CELPIP Speaking Task 3: Describing a Scene

Okay, so, um, this picture is a bus stop and it is raining. The ground is wet. There are many people waiting. One woman has a yellow coat and she puts a newspaper on her head because of the rain. A man has an umbrella, a black one, and he is shaking it. There is a boy with a backpack, he looks at his phone. His bag is very wet, I think. A mother is with a small child. She puts the hood on the child's head. The child has boots. There is an old man too, he has a stick, um, a cane, and he looks at the road. A bus is coming and it makes water splash. Behind them there is a man on a bicycle with a bright vest. Everybody is waiting. It looks cold and, um, not very happy.

So the picture shows a really crowded bus stop on a rainy morning in the city. Everything looks grey and the sidewalk is soaked, with puddles right along the curb. Under the glass shelter there's a woman in a bright yellow raincoat, and she's holding a folded newspaper over her head, which probably isn't helping much. Next to her a man in a suit is shaking the water off his black umbrella before he steps in. In the front there's a teenager with a really wet backpack, and he's just scrolling on his phone under a clear plastic umbrella, not paying attention to anyone. Right beside him a mother is crouching down to pull a rain hood over her little kid, who's wearing rubber boots. At the edge of the group there's an older man leaning on a cane, and he's looking down the street where a bus is coming through a big puddle and splashing water. And behind the shelter there's a delivery cyclist in a bright safety vest with one foot on the curb, waiting to get past.

Alright, picture a city bus stop on one of those grey Monday mornings where it hasn't stopped raining since dawn. The sidewalk is completely soaked and there are puddles pooling along the curb, so nobody wants to stand too close to the road. The shelter itself is packed. Under the glass roof there's a woman in a bright yellow raincoat who's given up and is holding a folded newspaper over her head, and right beside her a man in a business suit is shaking the water off a black umbrella before he squeezes in. Closer to me, in the foreground, a teenager with a completely soaked backpack is under one of those clear plastic umbrellas, totally absorbed in his phone. Beside him a mother has crouched down to pull a rain hood over her toddler, who's stamping around in little rubber boots and clearly enjoying the weather more than anyone else. Off to one side an older man is leaning on his cane, watching the street, because a bus is finally coming and it's throwing up a wall of spray as it hits a puddle. And just behind the shelter, a delivery cyclist in a bright safety vest is balanced with one foot on the curb, waiting for a gap so he can get through. It's the kind of scene where everyone is damp, patient and slightly resigned.