How To Write Worksheets: Training Course For ELT Writers, #15

By Karen Richardson

Worksheets are great! Teachers and students love them! They can be up-to-date, controversial, targeted to meet the needs of your students and lots of fun. But what makes a good worksheet? Experienced worksheet writer Karen Richardson takes you on a lively journey through the worksheet-writing process from having an idea to seeing the finished product.
Sections on worksheet genres, rubrics, level, timing and copyright issues show you what goes into writing different kinds of worksheets. These issues are exemplified through carefully selected published worksheets. Practical tasks with detailed keys and tips help you to write your own worksheets to the same professional standards.
By the end of the book you'll have all the tools and information you need to write worksheets that really work.
This book forms part of the ELT Teacher 2 Writer training course. The course is designed to help you write better ELT materials, either for publication, or simply to improve the quality of your self-produced classroom materials.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ELT
• Release date: Apr 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311081650

Book preview

HOW TO WRITE

WORKSHEETS

Karen Richardson

TRAINING COURSE FOR ELT WRITERS

Other titles by ELT Teacher 2 Writer

A Lexicon For ELT Professionals

How ELT Publishing Works

How To Adapt Authentic Materials

How To Plan A Book

How To Write And Deliver Talks

How To Write Audio and Video Scripts ⸕

How To Write Business English Materials †

How To Write CLIL Materials

How To Write Corporate Training Materials †

How To Write Critical Thinking Activities ⸕

How To Write EAP Materials †

How To Write ESOL Materials †

How To Write ESP Materials †

How To Write Exam Preparation Materials

How To Write Film And Video Activities

How To Write Online Materials

How To Write Graded Readers

How To Write Grammar Presentations And Practice

How To Write Inclusive Materials

How To Write Primary Materials

How To Write Pronunciation Activities

How To Write Reading And Listening Activities ⸕

How To Write Secondary Materials

How To Write Speaking Activities ⸕

How To Write Teacher’s Books

How To Write Vocabulary Presentations And Practice ⸕

How To Write Writing Activities ⸕

Our paperback compendiums

⸕ How To Write Excellent ELT Materials: The Skills Series

This book contains the six titles marked ⸕ above.

† How To Write Excellent ELT Materials: The ESP Series

This book contains the five titles marked † above.

For further information, see eltteacher2writer.co.uk

How To Write Worksheets

By Karen Richardson

This edition © 2021 ELT Teacher 2 Writer

eltteacher2writer.co.uk

We would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce their material:

© 2012 Cornelsen Verlag for the worksheet Orders and payments; ©2018 National Geographic Learning, a Cengage Learning company, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED for the worksheet Old, older, the oldest; Celebrations: Thanksgiving worksheet Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021; the British Council for material reproduced with permission; Linguahouse.com for Breaking News worksheet Gamestop Shares Shocker!; Describe A Picture worksheet reproduced with permission of Cambridge Assessment English © copyright UCLES 2019.

Although every effort has been made to contact copyright holders before publication, this has not always been possible. If notified, ELT Teacher 2 Writer will endeavour to rectify any errors or omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Contents

About The Author

1 Aims

2 Why Start With Worksheets?

3 Reasons For Using Worksheets

4 Elements Of Worksheets

5 Rubrics

6 Writing To Level

7 Timing

8 Teacher’s Notes And Classroom Management

9 Sourcing Materials And Copyright

10 The Mechanics

11 Over To You

Commentaries On Tasks

Glossary

About The Author

My name is Karen Richardson and I am a self-confessed worksheet junkie. I write them, I teach with them, I collect them, I download them, I bookmark them, I print them and file them, I forget where I have filed them but am always happy when I stumble across them and am able to use them (again). Additionally, I work them into my university teaching curriculum, I share them with my colleagues, I set them as home study, I use them to test my students and I have even been known to integrate them into exams.

Originally from Brighton on the south coast of England, I grew up surrounded by foreign students as my family was a host family for two language schools based in Brighton and Hove. Although I didn’t know it at the time, spending the first 18 years of my life with language learners from all around the world subconsciously made me more culturally aware and sensitive to the linguistic needs of non-native speakers of English than I otherwise would have been. There is no doubt that this early experience had a knock-on effect which helped to make my transition into becoming an ELT teacher and trainer a rather smooth and natural one.

My early plans of being an intrepid travel journalist never materialized. After completing stage one of my master plan, i.e. completing a diploma in Travel and Tourism, I got side-tracked and found myself working as a teaching assistant at a school in London and studying to become a medical herbalist. So, when I moved to Germany in 1993 and discovered that, due to differences in medical laws, my UK qualifications would not allow me to treat patients or dispense medicines in my new country of residence, it was the natural move for me to turn to English Language Teaching.

But I never stopped writing or wanting to (vainly perhaps) see my name in print. After many, many rejection letters from publishers all over, I had my first ELT materials published in 2002 by the well-known German educational publisher, Langenscheidt. After writing or otherwise working on books, audio scripts, calendars, games, worksheets, websites and learning software for Langenscheidt, I was asked to adapt, edit