Skimming and scanning When you are doing research, especially on the internet, different reading strategies can help you to choose the right texts and get the information you need from them. Guess and skim to get the gist First use the title of this text to guess the topic. Then skim the text to see if you are right. The Baby Borrowers 25 May 20.. Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe, so the BBC decided to produce a series called “The Baby Borrowers”. The show was a social experiment to give teenagers the chance to try out different parenting situations. The idea was that before young teenagers have their own child they should experience what it’s really like to be a parent. The programme makers believed that the TV series would be a helpful experience for teenagers and viewers alike. The series aimed to: • start a discussion about the TV series and teenage pregnancies among young adults and parents. • use the personal experience of other young adults shown on TV to help teenagers make decisions about adult life, for example, leaving home and marriage. “The Baby Borrowers” followed five teen couples who had never lived together before. They were given their own homes in a quiet street in Norwich. In the first week they started real jobs and experienced pregnancy by wearing fake bellies and going to pre-birth classes. For three days the couples then looked after real babies, did the feeding and played with the babies. After that, the couples cared for toddlers, followed by pre-teens, pets and young teens (12–14 years old). Finally they shared their houses with elderly people (80+). They experienced the whole spectrum of life in just four weeks. There were different reactions to the show. Some viewers liked the idea very much while others, fearing that the babies and toddlers would have psychological problems later on, criticised the show. Scan to get the facts you want You have to talk about this experiment in school. Scan the text and only focus on the following questions: • Why was the programme produced? • How was the message put across? • How long did the experiment last? • How old were the people who appeared on the show? Check the source Look more closely at the text above. Try to answer the questions in the checklist on this page. (It may not always be possible to answer every question, but this list can help you to decide if a text is reliable or not.) Use more than one source Look for more internet texts about such TV shows. Organise the information you find (facts, pros and cons, etc.) and present your results in class. Tip The first thing you usually do with a text is to skim it, which means to quickly read it to get a general idea of the meaning. If you want to find out specific details, you scan the text for particular types of information, e.g. dates, prices, places or names. T 1 2 Tip It is important to check the source of information you find on the internet. T 3 Checklist for internet texts • Which website is the text from? • What do you know about that website? • What information is given about the author? • When was the text written? • Who is the text written for? • Does the author give facts or opinions? • Is the text trying to sell something? 4 63 Reading skills Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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