Health & Wellness — Part 5
The Celpip Plus team
Written and reviewed against the official CELPIP scoring criteria
What you'll learn: natural spoken fluency chunks for talking about health and wellness, so a CELPIP Speaking response about a health topic sounds like genuine personal reflection rather than a list of symptoms and facts.
Why fluency chunks matter for health talk
Health topics in Speaking often ask for personal experience — a time you were sick, a habit you changed, advice you'd give someone. These prompts reward the same natural hesitations, hedges, and transitions that mark real spoken reflection, which is exactly what the chunks below provide.
Chunks for describing change over time
Because health topics frequently involve before-and-after narratives — feeling unwell, then recovering; having a bad habit, then changing it — several chunks below are specifically suited to describing change (these days, ever since then), complementing the more general reflective chunks introduced in earlier lessons.
Word bank: spoken fluency chunks for health topics
| Collocation | Meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| these days | refers to the present period, contrasted with the past | These days, I try to get to bed earlier than I used to. |
| ever since then | marks a lasting change starting from a specific past event | Ever since then, I've been much more careful about my diet. |
| I can't stress enough how | emphasizes the importance of a point strongly | I can't stress enough how much better I sleep since I quit caffeine. |
| it really made me realize | describes a moment of personal insight | It really made me realize how much stress affects my health. |
| I used to think, but now | contrasts a past belief with a current one | I used to think sleep didn't matter much, but now I know better. |
| every now and then | occasionally, not regularly | Every now and then I still get those headaches. |
| it's been a bit of a struggle | admits ongoing difficulty honestly | Cutting back on sugar has been a bit of a struggle, honestly. |
| I'm trying my best to | signals genuine effort, even if imperfect | I'm trying my best to exercise more consistently. |
| little by little | describes gradual, incremental progress | Little by little, I've built up a better sleep routine. |
| if anything | introduces a slight correction or emphasis | If anything, the stress got worse before it got better. |
| I can't complain | expresses mild, understated satisfaction | Health-wise, I can't complain these days. |
| it really put things into perspective | describes a moment that changed one's outlook | Getting sick that year really put things into perspective for me. |
Worked example — Speaking Task 2 (personal experience)
Prompt: Describe a change you made to improve your health.
"A couple of years ago, I got quite sick, and it really put things into perspective for me. I used to think sleep didn't matter that much, but now I realize how wrong I was. Ever since then, I've made a real effort to go to bed earlier. It's been a bit of a struggle, honestly, especially with a busy schedule, but little by little, I've built better habits. These days, I get around seven hours a night, and I can't stress enough how much of a difference it's made to my energy. Every now and then I still slip back into old habits, but overall I can't complain."
Common mistakes
- Using "ever since then" without establishing the "then" — the chunk requires a clearly mentioned past event beforehand; using it as an opener with no prior context confuses the timeline.
- Overusing "these days" for permanent facts — the chunk implies contrast with the past; using it for something that's always been true ("these days, I have two arms") is a misuse.
- "I can't complain" said with a negative tone — the chunk is idiomatically positive (mild satisfaction); pairing it with clearly negative details creates a confusing mismatch.
- Stacking transition chunks back-to-back — "little by little, every now and then, these days" in one breath sounds unnatural; give each chunk its own sentence or idea.
Recap
Spoken fluency chunks let a health-related Speaking response show genuine before-and-after reflection, which is exactly the kind of personal narrative these prompts are designed to draw out. Record a 40-second response about a real or invented health change, using at least three chunks from the table and pausing naturally around each one.