Sex Ed Class
Learn English With Jokes
The Sex Education Shout
Intermediate · Past Simple · Indirect Speech
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Survolez les mots en ambre pour voir les définitions en français (CAPS).
I onceUNE FOIS took a sex education class at university, and a funnyDRÔLE thing happened one day.
The teacher arrived and told us we'd beNOUS ALLIONS discussing sex positions that day, and asked how many positions we knew. A young girl near me said, “Seven.”
The professor said, “Very good.” But as he prepared to ask another student, a loudFORTE voice from the back of the lecture hallAMPHITHÉÂTRE shoutedCRIA, “Ninety-one!”
The professor looked overPAR-DESSUS his glasses but couldn’t really make outDISTINGUER who had spoken. Finally, he called on a guy in the front rowRANGÉE, and the guy said, “Five.”
And again from the back, the same voice shouted, “Ninety-one!”
Finally, the teacher pointed to a shyTIMIDE-looking lady sitting not far from me. She hesitated, then said, “Only one, Sir.”
The teacher asked, “Well, that’s unusual, young lady. And what position is that?”
“The oneCELLE with the man on top and the woman under him,” she replied.
And from the back of the room, the same loud voice shouted, “Ninety-two!”
📘 Key Vocabulary
📖 Grammar Points
1. Past simple vs past perfect
In “...the professor couldn’t make out who had spoken” — the past perfect had spoken shows the action happened before the teacher tried to see the speaker. The joke uses shouted, said, replied (past simple) for the main narrative flow, while had spoken clarifies the earlier event.
2. Indirect (reported) speech in past tense
Phrases like “The teacher told us we'd be discussing...” shift present to past (will → would). Also “She replied that it was the one with the man on top” is implied — we keep natural flow but the narrative stays anchored in past tense, showing how English reports conversation seamlessly.
🔁 Synonyms & Alternatives
Both fit the tone: a booming voice or a comical accident.
💬 Mini Dialogue (different topic, vocab & grammar)
Context: Two friends, Emma and Lucas, discussing a disastrous cooking class.
Emma: “Once I took a baking course, and a funnyDRÔLE thing happened.”
Lucas: “What did the teacher tell you?”
Emma: “She said we’d be making soufflés. A loudFORTE voice from the back shoutedCRIA, ‘Forty minutes!’ The teacher couldn’t make outDISTINGUER who it was.”
Lucas: “And then?”
Emma: “A shyTIMIDE girl admitted, ‘Only one egg, Sir.’ The same voice yelled: ‘Forty-one!’”
Uses past simple, reported speech (“she said we’d be making”), and the four vocabulary items naturally.
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