Describe someone who keeps a group of people together.
A card about a captain, supervisor, organiser or older sibling who holds a group together. Choose someone you have watched in action, because what keeps a group together shows in what a person does, not in their title.
The task card
Describe someone who keeps a group of people together.
You should say:
- who the person is
- what the group is and how long it has existed
- what they do that other members don't
and explain what you think the group would be like without them.
Now say it yourself
Record your own two minutes on this card and have it transcribed and marked against the Speaking criteria. Practising is free; the band estimate is part of Pro.
Record my answerHow long you have
- 1 minute
Preparation
The examiner hands you the card, paper and a pencil. Make notes — a few words per cue point, never sentences.
- 1–2 minutes
Your long turn
Speak until the examiner stops you at two minutes. Finishing early is the most common self-inflicted problem in Part 2.
- 1–2 questions
Rounding off
The examiner may ask one or two short follow-up questions, then moves straight into the Part 3 discussion on the same theme.
Part 2 takes three to four minutes in total. The whole Speaking test runs 11 to 14 minutes across three parts, and Part 3 that follows lasts four to five minutes.
How to approach this card
Name the person and the group in the same breath: the captain of your weekend football team, the supervisor on your night shift, the student who runs a volunteer group. Avoid national politicians — you cannot describe what they are like to work alongside.
For 'what they do that other members don't', choose two habits and one moment. Habits might be how they share out tasks or what they do before everyone else arrives; the moment should be a test — a defeat, a conflict, a deadline — where their role actually showed.
The final bullet asks you to imagine the group without them, so be concrete: who would stop coming, what would no longer get done, how long the group might last. A strong answer may point out that the person is not the most talented member of the group, which is exactly what makes their role interesting.
Model answer
Speak your own answer first. Examiners are trained to spot memorised speeches and mark them down — use this to study structure, pacing and naturalness, never to recite.
Show the model answer
The person I'd like to describe is Bartek, who captains the amateur football team I've played for on Sunday mornings for about four years. He's in his late thirties, he drives buses for a living, and — I say this with real affection — he's one of the most ordinary footballers on the team. But he's the reason the team still exists. What I notice most is that he leads through small, unglamorous habits. He's always the first to arrive and the last to leave, because he's the one carrying the kit bag and the nets. He makes sure everyone gets a fair amount of playing time, even the weaker players, which is rarer than you'd think. And if somebody misses two games in a row, he doesn't post in the group chat — he messages them privately, just to check everything's all right. But the moment I really understood him was after a game we lost seven-nil. In the changing room, a couple of players started blaming our goalkeeper, quite harshly, and the atmosphere was turning ugly. Bartek just stood up and said, very calmly, 'We lost seven-nil as eleven people. Nobody did that on their own.' And that was the end of it. The following week, he asked the goalkeeper to lead the warm-up. What would the team be like without him? Honestly, I don't think there'd be a team. Most amateur sides fall apart within a couple of years, because nobody books the pitch or chases the people who stop turning up. Ours has lasted six, through injuries, house moves and some genuinely awful seasons. Without Bartek, I'd give it about a month.
Why this works: What holds the group together is shown through habits and one test moment, with the captain's exact words, rather than through a list of qualities. Choosing an ordinary player gives the answer its central idea, and the team's six-year survival makes the final bullet concrete rather than speculative.
Useful vocabulary for this topic
- to lead by example
To show others how to behave by doing it yourself.
- to bring out the best in people
To help others perform at their highest level.
- to keep morale up
To maintain a group's confidence and energy.
- to take responsibility
To accept duty or blame; key evidence of good leadership.
- to have the respect of the group
Natural collocation for authority that has been earned.
- to defuse a situation
To calm a tense moment before it becomes a conflict.
- to hold a group together
To keep people united and committed over time.
Part 3 discussion
After your long turn the examiner moves into a four to five minute discussion on the same theme, working from two related discussion topics with about three questions each. The first stays close to your own experience; the second widens out. Answer with reasons and examples, not one-line replies.
- 1Should leaders be judged mainly on results or on how they treat people?
- 2Why do some clubs and community groups fade away after a few years?
- 3Should young people be given leadership roles at school?
- 4Why do some successful leaders become unpopular?
- 5Do people today want different qualities from their leaders than in the past?
- 6Is it better for a group to have one strong leader or to share responsibility?
More on how this family of cards is discussed: People and relationships. Model answers for Part 3: Part 3 questions and answers.