Handout 2

TOEIC Speaking
Section Two Describe a Picture

Scoring Criteria
Score Response Description
3 The response describes the main features of the picture.
a. The delivery may require some listener effort, but it is generally
intelligible.
b. The choice of vocabulary and use of structures allows coherent
expression of ideas.
2 The response is connected to the picture, but meaning may be
obscured in places.
a. The delivery requires some listener effort.
b. The choice of vocabulary and use of structures may be limited and
may interfere with overall comprehensibility.
1 The response may be connected to the pi c
tur e,butt hespe aker ’
s
ability to produce intelligible language is severely limited.
a. The delivery may require significant listener effort.
b. The choice of vocabulary and use of structures is severely limited OR
significantly interferes with comprehensibility.
0 No response OR no English in the response OR the response

Compare:
[simple sentences]
There is a man. He is wearing a shirt.
And he is pointing at a laptop. Next to
him I can see a woman. She is
looking at the laptop. There are also
another man and woman. They are
smiling and looking at the laptop.
[integrated sentence structures]
There is a man pointing at a laptop in
front of him. It looks like he’
s showing
some information to the other people.
Next to the men are two women and one
man, who are smiling and looking at the
laptop.

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Preparation:
a. Decide the order for the description
b. Find out the keywords
e.g. family, four people, preparing for a meal, standing behind the table, cutting a
red pepper, smiling, looking at, surprised,
Steps:
a. A general description of the picture
e.g. It looks like a family preparing for a meal in the kitchen.
b. Concrete descriptions of main characters
e.g. The mother is cutting a red pepper with a knife.
c. Descriptions of the surroundings
d. End with personal feelings
E.g. Overall, everyone looks happy and the mood seems light.

I. Components of a picture description

a. An overall introduction of the picture
e.g. This is a picture of a family gathering.
There are three people standing around.
b. Place/ foreground (scenes closer to you)/ background
e.g. In the foreground, I can see a few flower pots.
In the middle, there is a traffic light.
[the use of prepositional phrases]
c. Appearance (of people or objects)/ position
c.1. number
e.g. Few, most, several, both
c.2. clothing
e.g. The man is wearing glasses.
There are two men in business suits.
The man with glasses is standing in front of a store.
d. Action

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e.g. There is a child smiling at his mom.

There is a conference room arranged for a meeting.

II. Sentence structures that can be used here

1. Prepositional phrase
Compare:
a. A man is in the picture. He is wearing a name tag. He is handing out
documents.
b. A man with a name tag is handing out documents.
c. in the middle/ on the right or left
in the stroller
in the center of the picture
between the buildings
2. Participial construction
a. There/Here + Noun + Ving
There is a man walking along the street.
Here are a few people singing in a group.
b. There/ Here + Noun + ~ed
There is a car parked near the building.
Here is a lamp placed on the table.
c. Relative pronoun + participial construction
The woman who is talking on the phone has short hair. ＝＞ The woman
talking on the phone has short hair.

III. Descriptive language

Opinion Size Age Shape Color Origin
funny small teenage square green Canadian
Material Noun Verb Adverb
metal girl run slowly

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a. (old/ is/ walking/ walking/ Italian/ very slowly/ the/ woman)

b. (strange/ box/ a/ paper/ is there/ little/ red)
c. (white/ round/ the/ chocolate/ very tasty/ cake/ looks)
d. (scary/ sharp/ dangerously/ knife/ a/ is hanging)

IV. Language to express possibility—used to describe something that does not really
happen in the picture.
might may could possibly
probably most likely perhaps certainly
look + adj. look like + N.

Complete the following sentences:

i. A birthday cake with candles
__________________.
ii. Some plates _________
_________________________.
iii. Parents and ________________
__________________.
iv. There are some ____________
__________________ corner.
v. The mother is ________
______________________.
vi. All of them look ________
_____________________.
vii. They might be __________
______________________.

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Answer the following questions

1. How many people are there in the pictures?
2. Where are the characters located within picture?
3. What are the foreground and background of this picture?
4. How old are they?
5. Are the characters male or female?
6. What are they doing?
7. What are they wearing?
8. How do they feel now?
9. What are their relationships with other characters?
10. What adjectives can you use to describe the characters?

※ Unknown objects or actions

1. (I cannot tell you the exact name for the item, but) he’
s carrying something like a
ball.
2. (I don’t remember how to describe this action, but) he looks like he’s doing some
exercise.

※ Practice

Points Comments
Location
Objects/ Positions
Characters
Actions
Descriptive Language
Possibility
Compound Sentences

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1.

2. 3.

4. 5.

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