Hey everyone, today I want to share my first thread about learning French in 11 months and passing it for CLB 7 and getting PR invitation in Canada. Quickly about my learning journey:
- Started with Alliance Francaise online group lessons and was doing those for about 4 month. Got the grammar and reading basics there, but realised that the group lessons were slowing me down a lot as some people were more advanced or less advanced from me, and it took the tutor a long time to get everyone caught up to speed at the same time.
- Around 5 months in (May 2025), I've switched to private lessons with a teacher from there. The speed of learning grammar and new vocabulary was getting better, but I still struggled a lot to say even a few basic phrases in French.
- Around that time, aside from lessons, I really started immersing myself in French movies/music/podcasts. I would listen to those on my way to work, while cooking, etc. On top of that, I started using websites like TV5 Monde and francais facile for more daily immersion.
- I was getting around B1/B2 level around November 2025, so my tutor and I started preparing for the exam. We used reussir website during the lessons to test listening/reading and practice some speaking, while I would practice writing at home and bring it to her for evaluation.
- First exam try: 16 January 2026. I've reached B2 in Reading and Listening but missed one point in Speaking and Writing (got 9/10 in both). Tried for re-evaluation, but it didn't help to change the score.
- I didn't want to continue paying for tutor for another X amount of months, so I've decided to do self-preparation instead and try to pass the exam in 1.5 months after the first attempt.
- I knew i didn't need practice in Reading/Listening as I've felt confident in those, so I switched my attention to purely Speaking and Writing. I used the website DeepLingo.ca for mock exams, I found it to be like a chatgpt on steroids lol. It provided me with topics and evaluation for my speaking recordings and writings. I was doing at least 2-3 speaking tasks and 1 full writing daily there, on top of the regular music/movies/podcast routine. Overall exam prep was taking my whole evening after work for the last 4 months.
- Second exam try: B2 everything. Definitely felt more confident in my Speaking/Writing, so got 12/20 on it lol.
After 11 months of hustle, this month I finally got my CLB 7! Got my invitation to apply on March 18.
- Started with Alliance Francaise online group lessons and was doing those for about 4 month. Got the grammar and reading basics there, but realised that the group lessons were slowing me down a lot as some people were more advanced or less advanced from me, and it took the tutor a long time to get everyone caught up to speed at the same time.
- Around 5 months in (May 2025), I've switched to private lessons with a teacher from there. The speed of learning grammar and new vocabulary was getting better, but I still struggled a lot to say even a few basic phrases in French.
- Around that time, aside from lessons, I really started immersing myself in French movies/music/podcasts. I would listen to those on my way to work, while cooking, etc. On top of that, I started using websites like TV5 Monde and francais facile for more daily immersion.
- I was getting around B1/B2 level around November 2025, so my tutor and I started preparing for the exam. We used reussir website during the lessons to test listening/reading and practice some speaking, while I would practice writing at home and bring it to her for evaluation.
- First exam try: 16 January 2026. I've reached B2 in Reading and Listening but missed one point in Speaking and Writing (got 9/10 in both). Tried for re-evaluation, but it didn't help to change the score.
- I didn't want to continue paying for tutor for another X amount of months, so I've decided to do self-preparation instead and try to pass the exam in 1.5 months after the first attempt.
- I knew i didn't need practice in Reading/Listening as I've felt confident in those, so I switched my attention to purely Speaking and Writing. I used the website DeepLingo.ca for mock exams, I found it to be like a chatgpt on steroids lol. It provided me with topics and evaluation for my speaking recordings and writings. I was doing at least 2-3 speaking tasks and 1 full writing daily there, on top of the regular music/movies/podcast routine. Overall exam prep was taking my whole evening after work for the last 4 months.
- Second exam try: B2 everything. Definitely felt more confident in my Speaking/Writing, so got 12/20 on it lol.
After 11 months of hustle, this month I finally got my CLB 7! Got my invitation to apply on March 18.
