French language Q&A Forum

In the writing challenge "My post-university plans" the sentence "I've heard that Isabelle is also going to try her luck in Paris." is translated as "J'ai entendu dire qu'Isabelle allait aussi tenter sa chance à Paris."

Why is "allait" used rather than "ira" or "va"?

"allait" seems to be translation for "was going", not "will be going" or "is going", yet the most likely meaning of the sentence is that Isabelle's action will occur in the future.

It seems that the explantion has to do with the fact that the sentence describes something already heard and therefore belongs to the past but the result is not intuitive.

My dictionary gives 3 translations for cookie : biscuit, petite gâteau,  and gâteau.   I chose to use petit gâteau, which was marked incorrect.  Since I can't see the cookie and don't really understand if there is a difference, perhaps according to shape or size, could someone elaborate on the nuances?  I have gotten into trouble with this with my friend, who is a native French person, when I used biscuit for cookies that she prepared. Apparently,  there is some disfunction unknown to me.