CELPIP Listening Part 5: Discussion
Keep each speaker’s opinion separate
Follow what each person wants, why they want it, and what they need before they can agree.
Guide 5 of 6 in the Listening path · Reviewed
Know the task
Part 5 uses a three-person video discussion with eight questions. TargetCLB practice uses audio with a still image and speaker indicators rather than full video.
See the official CELPIP test formatA useful approach
- 1
Make a row for each speaker
Write Mara, Owen, and Tess on separate rows. Add each person’s ideas beside their own name. In a recorded discussion, use names or short labels that help you keep track of who is speaking.
- 2
Write each idea and its reason
Mara wants one set lunch to save planning time. Owen wants people to bring their own food because of their dietary needs. Put each reason beside the person who gives it.
- 3
Keep the condition for agreement
Tess supports café orders only if staff choose suitable meals in advance. Write the whole idea, including “if.” Writing only “Tess agrees” would leave out what she needs before agreeing.
- 4
Check each person’s final words
Update your notes when a speaker changes their view. Mara agrees to try collecting meal choices. Owen still wants to see the menu. Before saying that everyone agrees, find words of agreement from each person.
See it in an example
Three staff members discuss how to organize a monthly workplace lunch.
Discussion transcript · Select a passage to see its explanation.
Mara’s suggestion
Mara wants the same lunch for everyone because it would take less planning. The café is her suggestion; the group has not chosen it yet.
Check your understanding
A common mistake
Saying everyone agrees when one person has not decided.
Less useful: All three agree to order the same café lunch.
More specific: Tess proposes advance choice; Mara agrees to try it; Owen wants the menu before deciding.
Tess suggests a choice of meals, and Mara agrees to try it. Owen still wants to see the menu. None of this means that all three agree to one identical lunch.
Useful language in context
- leave someone out
Fail to include someone in an activity or plan.
An event held upstairs could leave out people who cannot use the stairs.
- in advance
Before an event or action happens.
Please choose your meal in advance so the kitchen can prepare it.
- before we settle it
Before we make a final decision about it.
Let's compare the costs before we settle it.
Try it yourself
- On paper, make one row for each speaker in the discussion above. Write each person’s first suggestion and reason.
- Beside Tess’s name, write what staff must be able to do before she will support café orders.
- Read the last exchange again. Update Mara’s row with what she agrees to try and Owen’s row with what he still wants to check.