Describe what is strange to a person who cannot see it
Task 8 is the final Speaking task. The official format names it Describing an Unusual Situation. You receive 30 seconds to prepare and 60 seconds to speak. The listener in the prompt cannot see the visual, so pointing, saying “over there,” or listing isolated objects does not complete the communication job.
An effective response first makes the ordinary scene recognizable. Then it identifies the feature that does not fit, locates it precisely, and compares it with a familiar object, action, or expectation. The goal is not to invent a dramatic story. It is to make the visible situation understandable through language alone.
Selection, precision, organization, and listener awareness
Content/Coherence includes enough well-organized detail for the listener to reconstruct the scene. Vocabulary includes accurate nouns, action verbs, spatial phrases, and comparisons. Listenability includes intelligible delivery, grammar and sentence control, and enough sentence variety to connect the parts. Task Fulfillment includes describing the assigned situation, speaking to the named person, maintaining a suitable tone, and using the available time.
More detail is not always better. A complete inventory can bury the unusual point. Select the setting details that establish the normal pattern, then spend most of the response on the strange feature, its location, its scale, and how it differs from what the listener would expect.
Careful uncertainty is useful when the image does not prove a motive. Say “It looks as though the staff are turning the bus into a café,” not “They definitely bought it yesterday for a new business.” Describe visible evidence before adding a reasonable interpretation.
Prepare S → N → U → C → M
- Setting.Name the place and the main activity so the listener has a frame.
- Normal reference.Identify the familiar object or expectation that makes the odd feature surprising.
- Unusual feature.State the clearest difference early instead of saving it for the end.
- Comparison.Explain size, shape, position, action, material, or purpose by comparing ordinary and unusual.
- Meaning.Add the likely purpose, reaction, or consequence only when the visual supports it.
Thirty-second notes can be tiny: library lobby; old streetcar indoors; normally outside/on rails; seats → reading booths; driver area → checkout; children curious. These notes preserve the visual path without becoming a script.
Turn an odd library installation into a clear picture
Original practice scene: A modern public library has a full-sized red streetcar inside its lobby. The wheels rest on two short rails built into the floor. The passenger seats have reading lamps and small tables, the driver’s area is being used as a checkout desk, and families are looking inside.
Prompt: Your friend cannot see what is happening. Call your friend and describe this unusual situation.
30-second notes: library lobby; real streetcar; normally road/rails; short track in floor; seats = booths; driver = desk; families exploring; likely reading space.
Model response:
You would not believe what I’m looking at in the new library. Right in the middle of the lobby, there is a full-sized red streetcar. It looks like a real vehicle that would normally carry passengers along tracks outdoors, but this one is resting on two very short rails built into the library floor.
The strangest part is that the inside has been turned into a reading area. Each passenger seat has a small table and lamp beside it, almost like a row of private study booths. Even the driver’s section has a new purpose: a librarian is using it as a checkout desk.
Several children are climbing aboard while their parents take pictures, so everyone seems amused rather than confused. I think the library preserved the streetcar as a playful place to read, but it is still surprising to see such a large vehicle indoors.
Why it works: The response establishes the library, contrasts a streetcar’s normal use with its indoor location, follows a clear outside-to-inside path, and marks the final interpretation as an inference.
What prevents the listener from seeing the scene
- Starting with disconnected objects. The listener has no place or activity to organize them.
- Never naming what is unusual. The response describes a streetcar but does not explain why its location or use is strange.
- Using pointing language. “This thing here” and “that person over there” fail for a listener without the visual.
- Inventing invisible facts. The picture cannot prove who purchased an object, when it arrived, or exactly why it was installed.
- Overusing vague words. “Something weird is doing something funny” wastes the opportunity for precise nouns and verbs.
- Listing every background detail. Ordinary furniture receives more time than the feature the task asks you to explain.
- Ignoring scale and position. The listener does not know whether the object is miniature, full-sized, above, inside, or beside something else.
- Ending before the comparison is clear. The response names the surprise but does not connect it to the ordinary reference point.
Describe the same scene to two different listeners
Use the streetcar scene. First record 60 seconds for a friend who knows the library but has not seen the installation. Then record it again for a visitor who has never been to the building. Keep the unusual feature the same, but change how much setting information the listener needs.
Reveal the self-check
The visitor version should identify the modern public library and lobby before introducing the streetcar. The friend version may reach the surprise faster. Both versions should state the ordinary reference, locate the streetcar, describe at least two transformed features, and separate visible fact from likely purpose.
Check the picture in your listener’s mind
- Did I establish the place and main activity near the beginning?
- Did I state the unusual feature clearly and early?
- Did I explain what would normally be expected?
- Did I use precise nouns, action verbs, spatial phrases, and comparisons?
- Did I select connected details instead of listing everything?
- Could a listener understand scale, position, and relationship without seeing the image?
- Did I mark interpretation with cautious language when necessary?
- Did I speak for the full purpose without rushing the final comparison?