CELPIP Speaking Task 3 · Describing a Scene · question 2 of 20
A Community Garden in Early Summer
A CELPIP Speaking Task 3 practice question (Describing a Scene), with a model answer below. No sign-up needed. Read the task, take 30 seconds to prepare, then speak for 60 seconds, out loud, as you would on the test.
The task
Describe some things that are happening in this scene in a community garden as well as you can. The person with whom you are speaking cannot see it.
- Read the scene, prepare during the preparation time, then speak aloud for the speaking time.
The scene
On the real test you see a picture. Here the scene is described in words, so describe it as if you were looking at it.
It is a warm, sunny morning in early summer in a community garden between two apartment buildings. The garden is divided into raised wooden beds full of green plants. On the left, an elderly man in a straw hat is kneeling beside a bed of tomatoes and tying the stems to wooden stakes with string. Next to him, a young woman is filling a green watering can from a tap on a blue rain barrel. In the centre, two children are crouching over a bed of strawberries and putting berries into a small basket. Their mother is standing behind them, holding a garden hose and watering a row of lettuce. On the right, a man with a wheelbarrow full of dark soil is pushing it along a gravel path. In the background, there is a wooden tool shed with a hand-painted sign on the door and a bench under a large maple tree, where a woman is reading a newspaper.
- Preparation
- 30 seconds
- Speaking time
- 60 seconds
- Question
- 2 of 20
A simple way to build your answer
- Name the vegetables and fruit you see; specific nouns like tomatoes and lettuce score better than 'plants'.
- Use verbs that show gardening actions: tying, filling, crouching, watering, pushing.
- Finish with the shed and the bench in the background to close the description calmly.
Model answer · CLB 9
158 words · no sign-upWhat I'm looking at is a community garden on a warm, sunny morning, and it's squeezed in between two apartment buildings. There are lots of raised wooden beds, all full of green plants. On the left, an older man in a straw hat is kneeling next to some tomato plants, tying the stems to wooden stakes with string. Beside him, a young woman is filling a watering can from a tap on a blue rain barrel. In the centre, two kids are crouched over the strawberries, dropping berries into a little basket, and their mom is standing behind them, watering a row of lettuce with a hose. It looks like a family morning out. Toward the right, a man is pushing a wheelbarrow full of dark soil along a gravel path. Further back, there's a wooden tool shed with a hand-painted sign, and a woman is sitting on a bench under a big maple tree, reading the paper.
Why this answer works
- Opens with a varied structure ('What I'm looking at is...') instead of a memorized phrase.
- Groups the children and their mother together, which makes the centre of the scene easy to follow.
- Uses precise vocabulary (raised beds, stakes, rain barrel, wheelbarrow) that shows range at CLB 9.
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