Hosting a Big Meal at Home

The task

Talk about a time when you hosted a meal at home for a large group, such as a holiday dinner, a birthday or a team party. Describe how you planned it and how the day went.

• Read the task, prepare during the preparation time, then speak aloud for the speaking time.
• This is an original practice question written in a CELPIP-style format. It is not a real test question.
• The CLB level of each model answer was reviewed by a TESOL-certified instructor. It is not an official CELPIP score. This practice material is not affiliated with or endorsed by Paragon Testing Enterprises.
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Preparation

30 seconds

Speaking time

60 seconds

Question

25 of 30

Last summer it was my son's birthday and we invited all the family, maybe twenty-five people. I want to cook all the food myself, because the restaurant is too expensive. I made rice, chicken and two kind of salad. I started to cook in the morning, but it took more long than I think. When the guests come, the chicken was not ready, so my sister came to help me in the kitchen and my husband played music. We ate at seven, a bit late. But everybody said the food was very good and they took some food home. I was very tired but very happy.

Why this answer works

• A clear sequence: the occasion, the plan, a problem, the help, the result.
• Simple food words and typical slips ("two kind of salad", "more long than I think", "When the guests come"), suiting a CLB 7.
• Ends with a feeling, but the problem is not described in much detail.

A couple of years ago, I offered to cook dinner for my volleyball team after our last game of the season. There were about sixteen of us, and I decided to make my grandmother's biryani, which I'd only ever cooked for four people. Scaling it up turned out to be the trickiest part. I borrowed a huge pot from a neighbour and spent the whole afternoon chopping onions, grinding spices and soaking basmati. Around five, I noticed the bottom layer was cooking much faster than the top, so I had to keep turning it gently. A few teammates arrived early and set the table while I finished. In the end, the biryani was a big hit, and three people asked for the recipe.

Why this answer works

• Focuses on one clear challenge (scaling a recipe) and its solution.
• Accurate cooking language: "Scaling it up", "soaking basmati", "a big hit".
• Past perfect ("which I'd only ever cooked for four people") is used accurately.

Last fall I volunteered to host my partner's whole family for the first time, which meant fourteen people crammed into a fairly small apartment. I'd never roasted a turkey, so I did a trial run with a chicken a week before, and looking back, that was my smartest move. On Thanksgiving itself, my oven turned out to be far too small for the bird plus every side dish, so I ended up borrowing my neighbour's for stuffing and sprinting up and down three flights of stairs. Dinner was forty minutes late, and the gravy was a bit lumpy. Still, Grandma Rosa asked for seconds and declared it her best turkey in years. I doubt that was true, but I'll take it.

Why this answer works

• Plans ahead in the story ("a trial run with a chicken") and then shows what still went wrong, which makes it believable.
• Natural, precise language: "side dish", "lumpy", "asked for seconds", "I'll take it".
• Gentle humour at the end gives the story a clear, spoken finish.