This week we focused on making a user-friendly, high-quality handout. As a student I remember those filthy, poorly printed pieces of paper that we had to use for our English classes. Of course, the resources were limited and the teachers were doing the best we could, but today, seven years after my graduation, I ask myself if the quality of handouts has changed. How much time does an average teacher put into selecting and making neatly-looking handouts for the students to use as guidelines for the lesson? Honestly, do we ever even consider what materials we are using for the class?

If I were a shop owner, one of the first principles of successful entrepreneurship I would learn would be on how to display my goods. The better I organize my shop-window, the more customers I will have. The more customers I gain the better prices and discounts I could provide to keep my clientele loyal.

Seven of my studious teachers provided extensive handouts that had the best content in the world, but yet failed to “catch the eye,” attract the students and get them excited about what is going to be taught. So here are a few tips that I suggest you incorporate in the future when preparing your best handout.

1. Format:
1. Look at your margins and make sure they are neither too wide nor too narrow. The best width would be 2.54 cm. You can align text to both left and right margins so it looks neat.
2. Times New Roman is a great universal font for submitting your senior or diploma papers at University, but it looks rather boring on a handout page. Try to find something new, but do not get too carried away (frills might be distracting). You can try Trebuchet, Arial, or Calibri fonts. Adjust the font size accordingly.
3. A long page with just text on it looks rather gloomy. If your text is too long, try to break it down. Use highlights for the new words. Organize questions after each portion in a list or in a chart. Do not leave lots of space, but block the information according to a topic.
4. Insert page numbers on each page for a more user-friendly handout.
2. Content:
1. Uniformity: Develop uniform highlighting for all titles and subtitles. If your major title is in bold type, then just underline the subtitles. Use cursive for minor assignments. Do not overdo the highlighting otherwise there will be little content left.
2. Theme: Your major theme should be referred to explicitly or implicitly in each assignment. Remember that the goal of learning a language is not the number of words we know or speech patterns we recognize, but the ability to use both when talking on a particular subject.
3. Do not leave your handout “hanging” without the last assignment. Your last assignment should incorporate all the activities and all the new information that has been gained.
4. Proof-read your handout.

These are just a few basic rules that I have learned over the years and would like to share with all of you. Next time I will focus on the content of a handout on Reading and Speaking.

Regards,

Olena Osypchuk