Additional support?

Question

I found this exercise really difficult but the C1 dictées seem easy as we are given so much help in the form of vocabulary and expressions.

Would it be possible for us to be given expressions or difficult constructions before we start the exercise? I felt so disheartened after this translation!

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Ann,
Thank you for your feedback and please don't feel disheartened! Writing exercises are notoriously difficult for any language learner. But hitting that wall does not mean you are failing, it means you're on your way to fluency. This is where a lot of the learning happens. The fact that you're tackling C1 writing exercises shows you're already on the right track!
In a dictée, you're transcribing French you hear. So, giving you some of the vocabulary and some of the expressions in advance, removes the spelling and recognition hurdle you would encounter otherwise.
In a writing exercise (as in "After a stressful exam"), it is the opposite: producing the French yourself is the skill being tested. If we listed the French expressions beforehand, this exercise would lose its value, which lies in working out how to render an idea in French and discovering that there's often more than one good way to do it. That's also why we give you the English expressions to review in advance, but not the French ones.
I'll pass your comments and suggestion along to the team.
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !