Préparer le DALF C1 & C2: méthode de l'épreuve de production écrite, entraînement, corrigés by Anne Debeuckelaere, et Hélène Hulin (review)

Are you or your students ready to seek certification with the DALF, and you are in search of a quality review text? This book by Debeucklaere and Hulin is an easy-to-use and very thorough option. Overall, I found this text to be exceptionally useful as a review and practice for the DALF examinations. There are not only practice materials, but a guide to the test itself, and also corrections at the end so you can check how well you understood and completed each task. The text, written entirely in French, begins with a brief overview of the DALF itself, as well as some information about the C1 and C2 levels. Lastly, there is a short outline of the structure of the book. The first section of each part is one that I consider to be extremely helpful to a testing candidate. The "Zoom sur l'épreuve de production écrite du DALFC1" in the first part of the text is a detailed walk through the format of the writing portion of the C1 test itself, and some practice around practical hints (how to do the word count, how to avoid "être," for example). The "Zoom sur l'épreuve de compréhension et production écrites du DALFC2" in the second part breaks down the interpretive sections (text and graphics) along with the written production assessment of the C2 exam. These are, in my opinion, extremely helpful as they provide strategies that the applicant can apply to the test. It is almost like having a preparation class for the test. The other sections ("fiches") of each part are practical examples. Part one has two "fiches" each of "La synthèse de documents" and "L'essai." Part two is comprised of two "fiches" which review the idea of "Comprendre le dossier documentaire" in the two formats of "les documents écrits" and "les documents iconographiques." The third "fiche" is designed for practice around "Rédiger l'essai argument." These "fiches" are not simply practice tests to try, but a step-by-step guide of how to analyze and complete the tasks that will be found on the exam. The manual is skills-based, not a review of specific vocabulary or grammar. Using practice time to analyze the format and the requirements of the test can be just as important as a review of grammar and spelling in preparing a candidate for the exam. All in all, I recommend this book as a useful and thorough step toward preparation for a successful DALFexamination.