FLES Contest

2025 FLES Contest Testing Dates:

February 12 - March 6, 2025

Divisions

How do teachers determine which division is appropriate for their students?

The basic contest is the same for all grade levels, with reading/grammar for the more advanced students, and a sliding scale for scoring based on amount of French study to evaluate fairly. A class meeting only once a week will not be competing at the same level as a class that meets five times a week. Correct division placement is imperative to maintain fairness for all students.

Division Guidelines

NOTE: The numbers 1, 2, & 3 DO NOT mean number of years of french taken

Division 1A: Students in school grades 1, 2, 3. 

• • • (Listening section only and speaking if qualified.)

Division 2A: All grade 4 students; students in grades 5 or 6 who have just started French or are in strictly oral programs.

• • • (Listening section only and speaking if qualified.)

Division 2B: Students in grades 5 or 6 with several years of French. Recommended for most 6^th graders. 

• • • (Listening, Reading & Structure, and speaking if qualified.)

Division 3A: Students in grades 1, 2, or 3 who are in partial or full immersion programs, students privately tutored for two or more years, all students studying in French speaking countries, and/or students with more than one year of immersion preschool. (Listening section only and speaking if qualified.)

*** NOTE: "Partial Immersion" is defined as any program with 500 minutes of French per week.

Division 3B: Same as Division 3A, but for students in grades 4, 5, or 6.

Hors Concours: Students who speak French at home with any member of the household. These students must do Division 3A (Grades 1, 2, 3) or Division 3B (Grades 4, 5, 6). Hors Concours students are eligible for national prizes.

What to Expect

In many ways the FLES contest is the same as the secondary contest in format, which makes students comfortable with the procedures before they reach secondary school. What makes FLES unique is our speaking section for the top scoring students to emphasize what we all feel is the essential goal of FLES learning: Communicating in French!

Contest Format

Listening

(All Divisions)  Students listen to a recording on the testing site and choose the appropriate response (A, B, C) from a series of pictures. Several non-visual items are included at the end for the more advanced levels.

STUDENT HEARS: Pour le petit déjeuner, je prends un croissant et du café. 

STUDENT SEES:

STUDENT CLICKS ON A.

Reading and Structure:

(Divisions 2B, 3B, Hors Concours only, refer to Division Guidelines)  Picture identification, some elementary grammar, and question-answer items. NOTE: There is no writing. Examples below.

Reading Comprehension

(Division 3B and Hors Concours only, refer to division guidelines) Several reading selections followed by multiple choice questions.

Speaking

(All Divisions are eligible.) Teachers are notified of eligible students after initial scoring. Directions to log on to speaking section will be shared with teachers. There are five questions for each division. Questions are based on an image. Students do not prepare in advance. Students should be reminded to speak clearly.

 Test Content ("Can Do" Statements)

We are aware that FLES programs vary a great deal across the country. No contest can reflect each unique program. So, as guidelines for teachers and students, we provide a list of I CAN STATEMENTS to inform you of the contest content.

1. I can identify weather expressions and seasons vocabulary (En hiver, Au printemps, En été, En automne).
2. I can identify school supplies and classroom items.
3. I can identify some typical francophone foods and recognize table vocabulary (fourchette, serviette, couteau).
4. I can identify clothing vocabulary and complete phrases with je porte.
5. I can recognize expressions of time (Quelle heure est-il? Il est 8h00) and calendar vocabulary including days of the week and months of the year.
6. I can identify numbers and number words to 100 (grades 1-3) and 1-999 (grades 4-6).
7. I can identify some negative expressions (ne…pas, ne…personne, ne…jamais, ne…rien).
8. I can identify around the town vocabulary including store names (boucherie, patisserie) and places (l’avenue, la rue, la place).
9. I can identify some holidays of the francophone world and recognize some cultural norms of daily life (le goûter).
10. I can identify preposition words indicating location (sur, sous, devant).
11. I can identify rooms in a house and categorize furniture items that belong in different rooms (table – salle à manger, television – salon).
12. I can identify body part vocabulary (tête, épaules, genoux, orteils) and complete phrases with avoir mal à.
13. I can identify and connect family member vocabulary (La soeur de mon père est ma tante.)
14. I can recognize and apply the correct form of descriptive adjectives in phrases (petit, petite, petits, petites).
15. I can connect verbs to the correct subject pronoun and distinguish between il and elle in aural assessments.
16. I can identify different types of transportation and basic directions (à droite, à gauche, tournez).
17. I can identify some domestic and wild animals.
18. I can identify personal descriptive information (Je m’appelle ______., J’habite ______.).
19. I can recognize sports vocabulary and can complete phrases with Je joue au/à la/aux ______.
20. I can recognize instruments vocabulary and can complete phrases with je joue du/de la/des _____.

Additional Information

Once registered, students will have access on Lingco to FLES Contests from previous years to use for review and to practice navigating the site. Teachers can view a sample Contest by contacting support@frenchcontest.org.

For additional questions or concerns, please contact Karen Kuebler, National Chair Test Development FLES, via email at fles@frenchcontest.org

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