Episode Summary: Welcome to a closer look at how to respond to CELPIP Speaking Tasks 7 and 8.

Today I'll be covering strategies, tips, and practice prompts to help you feel confident and prepared for this section of the exam.

In This Episode

Speaking Task 7 — Giving Your Opinion (starts ~1:20)

• Why you're already an expert at this task — you've expressed opinions before
• A "Do you think…?" style question — more approachable than it seems

5 Key Tips for Task 7:

1. Read & understand the question — stay on topic, avoid bunny trails (~2:03)
2. Speed — quickly decide your position; there are no right or wrong answers (~3:16)
3. Three points — aim for 3 main ideas, each backed by a reason or example. Formula: (1 main point + 1 reason/example) × 3 = complete answer (~3:41)
4. Be logical — make sure your ideas sound logical when presented (~4:30)
5. Use transitions — phrases like "First of all," "Second," "Third," "And finally" help test raters follow your flow (~4:30)

Timing for Task 7 (~5:56)

• 30 seconds to brainstorm: jot down one-word triggers, aim to identify 3 big ideas
• 90 seconds to record your response
• Draw from real-life experience to strengthen your answer

Task 7 Practice Prompt (~7:52)

"Do you think your city is doing enough to provide affordable housing? Why or why not?"

Speaking Task 8 — Describing an Unusual Image (starts ~9:19)

• Describe a strange/unfamiliar object as if you're on a phone call with a friend
• The strategies you used in Speaking Task 3 can also help you here!

5 Key Tips for Task 8:

1. Talk to a friend — use their name, keep it personal (~10:13)
2. Set the scene — start with "I'm looking at a…" blanket statement (~10:34)
3. Divide and conquer — mentally split the image into 4 quadrants; describe one section at a time (~10:47)
4. Use strong descriptive language — vary your descriptors across color, shape, size, and similes; don't over-rely on one category (~12:11)
5. Conclude — leave ~10 seconds at the end to wrap up, e.g., "So Johnny, what do you think of this?" (~12:54)

Task 8 Practice Prompt (~13:41)

"You are at a local artisan market, and you see this unusual custom-crafted piece of home decoration that your friend would likely love. Call them and describe the object in detail so that they can visualize it and decide if they want you to buy it for them." (Image available here!)

Resources & Call to Action

• Free 5-Part Mini Audio Course — Avoid the top 5 most common CELPIP Speaking Test mistakes.
• 30-Day CELPIP Speaking Task Bootcamp — Starts September 7th. Download the free mini audio course to receive your invitation.

Foreign. Hello and welcome to the Celpip Success Podcast.

The most introvert friendly podcast on the planet, dedicated to helping you confidently prepare for and conquer the CELPIP exam. If you're tired of feeling nervous, stressed and stuck and getting ready for your exam, then my friend, this. This is the podcast for you. Who am I?

My name is Aaron and I've been an English teacher for over 17 years and I'm a certified Celpip trainer and I can't wait to help you get ready for your CELPIP exam. I've got a few favorite sections of the CELPIP exam, and speaking task seven actually happens to be one of them.

And I know, I know that sounds really geeky of me, but bear with me for a second. Today I want to try and convince you to make this one of your favorite sections too.

My top reason for actually enjoying this section, and why I think that you should as well, is that you're already an expert at it.

So if you have an opinion about something and you've actually expressed that opinion to another human being before, then my friend, you've already got the skills and the experience that you need to do this section well. In speaking task seven, you're going to be giving your opinion in response to a Do you think style question. Pretty chill, right?

I know with an exam attached to that question, it can feel way more difficult and challenging than it really is or actually needs to be. But really, I guarantee you, you've done this before. To do well on this section of the exam, here are a few quick pointers for you to keep in mind.

Number one, and I think that this is one of the most important ones. Make sure that you read and understand the question completely and correctly before you actually start with your answer.

And when you're giving your opinion, make sure that you stay on topic and don't get pulled off on a bunny trail. One of the most common things that I see people doing here that's a mistake is that they go off topic.

They start including other ideas that do not pertain or are not directly connected to the thing that they're trying to talk about. Be really careful about that. Stay on topic and understand what you're supposed to give your opinion on and then stay focused on it.

So that's the first and probably one of the most important things to keep in mind. Stay focused on what you're actually trying to give your opinion on. Number two, speed.

You need to quickly decide if you will be for or against the situation being presented to you and the Great news here is that this is totally 100% your opinion on the topic. There are no right or wrong answers here and that's really liberating and freeing.

It's asking you for your honest opinion and it's okay and very important for you to actually give it. Be honest. What is your honest opinion on this topic? Number three, three points.

In your brainstorming time, aim for three points to make for each main point. Provide at least one reason to support your answer. Keep this formula in mind.

One main point plus one reason or example times three equals a complete answer for every idea that you share. And you should aim for sharing three main ideas. Always make sure that you are providing a reason or an example to back it up.

It's never enough just to leave one idea without giving a reason for it. You need to do. You need to provide that extra information in order for you to have a strong and complete answer. Number four Be logical.

Make sure that your ideas are logical and sound logical when you present them. And finally, number five, transitions. Make sure that you use them when you're moving from one point to another one.

For example, if you are talking about a list, make sure that you say something like first of all. And then when you're done making that first point, say something like and next I would like to say or second or third.

And finally, when you're coming to the end of your reasons why you think the way that you do. All right, so make sure that you're transitioning from one idea to another.

And one of the most common ways to do that, like I was saying before, is to use phrases like first of all, second, third, and then and finally or and most importantly, those are all transitioning from one thought to another one and it's important that you use them.

And in fact, the test raters who will be listening to your response are going to be listening to make sure that you are transitioning smoothly from one thought to another one. So make sure that you practice doing it. Now, let's talk about the time factor here.

You'll still get those famous 30 seconds to think about what you're going to say before you start recording your answer.

And I alluded to that a few seconds ago when I was talking about making three points and using your brainstorming time to try to come up with those ideas. Make sure that you take full advantage of those 30 seconds to brainstorm what you're going to say.

How Try to jot down as many one word triggers to help you to remember your ideas as you can about the topic that you're going to be talking about, see if you can as you're dumping those ideas down, see if you can pinpoint three big ones to work with. And also keep in mind when you're brainstorming, don't fall for the idea that you have to come up with the perfect thought or the perfect idea.

No, you're aiming for as many ideas as you can.

And as you do, as you come up with those ideas, you'll probably start to see two or three ones that kind of surface as being more important ideas that you'd want to use as your main ideas. So that's really important. Take full advantage of those 30 seconds. Jot down single word ideas to help you to remember what you've come up with.

And you need as many of these ideas as you can get your hands on. Because for this speaking task you're going to have a full 90 seconds to actually record your response.

So remember, in order to fill up those 90 seconds, make sure that you are offering three main points for your reasoning, why you are saying or why you are expressing the opinion that you are expressing. And for each main point, remember you need to share a reason or an example to back up that main point.

And if you can draw from your real life experience, that's something else that you should totally do. But you need three main points and one reason or example for each point and that will give you a complete answer.

Now, if you are wanting to practice this along with me right now, here is a speaking task prompt for you to work on. Do you think your city is doing enough to provide affordable housing? Why or why not?

I know in the city where I live, in Victoria, affordable housing is a hot topic. I don't know where you live, but I'm betting that it's probably a hot topic wherever you are living as well.

So imagine that somebody is asking you for your opinion on this topic. Do you think your city and you can fill in the name of the city.

Victoria or Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Wherever you are, do you think your city is doing enough to provide affordable housing? Why or why not?

Now, of course, if you'd like to get feedback on your responses, you need to join my 30 day SELPIP speaking task boot camp that starts this September 7th. It's just a couple of days away.

You still have time to get your invitation to join, but to get it, you first need to Download my free 5 part mini audio course that will help you avoid the top five most common Celpip speaking task mistakes. There's going to be a link in my show notes today of this podcast episode. Like I said a moment before, this course is totally free.

Each episode is short and very practical. Grab yours today so that you can get your invitation for the 30 day bootcamp that's coming up on Monday, September 7th.

Okay, so let's talk about speaking task eight. Speaking task eight is going to require you to use your very best powers of description to talk about an unusual, weird, strange image.

Likely, it's going to be something you're going to see, an image of something that you've probably not seen before. And the goal here is to describe that image as if you're on a phone call to a friend, someone who's not there with you.

You need to look at this picture, this image, and describe what you see to them.

To succeed on this section of the test, it's important to use some of the same skills and strategies you relied on in speaking task three, where you are describing an image. Many of the same ideas will apply here. Number one, make sure that you're talking to a friend.

Like, try to use their name when you're actually in this conversation. When you're recording your answer, use their name, make it up.

Or imagine that you're talking to your very best friend when you're making your recording. So keep it personalized. Number two, set the scene. What are you looking at? See if you can come up with a quick blanket statement. I'm looking at a.

And then you say what it is that you're looking at. Number three. This is one of my favorite strategies and one of the most important ones for speaking task three and four. And this speaking task.

Speaking task eight. You need to divide and conquer. Remember, you're not trying to talk about everything going on in the picture.

You need to focus on talking about this unusual thing or object before you. And one of the best ways that you can do that is, is to mentally use your imagination. Because it's not going to be like this on the. On the test.

You need to do this yourself. But you can try mentally dividing the picture up into four.

For example, if you were, you could take like an imaginary pencil or pen and draw a line down the middle of the picture and then draw a line horizontally across that picture so that you divided it up into four equal squares. What you would do then is start talking about one of those quadrants at a time instead of trying to talk about everything all at once.

It's probably going to be easier for you to try to focus on one section of the object that you're trying to describe, talk about it, describe it, and then move on to the one next to it. You see what I mean?

You're trying to give yourself a little bit of a space to focus on at a time to make it easier for you to talk about what you're looking at. So divide and conquer. Talk about one section of the object that you're trying to describe at a time. Don't try to go all over the object all at once.

Go into detail on what you're looking at one section at a time. Number four. Remember, this task is all about your powers of description.

It's really going to be important for you to use strong descriptive languages where you're talking about colors and shapes and using similes. Don't over rely on one descriptive category all the way through. Like talking about the color of something.

Make sure that you use a variety of descriptors. Talk about the size, talk about the color, talk about the shape.

See if you can include multiple different kinds of descriptive words throughout your answer.

And finally, make sure that you give yourself a few seconds before the end of the recording, like in the last 10 seconds or so to offer a concluding statement such as, so Johnny, what do you think of this thing that I'm looking at? Or what do you think of this mug that I'm looking at? Or what do you think of this costume that I am describing to you? Should I buy it?

Would you buy it? Would you like to have it? Something like that. Just to show the test raters that you have finished.

And today I'm not even going to try to include a description of the image that I am sharing with you here on the speaking task.

But if you want to see the image that I am including in here for you to practice on your own, just go to the show notes from today's session and you'll be able to see this strange looking picture that I found. And here is the prompt that's associated with this image.

You are at a local artisan market and you see this unusual custom crafted piece of home decoration that your friend would likely love. Call them and describe the object in detail so that they can visualize it and decide if they want you to buy it for them.

And of course the image is not. I can't put it here for you, but you just have to click on the link in my show notes so that you can see what what I'm talking about.

And then you can practice on your own looking at this picture and trying to do or use this prompt to help you to to to practice. And if you'd like to actually get feedback on this response.

This speaking task prompt is going to be included in my 30 day SELPIP speaking skills challenge that's starting this Monday, September 7th. And if you'd like to get feedback, you just need to join.

You need to join this Boot Camp and to do so, you first need to download my free 5 part mini audio course that will help you to avoid the top five most common CELPIP speaking task mistakes. That link is also in my show notes today. Thank you so much for listening and I hope that I will see you inside of the Boot Camp.