English Culture Videos

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

What unique or interesting classes do schools sometimes offer in your country that you might not see elsewhere? For example, such classes for both boys and girls in the United States could include:

• cooking classes
• auto mechanics
• choir and marching band
• floral design
• peer tutoring (serving in a classroom to help other students with physical or intellectual diabilities)
• modern dance or ballet

Hi, I’m Randall, and one of the interesting things that people often ask is, “What type of unique classes do Americans sometimes have in schools?” And one of the most interesting is a parenthood class in which the children, or the students, in junior high, sometimes high school, are assigned an electric baby. It looks like a regular doll, and the baby cries every three hours or so, and, uh, they carry it home; they take it shopping.

And the whole purpose is to teach them, number one, the challenges of teenage pregnancy. Number two, the responsibilities that go along with being a parent, and also how to raise a family . . . what is all involved.

NOTE: In a parenthood class such as this, students often have to feed, bathe, and change their baby’s diaper. Therefore, in question 2, the first choice (“give their baby a bath”) could be true, but it wasn’t stated in the video.