TCF Canada Tâche 2: Ordering a Furniture Delivery (Full Role-Play)
Tâche 2 is the part of the TCF Canada oral that candidates most often get backwards. They hear a situation, start talking about themselves, and run out of things to say after a minute. The task is the opposite: you ask, the examiner answers, and your job is to walk away with something concrete. Here is a complete role-play filmed in exam conditions — Chantal, from Cameroon, booking a furniture delivery in Douala — and what the examiner said about it.
La situation
« Je travaille dans une société de livraison. Vous souhaitez commander un meuble. Posez-moi des questions pour obtenir des informations (tarif, date, modalités, etc.). »
The format in one paragraph
The Expression orale has three tasks and lasts about 12 minutes. Tâche 2 takes 5 minutes 30: 2 minutes of preparation, then 3 minutes 30 of exchange. Use the preparation to write down your questions, not full sentences. What is assessed, as the examiner explains at the start of the video, is the variety and relevance of your questions, how you react to the answers, and whether you reach a result — a booking, a registration, a contact.
One rule matters more than any other: in Tâche 2 you do not give your opinion. That is Tâche 3. And a closed question answered with a simple oui or non earns you almost nothing, because it gives you nothing to bounce off.
Open with context, then ask
Chantal does not start with a bare question. She sets the scene in one sentence, then asks: « Bonjour, j'ai acheté une armoire en ligne et j'aurai besoin de vos services pour la livraison. Vous pourriez me renseigner sur le tarif ? » (I bought a wardrobe online and I'll need your services for the delivery — could you tell me about the price?). The examiner now knows exactly what she wants, and every answer that follows can be specific — 15,000 francs up to two metres high, 18,000 above.
Nine questions, nine angles
Look at how much ground she covers in 3 minutes 30. The situation card only says tarif, date, modalités; she turns that into a full checklist of what anyone ordering a delivery actually needs to know. These are her questions, almost word for word:
| Topic | In the video | English |
|---|---|---|
| Price | « Vous pourriez me renseigner sur le tarif ? » | Could you tell me about the price? |
| Date | « Quelle serait la date la plus proche pour cette livraison ? » | What would be the earliest date for this delivery? |
| Time slot | « Est-ce que je peux choisir une plage horaire précise ? » | Can I choose a specific time slot? |
| Assembly | « Je voudrais savoir si vous proposez un service de montage. » | I'd like to know if you offer an assembly service. |
| Damage | « Comment ça se passe s'il y a un problème pendant le transport ? » | What happens if there's a problem during transport? |
| Payment | « Quels sont les modes de paiement que vous acceptez ? » | Which payment methods do you accept? |
| Absence | « Si je ne suis pas chez moi, je peux laisser le colis à quelqu'un d'autre ? » | If I'm not home, can someone else receive it? |
| Tracking | « Est-ce que vous avez un système pour suivre ma commande ? » | Do you have a way to track my order? |
| Closing | « Comment on procède pour finaliser ? » | How do we go about finalising this? |
Notice that the forms change constantly: a polite conditional (vous pourriez), a quel question, est-ce que, an indirect question (je voudrais savoir si), a comment question. The examiner singled this out — varying direct questions, inversion and indirect requests shows ease with syntax at the level being targeted. If you only ever say est-ce que, you are leaving marks on the table.
This topic list also transfers. Price, date, options, what goes wrong, payment, logistics, how to confirm: that skeleton works for a gym, a language school, a flat rental or a car hire.
React to what you hear
Asking good questions is half the task. The other half is showing you listened. When the examiner offers Thursday the 12th or the following Saturday, Chantal picks one and immediately builds on it: « Très bien. Le jeudi me conviendrait. Est-ce que je peux choisir une plage horaire précise ? »When she hears the wardrobe is large enough to need assembly, she asks about the service before being offered it. The examiner noted she reacted naturally to the concrete details — especially the time slots and the payment conditions.
The complication: how to negotiate politely
Midway through, the examiner adds a constraint: 50% must be paid at booking, the rest on delivery. This is where many candidates freeze. Chantal does the opposite — she turns it into the best moment of the exchange:
« Ah, justement, j'aurais une petite difficulté. Je pensais pouvoir tout payer à la livraison parce que je n'ai pas encore reçu mon salaire ce mois-ci. Est-ce qu'il y aurait moyen d'arranger ça ? »
Problem, reason, request — in three short sentences. The examiner offers a compromise: pay a 5,000-franc deposit now to hold the Thursday slot, and the rest on delivery. She accepts with « Oui, ça me soulage beaucoup. Merci. » According to the feedback, she stated her problem directly but politely and accepted the solution while expressing relief, which shows she can negotiate and adapt. Keep these phrases ready:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| J'aurais une petite difficulté. | I'd have a small problem. |
| Est-ce qu'il y aurait moyen d'arranger ça ? | Would there be a way to sort that out? |
| Ça me soulage beaucoup. | That's a real relief. |
| Pour récapituler… | To sum up… |
| un acompte | a deposit |
| un créneau | a time slot |
| le bon de livraison | the delivery slip |
Finish with a recap and a next step
Tâche 2 is validated by a concrete result, so Chantal closes the deal out loud: « Alors, pour récapituler, je réserve pour jeudi 12 décembre, créneau de 13h à 15h, avec montage, et je verse 5000 francs maintenant. Comment on procède pour finaliser ? »
She then gives her phone number for the payment link and asks how long the SMS will take. The examiner's verdict: ending with a phone number and a confirmed delay for the booking SMS fully validates the task. A recap sentence costs you ten seconds and proves you reached the goal — never let the timer cut you off mid-question if you can see the end coming.
What the examiner rewarded
- Varied question forms — direct, inverted and indirect, not just est-ce que.
- Relevant, well-ordered topics: price, dates, service options, payment, insurance, tracking.
- Real reactions to the details given, especially time slots and payment terms.
- A complication handled with diplomacy, ending in an accepted compromise.
- A polite, consistent register with good opening and transition phrases.
- Precise vocabulary: acompte, créneau, assemblage, bon de livraison.
- A tangible result: booking recap, phone number, confirmation delay.
Practise Tâche 2 properly
For how each task is marked, read how TCF Canada Expression orale is scored, and to see the contrast with the opinion task, look at a full Tâche 3 simulation. More Tâche 2 situations with model exchanges are in the Expression orale section. For a timed run, use the exam simulator, and check what your mark means with the NCLC calculator. Role-plays are much easier to improve with a real partner — you can book a mock oral.