CELPIP Speaking Task 3: Describing a Scene

CELPIP Speaking Task 3 Sample Answer: Umbrellas on a Wet Street at Night

This picture shows people walking with umbrellas along a dark city street at night while cars drive through heavy rain. The tricky part is that everyone is a dark silhouette, so you must describe positions, umbrellas, lights and reflections instead of faces or clothing.

Preparation

30 seconds

Speaking

60 seconds

Picture

A detailed illustration

The question

CELPIP Speaking Task 3 practice picture: Umbrellas on a Wet Street at Night

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 downtown street at night in heavy rain: dark silhouettes of people walking with umbrellas, cars with headlights on the road, glowing streetlights, and the wet sidewalk reflecting the light.

Plan (60 sec)

Overview: "It's a dark, rainy night on a city street, and people are walking with umbrellas."
Centre: one person walks away from us under a big black umbrella.
Left: two more people share the space under umbrellas near the curb.
Right: a group of people walk along the sidewalk, a few holding umbrellas.
Road: cars with bright headlights and red tail lights, driving slowly.
Setting: tall buildings, two streetlights glowing in the mist, light reflecting on the wet pavement.

Useful vocabulary

silhouette, pouring rain, pavement, reflection
headlights, tail lights, streetlight, misty / foggy

Phrases

"You can only see their outlines..."
"The light is reflecting off..."
"In the distance,..."

Avoid

Inventing clothing colours or faces; the people are dark shapes, so describe positions and umbrellas.
Forgetting the lights and reflections; they're the most visible details.

Excellent answer (transcript): around CLB 11–12

This is a downtown street on a stormy night, and it's pouring rain, so everything looks dark and misty. Because it's so dim, the people walking on the sidewalk are just silhouettes. In the centre, one person is heading away from us under a large black umbrella, and just to the left, two more people are walking side by side under umbrellas of their own. Over on the right, there's a small group making their way along the sidewalk, a couple of them sheltering under umbrellas too. On the road beside them, a handful of cars are creeping along with their headlights on, and further down the street, you can see a blur of red tail lights. Two tall streetlights are glowing through the mist, and their light is bouncing off the soaking-wet pavement, leaving long, shiny reflections. On both sides, tall office buildings rise into the fog, with just a few windows lit up.

155 words

Why it scores high

Vocabulary: Phrases such as "silhouettes," "creeping along," "a blur of red tail lights" and "bouncing off the soaking-wet pavement" create a vivid mood.
Content/Coherence: Explaining that "Because it's so dim, the people... are just silhouettes" sets expectations, then every area, from sidewalk to skyline, is covered.
Listenability: Links like "just to the left," "Over on the right," "On the road beside them" and "further down the street" keep the answer flowing.

Good answer (transcript): around CLB 7–8

This picture shows a city street on a dark, rainy night. Several people are walking along the sidewalk, and most of them are holding umbrellas. It's so dark that you can only see their outlines. In the middle, one person is walking away from us under a big black umbrella. On the left, there are two more people with umbrellas, and on the right, there's a group of people walking together. On the road, there are a few cars with their headlights on, and you can see some red tail lights further away. There are two bright streetlights, and the light is reflecting on the wet ground. Tall buildings line both sides of the street.

115 words

What works, and what's missing

Content/Coherence: "you can only see their outlines" explains early why no clothing is described, which helps the listener understand the picture.
Vocabulary: Accurate terms like "headlights," "red tail lights" and "reflecting on the wet ground" suit the night scene.
Task Fulfillment: The misty, foggy atmosphere is never mentioned; one line about it would capture the mood of the whole picture.

Basic answer (transcript): around CLB 4–5

This picture is a city street in the night and it is raining very much. Many people is walking on the sidewalk with umbrella. I can not see their face because it is very dark. In the middle one person have a big black umbrella and he walk away. On the right there is more people walking. On the road there is cars with the lights on. There is two street light. The ground is wet and shiny. The buildings is very tall.

83 words

What holds it back

Vocabulary: "raining very much" replaces 'pouring,' and "many people is," "with umbrella," "he walk away" and "two street light" show agreement and plural errors.
Content/Coherence: The reflections and the red tail lights are missing, and the left side of the picture is never described.
Listenability: Nearly every sentence is short and starts with "There is" or "On the," with no linking words, so it sounds like a list.

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