school offered this, nobody would be at a disadvantage.

In conclusion, I think that homework should be reduced and better organised, not abolished. If parents, teachers and students discussed the question together, we could find a fair balance between rest and learning. After all, children also need to learn how to become independent adults.

Yours faithfully,
Emma Dubois, sixth-year student