You can always see what the moon is doing as it crosses the sun without looking directly at the sun. In fact, you should never look directly at the sun without special filters or solar eclipse glasses. For the brief period of time when the moon totally blocks the sun (usually about 2-6 minutes worth) you can remove your solar glasses and look directly at the eclipse, but only then.

During the partial phase, you can project the image of the sun and moon on a surface using the "pinhole camera" technique. Any tiny hole will project this image. You can even point binoculars the wrong way and project the image as well but NEVER look at the uneclipsed sun through binoculars, you could instantly damage your eyes. You must be in the narrow total shadow zone to experience Totality. If you are even 20 feet out of the zone, the sun will be too bright to look at without special filters.

Below are some pictures taken using the indirect method.