CELPIP Speaking Task 3: Describing a Scene

CELPIP Speaking Task 3 Sample Answer: Bricklayers at a Large Building Site

This picture shows a group of hard-hatted workers standing among half-built brick walls at a large construction site with cranes behind them. The tricky part is telling similar workers apart, which means using hard-hat colours, shirts and gloves as your main details.

Preparation

30 seconds

Speaking

60 seconds

Picture

A detailed illustration

The question

CELPIP Speaking Task 3 practice picture: Bricklayers at a Large Building Site

Describe some things that are happening in the picture below as well as you can. The person with whom you are speaking cannot see the picture.

How to plan your answer

What they want

Describe a huge construction site: a group of workers in hard hats standing among low brick walls, wooden planks on the dirt, cranes and a concrete frame in the background.

Plan (60 sec)

Overview: "This is a big construction site on a sunny day, with lots of workers in hard hats."
Foreground centre: a man in a green work shirt and red hard hat with grey work gloves.
Beside him: a man in a red T-shirt and blue hard hat with orange gloves; a man in a light blue shirt and blue hard hat.
Edges: on the left, a worker in grey with a white hard hat holds a tool; on the right, a man in a white hard hat has his back to us.
Ground: short brick walls, wooden planks, and a stack of blue blocks in the bottom right corner.
Background: several tall cranes, a concrete frame with pillars, more workers.

Useful vocabulary

hard hat, work gloves, bricklayer, foundation
crane, scaffolding, concrete pillars, building materials

Phrases

"Most of the workers are..."
"Scattered on the ground,..."
"Towering in the background,..."

Avoid

Saying "workers are working"; describe hat colours, gloves and tools.
Forgetting the cranes; they show how big the project is.

Excellent answer (transcript): around CLB 11–12

This is a large construction site on a bright, hazy day, and it looks like the crew is building the foundation for something big. In the foreground, a group of workers is standing among some low, half-finished brick walls. Right in the centre, a man in a green work shirt and a red hard hat is wearing grey work gloves, and beside him, a younger man in a red T-shirt and a blue hard hat has bright orange gloves on. To his left, a worker in a light blue shirt and a matching blue hard hat is standing with his arms by his sides. On the far left, a man in a grey shirt and a white hard hat is holding some kind of tool, and on the far right, another man in a white hard hat has his back to us. A stack of blue blocks fills the bottom right corner. Behind them, several cranes tower over a concrete frame of pillars.

163 words

Why it scores high

Content/Coherence: The opening idea, "building the foundation for something big," connects the low brick walls to the cranes, giving the description a clear point.
Vocabulary: Phrases like "half-finished brick walls," "a matching blue hard hat" and "cranes tower over" are precise and natural.
Listenability: "Right in the centre," "beside him," "On the far left" and "on the far right" let the listener place each worker easily.

Good answer (transcript): around CLB 7–8

This picture shows a big construction site on a sunny day. In the front, a group of workers is standing on the dirt, and they're all wearing hard hats. In the middle, there's a man in a green work shirt and a red hard hat, and he's wearing grey gloves. Next to him, a man in a red T-shirt and a blue hard hat has orange gloves on. On the right, a man in a light blue shirt is standing with his hands at his sides. On the ground, there are some low brick walls and wooden planks. In the background, there are several tall cranes and a large concrete frame with pillars, and lots of other workers.

118 words

What works, and what's missing

Content/Coherence: The answer moves from the group to individual workers, the ground and the background, giving the listener a clear structure.
Vocabulary: Accurate terms like "work shirt," "wooden planks" and "concrete frame with pillars" fit the construction setting.
Task Fulfillment: The worker holding a tool on the left is missing; mentioning him would add the only visible piece of equipment in someone's hands.

Basic answer (transcript): around CLB 4–5

This picture is a construction site. There is many workers and they all wear hard hat. In the middle one man have green shirt and red hat. Next to him one man have red t-shirt and blue hat, he wear orange glove. Another man have light blue shirt. On the ground there is bricks and wood. In the back there is many cranes and a big building with concrete. The weather is sunny. I think they are building a big building.

81 words

What holds it back

Vocabulary: "they all wear hard hat," "one man have," "orange glove" and "red hat" show plural and agreement errors, and "building a big building" repeats a word.
Content/Coherence: The workers at the left and right edges and the blue blocks are not mentioned, so the picture feels incomplete.
Listenability: "blue hat, he wear orange glove" runs two ideas together with a comma, and repeated "one man have" makes the answer monotonous.

The CLBs are estimates of the level each sample was written at, not official CELPIP scores. How we estimate CLB