Theme 3: Education and Work - Listening Comprehension
Listening comprehension for the Education and work theme tests understanding of spoken French about school subjects, school life, part-time jobs and future career plans, in monologues, dialogues and interview-style texts at both tiers, with every item played twice. Examiners are testing whether a student can extract specific detail (a subject, a job, an opinion with a reason), follow comparisons between current studies and future intentions, and catch numbers, negatives and the future/conditional forms used to talk about ambitions.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Read the questions and options before listening; underline subject names, job titles, and whether the question wants present, past or future information.
- Predict vocabulary: school subjects (les maths, l'histoire-géo, la technologie), school life (l'emploi du temps, les devoirs, redoubler), jobs (un petit boulot, un stage, un métier), and ambition language (je voudrais devenir, j'espère).
- On the first listening, focus on gist: what the speaker currently studies or does, and what their attitude or plan is.
- Track the tense contrast: present for current studies or a job (je suis en première, je travaille le samedi), near future or conditional for plans (je vais faire un apprentissage, j'aimerais étudier la médecine), and perfect for a completed exam or work experience (j'ai fait un stage le mois dernier).
- Catch the reasons for subject or career opinions, introduced by parce que or car: a subject can be liked because a teacher is good, disliked because it is difficult, or a job chosen because it pays well or matches an interest.
- Catch numbers: hours of work per week, pay per hour, exam grades or the number of subjects studied - these are common gap-fill targets.
- Track negatives: je n'ai jamais aimé les sciences (never liked), je ne veux plus être vétérinaire (no longer want to be) - a career ambition can change mid-recording, so the final, corrected statement is what should be recorded.
- Note self-corrections around job titles or subject names, and use the second listening to check exact figures and final decisions.
Worked example
You hear: 'Au collège, je détestais les maths, mais maintenant, au lycée, j'adore ça grâce à mon prof, qui explique très bien. Plus tard, j'aimerais faire des études d'ingénieur, même si c'est très difficile.' Question: How has the speaker's attitude to maths changed, and what is their ambition?
- Predict vocabulary before listening: collège, lycée, maths, ingénieur.
- Identify the imperfect 'je détestais' (used to hate, at collège) contrasted with the present 'j'adore' (now, at lycée) - a change of attitude over time.
- Catch the reason: 'grâce à mon prof, qui explique très bien' (thanks to a teacher who explains very well).
- Identify the conditional 'j'aimerais' (would like) for the future ambition: engineering studies.
- Full answer: At collège the speaker used to hate maths, but now at lycée they love it thanks to a teacher who explains well; in future they would like to study engineering, even though it is very difficult.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1What does 'je voudrais devenir infirmier/infirmière' mean?Show answer
Answer: 'I would like to become a nurse' (the conditional of vouloir).
Q2Translate: 'je fais un petit boulot le week-end dans un supermarché'.Show answer
Answer: I have a part-time job at weekends in a supermarket.
Q3A speaker says 'je gagne huit euros... non, dix euros de l'heure'. How much do they earn per hour?Show answer
Answer: 10 euros - the self-correction gives the second, corrected figure.
Q4What does 'je n'ai jamais aimé les sciences' mean?Show answer
Answer: 'I have never liked science' - ne...jamais negates the whole statement.
Q5Translate: 'l'année prochaine, je vais faire un apprentissage'.Show answer
Answer: Next year, I am going to do an apprenticeship (near future: aller + infinitive).
Q6Before listening to a text titled 'Mon stage en entreprise', predict two words you might hear.Show answer
Answer: Any two of: l'expérience, les collègues, les horaires, apprendre, un entretien.
Q7What is the difference between 'je veux être vétérinaire' and 'je ne veux plus être vétérinaire'?Show answer
Answer: The second, with ne...plus, means 'I no longer want to be a vet', reversing the ambition stated in the first.
Q8Translate: 'ce que je préfère, c'est l'histoire, parce que le prof rend les cours intéressants'.Show answer
Answer: What I prefer is history, because the teacher makes the lessons interesting.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE French exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Transcript of the recording: Je m'appelle Yanis et je suis en première. Ma matière préférée, c'est la technologie, parce que c'est très pratique et le prof est vraiment passionné. Par contre, je n'aime pas du tout la chimie ; je trouve ça trop abstrait. En dehors de l'école, je travaille dans un café deux soirs par semaine, et je gagne neuf euros de l'heure. Plus tard, je voudrais faire un BTS en informatique, parce que je m'intéresse beaucoup à la programmation depuis que j'ai treize ans. Questions: 1) What year/class is Yanis in? 2) What is his favourite subject, and give two reasons why. 3) What subject does he dislike, and why? 4) Describe his part-time job (where, how often, pay). 5) What does he want to study later, and why?
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Transcript of the recording: - Journaliste : Pourquoi avez-vous choisi de devenir sage-femme ? - Femme : Depuis toute petite, je voulais aider les gens, alors j'ai d'abord pensé à devenir médecin... enfin, plutôt sage-femme, parce que je trouve ce métier plus humain. Après le bac, j'ai fait quatre ans d'études, ce qui n'a pas été facile. Aujourd'hui, je ne regrette absolument rien, même si les horaires sont parfois très difficiles. Questions: 1) Since when has she wanted to help people? 2) Correct her first career idea and give her final choice. 3) Why does she prefer this career? 4) How long did she study after the bac (baccalauréat), and how was it? 5) What is her attitude towards her choice today, despite what difficulty?
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See real GCSE French past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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