TCF Canada Tâche 3: the « Peut-on… ? » Trap
A whole family of Tâche 3 sujets is phrased as a closed question — Peut-on… ? Faut-il… ? Est-il possible de… ? They read like yes/no questions. They are not, and candidates who answer them as written run dry in ninety seconds.
Le sujet
« Peut-on vivre aujourd'hui sans téléphone portable ? Quel est votre avis ? »
The reframe: possible in theory, difficult in practice
The answer in the video opens with exactly the right move: « vivre sans téléphone portable reste théoriquement possible, mais cela devient de plus en plus difficile ».
That single distinction does three things at once. It answers the question, it refuses the yes/no trap, and it tells the examiner what the next four minutes will be about — the gap between what is possible and what is livable. Every argument that follows fills that gap.
| Sujet | Dead end | The reframe |
|---|---|---|
| Peut-on vivre sans téléphone portable ? | Non, c'est impossible. | « Théoriquement possible, mais de plus en plus difficile dans une société hyperconnectée. » |
| Peut-on apprendre une langue seul ? | Oui, avec internet. | Possible pour le vocabulaire et la compréhension, beaucoup plus difficile pour la production orale. |
| Peut-on réussir sans diplôme ? | Oui, il y a des exemples. | Possible dans certains secteurs, presque exclu dans les professions réglementées. |
Blame the society, not the person
The sharpest idea in this answer is that the dependence is « structurelle plutôt qu'individuelle » — it is not that people cannot put their phones down, it is that administrations, employers and banks have reorganised themselves around the assumption that everyone has one.
That shift from personal weakness to structural fact is a C1 move you can reuse on almost any technology sujet. It converts an opinion (« people are addicted ») into an argument (« the alternative has been withdrawn »), and arguments are what get marked.
Everyday topic, formal register
This is where technology sujets quietly cost marks. The subject is your daily life, so the temptation is to talk the way you talk about your daily life. Resist it:
- « le téléphone portable », never « le tel »
- « les démarches administratives », not « les trucs de la mairie »
- Full sentences. No ouais, no du coup three times a minute.
The hesitations (« euh ») are fine and expected — informality of rhythm is natural speech. Informality of vocabulary is a level marker, and it marks you down.
Concrete beats abstract, again
The examples that land are administrative: renewing a passport, booking a medical appointment, checking exam results — all of which now assume an app. Someone who refuses a smartphone is « marginalisé », and that is demonstrable rather than merely asserted.
Vocabulary worth keeping from this answer: un couteau suisse numérique (a digital Swiss army knife), une dépendance structurelle, nager à contre-courant (to swim against the tide), une société hyperconnectée.
Practise on real sujets
Browse the technology and société sujets in the Expression orale section. The companion breakdowns cover the five-part plan, the three-axis plan, and what to do when you completely agree. For a timed run with the official countdown, use the exam simulator.