English Culture Videos

Instructions: Watch this video and answer the questions. Then, read the script at the bottom of the page.

• witness (verb): to see or experience something directly, especially an important or unusual event
  – Thousands of people traveled to see the eclipse and witness the moment the sky turned dark.
  – She felt lucky to witness such a rare event in her lifetime.
• witness (noun): a person who sees or experiences something firsthand
  – He was a witness to one of the most spectacular natural events in years.
• solar eclipse (noun): an event when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, blocking the sun’s light
  – A solar eclipse can only happen during a new moon.
  – People across the country stopped to watch the solar eclipse from their backyards.
• total solar eclipse (noun): a solar eclipse in which the moon completely covers the sun, making the sky go dark for a short time
  – During a total solar eclipse, the temperature drops and stars become visible in the middle of the day.
  – A total solar eclipse is considered one of the most dramatic natural events a person can experience.
• partial (adjective): not complete; covering or affecting only part of something
  – People outside the main path only saw a partial eclipse, where the moon covered just a portion of the sun.
  – Even a partial eclipse requires special glasses to protect your eyes.
• annular (adjective): shaped like or forming a ring; used to describe a solar eclipse where the moon covers the center of the sun but leaves a bright ring of light visible around the edge
  – During an annular eclipse, the moon appears slightly smaller than the sun, so a ring of sunlight remains visible.
  – The annular eclipse created a beautiful “ring of fire” effect in the sky.

Use the Internet to find information about the next five solar eclipses to take place somewhere in the world. These can include partial, annular, or total eclipses. When will they happen? Will any of them occur near you?

Hi, I’m Randall and welcome. It’s August twenty-first, two thousand and seventeen, and I’m here outside of Idaho Falls, Idaho, to witness a total solar eclipse. And solar eclipses occur throughout the world two to five times a year. Uh, there are different types of solar eclipses: a partial, an annular . . .

And when I came here this morning, uh, around 11:30, uh, well, . . . 11:30 last night . . . p.m. . . . I was the only car in this parking lot. Uh, there were two vans of, uh, television crew, but you can see all of these people that are coming to witness this event. It’ll happen around 11:34 (a.m.), I think or so, at this location, and it will . . . the total solar eclipse will last about a minute and forty seconds. I’m really excited.

You want to make sure when you witness a solar eclipse that you have the proper approved, uh, solar eclipse glasses, and so I’m looking forward to this event in a few minutes.

And it should be interesting because sometimes, because the moon passes in front of the sun, that the temperature can drop a little bit as well. Let’s . . . so let’s see what happens.