CELPIP Speaking Task 2: Talking about a Personal Experience

CELPIP Speaking Task 2 Sample Answer: Saying Goodbye

This prompt asks you to tell the story of a meaningful goodbye: what happened, how you said it and how you felt. The challenge is going beyond 'I was sad' to show a specific moment that makes the feeling real.

Preparation

30 seconds

Speaking

60 seconds

Tense

Mostly past tense

The question

Talk about a time when you had to say goodbye to someone or something important to you. Maybe you can talk about moving away from your hometown, leaving a job, or seeing a good friend move away. What happened, how did you say goodbye, and how did you feel?

How to plan your answer

What they want

Talk about a time you had to say goodbye to someone or something important, e.g. moving away from your hometown, leaving a job, or a friend moving away.
Answer three things: what happened, how you said goodbye, and how you felt.

Plan (60 sec)

Set the scene: "When I was 25, I left my hometown to move to Canada."
What happened: why you left, and whom you left behind.
How you said goodbye: a farewell dinner, hugs at the airport, a gift or a letter.
How you felt: sad and emotional, but also excited about the future.
After: how you keep in touch now.
Close: "It was hard, but it taught me how much they mean to me."

Useful vocabulary

say farewell, farewell party, see someone off, tearful
bittersweet, miss, keep in touch, move on

Phrases

"It was one of the hardest days of my life because..."
"Before I left, we..."
"I felt..., but at the same time..."

Avoid

Skipping how you said goodbye; it is one of the three questions.
Mixing tenses; tell the story in the past tense.

Excellent answer (transcript): around CLB 11–12

The hardest goodbye I've ever had was leaving the bakery where I'd worked for almost eight years. I started there as a teenager washing dishes, and the owner, Mrs. Kowalski, slowly taught me everything, from shaping bread to running the whole morning shift. So when I got accepted into a culinary program in Montreal, I was thrilled, but I dreaded telling her. She took it much better than I expected. On my last day, she let me run the shop on my own, and at closing time, the whole staff surprised me with a cake shaped like a loaf of rye bread, which was a bit of an inside joke. I remember standing outside afterwards, smelling the ovens one last time, and feeling completely torn between excitement and grief. It was hard, but it taught me that you can be grateful for something and still know it's time to move on.

151 words

Why it scores high

Content/Coherence: Background about starting as a teenager washing dishes builds up why leaving Mrs. Kowalski's bakery hurts, so the farewell carries real weight.
Vocabulary: Precise emotional language like "dreaded telling her" and "completely torn between excitement and grief" names mixed feelings exactly.
Task Fulfillment: Sensory touches such as "smelling the ovens one last time," the rye-bread cake inside joke and a closing reflection answer every part memorably.

Good answer (transcript): around CLB 7–8

I'd like to talk about the day I said goodbye to my best friend, Sara, when she moved to Australia. We grew up on the same street in Winnipeg and did everything together, so when she got a job in Melbourne, I was happy for her, but also really sad. The weekend before she left, we went to all our favourite places, like the coffee shop near our old school. At the airport, we both cried, and she gave me a letter that I could only open after her plane took off. I felt lonely for a few months, but now we video chat every Sunday, and I'm planning to visit her next year.

114 words

What works, and what's missing

Content/Coherence: The story moves clearly from Sara's job in Melbourne to the farewell weekend to the airport, with time markers like "The weekend before she left."
Vocabulary: Accurate past tenses and natural phrases such as "grew up on the same street" and "video chat every Sunday" keep the narrative smooth.
Task Fulfillment: The letter she could only open after takeoff is a great detail, but the speaker never says what it said or how it felt, leaving the emotional peak underdeveloped.

Basic answer (transcript): around CLB 4–5

I want to talk about when I say goodbye to my hometown in Vietnam. Five years ago, my family decide to move to Canada. I was very excited but also very sad. The night before we leave, all my friends come to my house. We eat together and take many pictures. My best friend give me a bracelet and I still wear it. In the airport, my grandmother was crying and I cry too. I feel very sad for many month, but now I call her every week.

88 words

What holds it back

Vocabulary: Verbs stay in the present for a past story, as in "my family decide to move" and "My best friend give me a bracelet."
Content/Coherence: The bracelet and the crying grandmother are strong moments, but each gets one sentence, so the listener never sees the goodbye scene unfold.
Task Fulfillment: The feelings question gets only "I feel very sad for many month," with no sense of what the loss meant or how the speaker coped.

These are original CELPass examples written at each level. The CLBs are our estimates, not official CELPIP scores. How we estimate CLB