CELPIP Speaking Task 3: Describing a Scene

CELPIP Speaking Task 3 Sample Answer: Outdoor Fruit Stalls Under Bright Tents

This picture shows shoppers browsing a long fruit and vegetable display at a street market lined with colourful tents. The tricky part is balancing the eye-catching produce with the people, so your answer describes actions like pointing and carrying, not just a list of fruit.

Preparation

30 seconds

Speaking

60 seconds

Picture

A detailed illustration

The question

CELPIP Speaking Task 3 practice picture: Outdoor Fruit Stalls Under Bright Tents

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 an outdoor market on a city street: a long fruit display in the middle, shoppers browsing and pointing, and colourful tents on both sides.

Plan (60 sec)

Overview: "This is a busy outdoor market on a city street, with lots of fruit and vegetable stalls."
Centre: white trays full of oranges, tomatoes, limes, green apples and red onions; a blue bowl of small potatoes at the front.
Middle: an older man in a dark cardigan points at the fruit beside a woman in a brown top with a pink purse.
Right: a woman in a pink T-shirt with a ponytail looks at crates of tomatoes and melons.
Left: a bald man with glasses carries a plastic bag of greens; a woman in blue holds a dark bag.
Background: tents in blue, red, orange, purple and yellow, tall buildings and trees.

Useful vocabulary

stall, vendor, produce, canopy / tent
browse, crates, trays, piled up

Phrases

"Running down the middle,..."
"One shopper is..."
"Behind the stalls,..."

Avoid

Listing every fruit; name four or five and move on to the people.
Forgetting the tents' colours; they frame the whole scene.

Excellent answer (transcript): around CLB 11–12

This is a lively outdoor market set up on a city street, and it's packed with shoppers. Running right down the middle is a long display of white trays piled with fresh produce: oranges, tomatoes, limes, green apples and what look like red onions, with a blue bowl of baby potatoes right at the front. Beside the display, an older man in a dark cardigan is pointing at something, maybe asking about a price, while a woman in a brown top, holding a pink purse, leans in to look. On the right, a woman in a pink T-shirt with a ponytail is checking out crates of tomatoes and melons. Over on the left, a bald man with glasses is strolling past with a plastic bag full of greens. Both sides of the street are lined with canopies in blue, red, orange, purple and yellow, and you can see tall brick buildings and some trees in the background.

157 words

Why it scores high

Content/Coherence: "maybe asking about a price" gives a believable reason for the pointing, adding meaning to the action without inventing anything unseen.
Vocabulary: Phrases such as "piled with fresh produce," "leans in to look," "strolling past" and "lined with canopies" sound natural and specific.
Listenability: "Running right down the middle," "Beside the display" and "Over on the left" give the answer a smooth, easy rhythm.

Good answer (transcript): around CLB 7–8

This picture shows an outdoor market on a busy city street. In the middle, there's a long display of fresh fruit in white trays, like oranges, tomatoes, limes and green apples, and there's a blue bowl of small potatoes at the front. Next to the display, an older man in a dark cardigan is pointing at the fruit, and a woman in a brown top with a pink purse is standing beside him. On the right, a woman in a pink T-shirt and jeans is looking at crates of tomatoes and melons. On the left, a bald man with glasses is carrying a plastic bag of vegetables. Along both sides of the street, there are colourful tents in blue, red, orange and purple.

123 words

What works, and what's missing

Content/Coherence: The answer moves from the central display to the people beside it, then right, left and the tents, so the layout is easy to follow.
Vocabulary: Accurate phrases like "a long display of fresh fruit in white trays" and "crates of tomatoes and melons" suit a market scene.
Task Fulfillment: The background buildings and trees are left out; one line about them would tell the listener the market is in a downtown area.

Basic answer (transcript): around CLB 4–5

This picture is a market outside in the city. In the middle there is a lot of fruits, like orange, tomato and green apple. There is many people shopping. One old man is pointing to the fruit, and a woman next to him have a pink bag. On the right a woman with pink t-shirt is looking the vegetables. On the left one man with glasses have a plastic bag. There is many tents with different colors, blue, red and orange. It is very busy.

85 words

What holds it back

Vocabulary: "a lot of fruits," "many people," "a woman next to him have" and "looking the vegetables" show plural, agreement and preposition errors.
Content/Coherence: The fruit and people are mentioned, but the buildings, the trays and the blue bowl are missing, so the setting stays thin.
Listenability: Repeated "There is" openings and short sentences with no linking words make the answer sound like a list.

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