What to say about the extract: Unit 7 covers the format and timings of the oral. This lesson is about the extract itself: where it sits, who is in it, who tells it, where it happens, its tone and its key moment.
| Moment in the work | Français | Ask yourself |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | l’exposition (le début) | Who and what are we meeting for the first time? |
| Turning point | un tournant | What changes here, and for whom? |
| Climax | le point culminant | The tension is highest: what is at stake? |
| Ending | le dénouement | What is settled, and what stays open? |
Three questions to place it
1
Avant ?
What has just happened? Juste avant, Mathilde a enterré sa mère.
2
Après ?
What does it lead to? Ensuite, elle découvre la maison de son enfance.
3
Pourquoi ce moment ?
Why does it matter to the whole work? C’est un tournant, car sa quête commence ici.
Avant → Après → Pourquoi ce moment
Use what the reader knows: Say what the reader already knows that the character does not: Le lecteur sait déjà que…, mais le personnage l’ignore. It shows you know the whole work, not just this page.
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Reading it is one thing — hearing it is another
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A character is built from clues: Writers rarely say elle est courageuse. They show it. Find the clue, quote it, then say what it reveals.
| Clue | In the text | What you say |
|---|---|---|
| An action | Elle fit oui de la tête | Son geste montre sa détermination. (Her gesture shows her determination.) |
| Words spoken | Vous êtes sûre que c’est là ? | Le doute du contrôleur souligne son isolement. (The conductor’s doubt highlights her isolation.) |
| How others see them | presque avec pitié | Les autres la voient comme une femme perdue. (Others see her as a lost woman.) |
| An inner thought | Mathilde n’était sûre de rien | Elle agit malgré sa peur. (She acts in spite of her fear.) |
- le personnage principal / secondaire
- the main / minor character
- X apparaît comme…
- X comes across as…
- trahir (un sentiment)
- to give away (a feeling)
- être tiraillé(e) entre… et…
- to be torn between… and…
- évoluer / changer
- to develop / to change
- la relation entre X et Y
- the relationship between X and Y
Track the change: Say how the character is different here from earlier in the work: Au début de l’œuvre, Mathilde obéit ; ici, elle décide seule.
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Whose eyes do we see through?: Before you comment on a feeling, ask who is telling the story and how much they know. The same scene feels different through different eyes.
| Point of view | Français | Clue | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| First person | le narrateur-personnage | je | We share the narrator’s feelings, but we may not trust them. |
| Third person, inside one character | la focalisation interne | il / elle + thoughts | We know one character’s thoughts and fears. |
| Third person, outside | la focalisation externe | only what can be seen | Feelings stay hidden, which creates mystery. |
| All-knowing | le narrateur omniscient | thoughts of several characters | The narrator knows everything and can judge. |
Voices inside the text
- Direct speech (le discours direct): the exact words, in quotation marks: Personne ne descend ici.
- Free indirect speech (le discours indirect libre): a thought slipped into the narration: Mathilde n’était sûre de rien.
- In a play: the stage directions (les didascalies) tell you what the dialogue hides, such as sans lever les yeux de son filet.
Say it in one sentence: Le récit est à la troisième personne, en focalisation interne : nous voyons la gare par les yeux de Mathilde, et nous partageons son doute.
Where, how it feels, where it turns: The setting often mirrors a feeling, the tone tells you how to read the scene, and most extracts have one hinge where things change.
Extrait — La gare sans nom (début): Le train s’arrêta dans une gare qui ne figurait sur aucune carte. Mathilde descendit seule, son manteau sur le bras, et le quai désert lui renvoya l’écho de ses propres pas.
Personne ne descend ici, dit le contrôleur depuis sa fenêtre, presque avec pitié. Vous êtes sûre que c’est là ?
Extrait — La gare sans nom (suite)
Mathilde n’était sûre de rien. Mais le nom du village, inscrit sur un panneau rouillé, était le même que celui que sa mère avait répété dans son sommeil pendant les dernières semaines de sa vie. Elle fit oui de la tête, et le train repartit sans elle.
- le quai
- the platform
- le contrôleur
- the ticket inspector / conductor
- le panneau rouillé
- the rusty sign
- le manteau
- the coat
- faire oui de la tête
- to nod (in agreement)
- repartir
- to set off again / drive on
- mélancolique / nostalgique
- sad and quiet / longing for the past
- inquiétant / angoissant
- unsettling / full of dread
- tendu
- tense
- ironique
- ironic: it means more than, or the opposite of, what it says
- lyrique
- full of feeling, almost like a poem
Le cadre, le ton et le moment clé
Cadre → ton → moment clé
- Le cadre est une gare “qui ne figurait sur aucune carte”, avec un “quai désert” : ce lieu vide reflète la solitude de Mathilde et l’inconnu qui l’attend.
- Le ton est d’abord inquiétant, avec l’écho de “ses propres pas”, puis il devient grave quand on apprend que sa mère est morte.
- Le moment clé commence par “Mais” : Mathilde passe du doute à la décision. La dernière phrase, “le train repartit sans elle”, montre qu’il n’y a plus de retour possible.
Find the hinge: Look for a mais, a soudain, a very short sentence or a change of tense. That is usually where the extract turns, and the best place to spend your time.
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A few words, then their effect: A good quotation is two to six words, set inside your own sentence, then explained. In the oral you speak it, so keep it short enough to say smoothly.
Four steps
1
Choose
The word that carries the idea: désert, not the whole sentence.
2
Introduce
L’adjectif “désert”…, Le verbe “efface”….
3
Fit
Make the quotation fit the grammar of your own sentence.
4
Explain
Say what it shows: …ce qui souligne sa solitude.
Choose → Introduce → Fit → Explain
Do
- Le quai **désert** souligne sa solitude.
- L’expression **presque avec pitié** montre que le contrôleur la croit perdue.
Avoid
- Lire tout un paragraphe à voix haute.
- **Le train repartit sans elle.** Voilà.
Ways to bring in a quotation
- Comme le montre l’expression “…”, … (As the phrase '…' shows, …)
- Le mot “…” suggère que… (The word '…' suggests that…)
- Le narrateur emploie le verbe “…” pour… (The narrator uses the verb '…' to…)
- On lit que… (We read that…)