CELPIP® Speaking Task 3 sample: Family Portrait in a Townhouse Hall
Describing a Scene · Preparation: 30 seconds · Response: 60 seconds · Published
Original practice questions in CELPIP® task formats, created independently by CELPIP Study.
Practice question
Your friend can hear you but cannot see this townhouse picture. Describe the people, their positions and what they're doing as they prepare for the portrait. You have 30 seconds to prepare and 60 seconds to speak.
Model answers
These are transcripts of a model response, provided for comparison with your own recording.
Level 7 sample answer
127 words
This is a family getting ready for a portrait in a small townhouse hall in Hamilton. Snow is collecting outside a side window. Ikaika, the photographer in navy, looks through a camera at the front left, with his finger near the shutter. Ronan wears brown and smiles on a stool against a backdrop at the back. Um, on the left, a little girl in yellow holds a balloon ribbon. The knot around her wrist is coming loose. Her mother in purple tries to put a clip in her hair, but she turns away. A boy in green holds a treat above a dog, whose front paws is lifting. A woman in blue holds its leash on the right. A young man in orange struggles with jacket nearby.
Why this answer is at level 7
This level 7 teaching answer gives a clear overview and describes all seven people with recognizable actions. Compared with the higher examples, it relies more on listing, uses less precise spatial language, and contains grammatical slips that reduce clarity.
Ronan wears brown and smiles on a stool against a backdrop at the back.
— Content/Coherence: This establishes the seated relative and the portrait setting clearly. However, it reads as another item in a list; the higher examples connect Ronan more explicitly to the camera and organize the surrounding activity around him.A young man in orange struggles with jacket nearby.
— Vocabulary: The action is understandable, but the wording is basic and 'nearby' gives a loose location. The higher examples use more precise expressions such as foreground positioning and describe his difficulty through the sleeve detail.A boy in green holds a treat above a dog, whose front paws is lifting.
— Listenability: The listener can picture the interaction, but 'paws is' creates a noticeable grammatical disruption. The higher examples maintain agreement and express the simultaneous movement more smoothly.Ikaika, the photographer in navy, looks through a camera at the front left, with his finger near the shutter.
— Task Fulfillment: This identifies the photographer, his position, and his immediate action, helping the friend locate him. The higher examples also explain the tripod and the camera's direction, making the portrait arrangement easier to reconstruct.
Level 9 sample answer
162 words
The picture shows a family preparing for a portrait in a compact Hamilton townhouse hall. Snow is collecting outside the side window on this January morning. In the left foreground, Ikaika, the photographer in navy, looks through a camera on a tripod, aimed diagonally toward the rear wall. His finger hovers over the shutter. Ronan, an older man in brown, sits smiling on a stool in front of the backdrop there. The younger relatives are keeping everyone on their toes. In the left middle ground, a restless girl in yellow turns away while her mother in purple tries to fasten a hair clip. The girl's balloon ribbon has a knot coming loose around her wrist. Near the centre, an excited boy in green holds up a treat as the dog's front paws lift. A surprised woman in blue holds its taut leash on the right. In the right foreground, a flustered young man in orange has only one arm inside his jacket.
Why this answer is at level 9
This level 9 teaching answer gives detailed spatial guidance, accurate action descriptions, and more expressive vocabulary than the level 7 example. Compared with level 11, some details remain separately listed, and the organizing contrast between the ready photographer and the unsettled family is less fully developed.
The younger relatives are keeping everyone on their toes.
— Content/Coherence: This creates a lively transition from the seated grandfather to the active relatives. Its focus on younger relatives only partly frames the broader disorder; the higher example connects the surrounding preparations and returns to that contrast in its ending.A surprised woman in blue holds its taut leash on the right.
— Vocabulary: The words 'surprised' and 'taut' efficiently convey both the woman's reaction and the tension caused by the dog. The higher example sustains similarly precise, expressive wording across more of the scene, including the photographer and the jacket struggle.His finger hovers over the shutter.
— Listenability: This short sentence offers a clear detail and a natural pause after the longer camera description. The higher example incorporates the shutter detail into a connected sentence about the photographer and his equipment, giving the passage greater syntactic variety.In the right foreground, a flustered young man in orange has only one arm inside his jacket.
— Task Fulfillment: The precise location, clothing colour, emotional state, and sleeve detail help the friend picture this person. The higher example makes his ongoing struggle more vivid through an active verb while preserving the same useful visual information.
Level 11 sample answer
175 words
A compact Hamilton townhouse hall has become a setting for a family portrait on a snowy January morning. Snow collects outside a side window, while a plain fabric backdrop covers part of the rear wall. In front of it, Ronan, the grandfather in brown, sits smiling on a stool, facing the camera. Ikaika, the photographer in navy, occupies the left foreground; his tripod-mounted camera points diagonally toward Ronan, and his finger is poised over the shutter. The surrounding preparations are less composed. In the left middle ground, a restless five-year-old in yellow turns away as her mother, wearing purple, patiently attempts to fasten a hair clip. The knot securing the child's balloon ribbon around her wrist is opening. Near the centre, an excited boy in green holds a treat above a dog whose front paws are lifting. A surprised woman in blue holds its taut leash to the right. Closer to us, a flustered young man in orange wrestles with his jacket, having managed only one sleeve. The photographer appears ready before the family is.
Why this answer is at level 11
This level 11 teaching answer combines precise spatial organization, varied sentence structures, and vivid descriptions of simultaneous actions. Its strongest feature is a coherent contrast between the photographer's readiness and the family's unfinished preparations, developed through the scene and completed by the closing observation.
The photographer appears ready before the family is.
— Content/Coherence: The ending draws together the poised shutter finger, the child's movement, the lifting dog, and the jacket struggle. It gives the description a clear overall interpretation supported by the preceding details.a flustered young man in orange wrestles with his jacket, having managed only one sleeve.
— Vocabulary: The verb 'wrestles' vividly conveys awkward effort, while the sleeve detail makes that effort concrete. The wording communicates both the visible action and the relative's flustered state economically.The surrounding preparations are less composed.
— Listenability: This brief transition provides a natural pause between denser descriptions and signals a shift toward the family activity. That sentence-length variation supports an easier spoken rhythm, although actual delivery cannot be assessed from the written answer.In the left middle ground, a restless five-year-old in yellow turns away as her mother, wearing purple, patiently attempts to fasten a hair clip.
— Task Fulfillment: This combines location, identifying colours, the family relationship, and simultaneous actions in a connected description. The contrast between the restless child and patient mother helps the friend understand how the people interact while preparing for the portrait.
What moves an answer from 7 to 9 to 11
These are model answers written to show each level. The labels are practice estimates, not examiner scores.
Orient the listener to the scene, then group visible details by location or activity. Use precise descriptions and spatial connections rather than an unconnected inventory.
- Content/Coherence: Level 7 models communicate the main ideas; level 9 models develop relevant details with clear connections; level 11 models sustain precise, well-integrated development.
- Vocabulary: Compare adequate everyday wording with more varied, accurate choices at level 9 and flexible, precise expression at level 11.
- Listenability: Higher-level delivery needs clear pronunciation, rhythm, intonation and controlled pauses. Transcripts suggest phrasing and organisation, but cannot demonstrate these audio features; a recording is needed.
- Task Fulfillment: Compare how fully the response addresses the request, develops enough relevant detail and maintains an appropriate tone for the audience within the task limits.
Assess the criteria together. A longer answer or rarer words alone do not establish a higher level.
Answer this question and get your level
More Task 3 questions
- Babysitting in a Basement Playroom
- Apartment Viewing in North Bay
- Shared Rental Kitchen in Surrey
- Apartment Lobby Key Handover
- Shared Rental Yard Fence Repairs
- Lakeside beach during a summer heat wave
All speaking Task 3 sample questions · Read the Task 3 guide