CELPIP Speaking Task 3: Describing a Scene

CELPIP Speaking Task 3 Sample Answer: Packed Café with a Chalkboard Menu

This picture shows a crowded café where most customers are standing and waiting while a few sit at tables below a chalkboard menu. The tricky part is that the people overlap and face different ways, so you need to anchor the description on the woman in the centre and work outward.

Preparation

30 seconds

Speaking

60 seconds

Picture

A detailed illustration

The question

CELPIP Speaking Task 3 practice picture: Packed Café with a Chalkboard Menu

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 crowded café: people standing and waiting, others sitting at tables, a big chalkboard menu on the back wall, and cups and pastries on the tables in front.

Plan (60 sec)

Overview: "This is a crowded café, with lots of people standing and a few sitting at tables."
Centre: a young woman with long blonde hair in a black sweater and dark jeans stands with her hands together, looking down.
Left: a man with glasses in a navy sweater and khakis leans forward; a man in a striped sweater and a man in dark green stand nearby.
Right: a woman in a striped shirt stands looking off to the side; a woman in a pink sweater sits at a table with a notebook and a paper cup.
Foreground: a table with cups and pastries on plates.
Background: a chalkboard menu, a shelf of cups and jars, big windows on the left.

Useful vocabulary

café, chalkboard menu, lineup, counter
pastries, takeout cup, notebook, packed

Phrases

"Standing in the middle,..."
"Sitting at a table on the right,..."
"On the wall at the back,..."

Avoid

Saying "people are drinking coffee"; most are standing and waiting.
Forgetting the pastries and cups in the front.

Excellent answer (transcript): around CLB 11–12

This is a packed café, and it seems like most of the customers are waiting for their orders, because very few of them are sitting down. Right in the middle, a young woman with long blonde hair, in a black sweater and dark jeans, is standing with her hands together, glancing down as if she's checking something. On the left, a man with glasses in a navy sweater and khakis is leaning forward, and he's surrounded by a few others, including a man in a striped sweater and another in dark green. Over on the right, a woman in a blue and white striped shirt is standing near a table, gazing off to the side. Just past her, a woman in a pink sweater is sitting with a notebook and a paper cup in front of her. In the foreground, there's a table with some cups and pastries on plates. Along the back wall, there's a large chalkboard menu above a shelf of cups and jars, and big windows let in light on the left.

175 words

Why it scores high

Content/Coherence: The opening claim is backed with evidence, "because very few of them are sitting down," and every area of the café is covered.
Vocabulary: Phrases like "glancing down as if she's checking something," "gazing off to the side" and "a shelf of cups and jars" sound polished.
Listenability: "Right in the middle," "Over on the right," "Just past her" and "Along the back wall" guide the listener smoothly.

Good answer (transcript): around CLB 7–8

This picture shows a crowded café, probably in the morning. Lots of people are standing around, and it looks like many of them are waiting for their orders. In the middle, a young woman with long blonde hair is wearing a black sweater and dark jeans, and she's looking down at her hands. On the left, there's a man with glasses in a navy sweater, and next to him, a man in a striped sweater. On the right, a woman in a striped shirt is standing and looking to the side. Behind her, a woman in a pink sweater is sitting at a table with a notebook and a paper cup. On the back wall, there's a big chalkboard menu.

120 words

What works, and what's missing

Content/Coherence: The answer gives a reason for the standing crowd, "waiting for their orders," then moves centre, left, right and back in order.
Vocabulary: Accurate phrases like "chalkboard menu," "striped shirt" and "looking down at her hands" fit the café setting.
Task Fulfillment: The table of cups and pastries in the foreground is left out, even though it's the closest thing to the viewer.

Basic answer (transcript): around CLB 4–5

This picture is a coffee shop and it is very busy. Many people is standing, maybe they wait for coffee. In the middle a girl with blonde hair is standing, she wear black sweater. On the left one man have glasses and blue sweater. On the right a woman with stripe shirt is standing. Another woman with pink sweater is sitting at the table, there is a book and a cup. On the wall there is a black board with menu. In front there is table with bread.

88 words

What holds it back

Vocabulary: "many people is standing," "she wear," "stripe shirt," "black board" and "bread" for pastries show agreement and word-choice errors.
Content/Coherence: The people around the man with glasses and the windows are missing, and the foreground table gets only "table with bread."
Listenability: Two comma splices, "is standing, she wear" and "at the table, there is a book," make the speech sound run-on.

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