CELPIP Speaking vocabulary practice should help you fulfill a communication purpose, not recite a list. CELPIP's official materials assess vocabulary alongside content/coherence, listenability, and task fulfillment. No phrase guarantees a level; a word is useful when it makes the advice, description, comparison, or opinion clearer.
The prompts below are original training material. Record each answer before reading the model. This answer-checked set complements the CELPIP speaking vocabulary-by-task guide, which maps all eight official purposes; this page provides seven new prompts and models rather than repeating that overview. Then continue with the matching task guides in the CELPIP vocabulary practice hub.
1. Give advice
Prompt: Your friend can take an inexpensive evening course far from home or a more expensive weekend course nearby. Give advice.
Use: priority, manageable, provided that, first step.
Model: Your first step should be to calculate the full travel cost, not only the course fee. If the weekend price remains manageable, I would choose the nearby option because it protects your weekday schedule. The evening course could still work, provided that the commute does not interfere with work or sleep.
Rationale: The model recommends an action, ties it to the friend's constraints, and gives a condition that could change the advice. Practice more decision language in CELPIP Task 1 polite advice phrases.
2. Describe a personal experience
Prompt: Describe a time when a plan changed unexpectedly.
Use: initially, however, adapt, eventually.
Model: Initially, my family planned an outdoor picnic for my grandmother's birthday. However, heavy rain began that morning, so we adapted the plan and moved the meal to a community room. Eventually, everyone arrived safely, and the smaller indoor space made the celebration feel more personal.
Rationale: The markers establish original plan, disruption, response, and outcome. The story does not add unrelated detail. Extend this sequence with CELPIP Task 2 story vocabulary.
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Start a practice session →3. Describe a scene without guessing
Prompt context: A supplied picture shows three people at a bus stop. One reads a timetable, one holds an umbrella, and one bends beside a bicycle.
Which statement is safest?
- A. The cyclist definitely broke a wheel and is furious.
- B. One person appears to be checking the bicycle while another looks at the timetable.
- C. Everyone is late for work because the bus company is unreliable.
Answer: B. It reports visible actions and uses appears to for an interpretation. A invents damage and emotion; C invents destination, lateness, and cause. Use the evidence ladder in CELPIP Tasks 3 and 4 scene vocabulary.
4. Make a bounded prediction
Using the same scene, complete this prediction: “If the dark clouds move closer, ______; meanwhile, the cyclist may ______.”
Model: If the dark clouds move closer, the person holding the umbrella may open it; meanwhile, the cyclist may continue checking the bicycle.
Rationale: May marks uncertainty, and each prediction grows from visible evidence. “A storm will cancel every bus” would be unsupported.
5. Compare and persuade
Prompt: Persuade a colleague to choose either a central meeting room for $90 or a larger suburban room for $70. Most attendees use public transport; both rooms have enough seats.
Use: although, decisive, accessible, outweigh.
Model: Although the suburban room costs $20 less, the central room is more accessible to most attendees. Location is decisive here because both venues have enough capacity. The easier journey is likely to outweigh the modest saving, so I recommend the central room.
Rationale: The comparison acknowledges the rejected option's real advantage, identifies a criterion fixed by the prompt, and makes a clear recommendation. Practice the structure in CELPIP Task 5 comparing and persuading.
6. Handle a difficult situation
Prompt: A neighbor asks you to stop practicing music completely, but you need to prepare for a performance. Respond politely.
Model: I understand that the noise has been disruptive, and I am sorry that it has affected your evenings. I cannot stop practicing entirely before the performance, but I can limit practice to one hour before 7 p.m. If that time still causes a problem, please suggest another daytime period and I will try to accommodate it.
Rationale: The response acknowledges impact, states a boundary, offers a specific compromise, and invites a feasible alternative. It does not make an impossible promise. Continue with CELPIP Task 6 difficult-situation vocabulary.
7. Express and qualify an opinion
Prompt: Should cities convert some street parking into public seating?
Model: I generally support converting a limited number of spaces, especially in commercial areas with heavy pedestrian traffic. Public seating can make those areas more accessible to older visitors and families. However, cities should retain short-term spaces for deliveries and people with mobility needs. A trial would provide local evidence before a permanent expansion.
Rationale: Generally, a limited number, and especially define scope. The concession addresses a real constraint instead of weakening the opinion. Build more responses with CELPIP Task 7 opinion vocabulary.
Quick precision check
- A choice matters but does not determine the decision: relevant / decisive.
- You reduce a problem but do not remove it: mitigate / eliminate.
- You recognize another view before disagreeing: acknowledge / ignore.
- A compromise can actually be carried out: feasible / imaginary.
Answers: 1 relevant. 2 mitigate. 3 acknowledge. 4 feasible. Re-record one response using the correct word in a complete phrase, then use the CELPIP hub to practice the same communication purpose in a new context.
Sources
Related
- CELPIP speaking vocabulary by task
- CELPIP vocabulary list by task
- CELPIP Task 1 polite advice
- CELPIP Task 7 opinion vocabulary
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