Making Printable Worksheets
Upper Options
Most worksheet generators have the following options at the top:
1. Font
There are 3 different types of font available. Sans-serif and Serif can handle pretty much any character set from any language, but Hand can only be used for Latin script languages (e.g. English, French. Not Chinese, Russian).
2. Font size
Selecting a font size will affect the size of fonts across the whole worksheet. Some worksheets have an "Auto" setting, which is recommended when available. Setting the font to "Auto" will mean that text will scale automatically to fit words or sentences of varying lengths on cards or grids.
3. Header picture
Click on this picture to change it, or remove it. [Using Pictures]
4. Title
The worksheet title will appear at the top of the worksheet and will be the saved name for the worksheet on your "My Worksheets" page.
5. Name and class fields
There are three small text fields in the top-right corner of the worksheet header. By default two of them are used for "Name" and "Date" lines, and the third is empty. You can customise these simply by editing the text. To extend or shorten the lines use the underscore (_) key on your keyboard. If you want nothing to appear in the top-right of the header simply delete all the text inside the three fields.
6. Instructions
You can optionally enter instructions for most worksheet types which will appear below the worksheet header. When you click in this field a formatting bar will appear, which will allow you to change the instruction text styles, alignment, size, and colors.
Generator-specific Options
The main part of the "paper page" in the worksheet maker will have numbered options that are specific to the type of worksheet you are making. For example, if you are making a Minimal Pairs worksheet, options will include the 4 sets of words and whether to show answer boxes, as shown below.
These options are generally illustrated with pictures and should be self-explanatory.
Lower Options
Worksheet generators have the following generic options at the bottom:
7. Writing exercise
Writing exercises can be useful for students to demonstrate or extend learning from the activity that they have just undertaken.
Click on this button to add a writing exercise below the main worksheet content. Some controls will appear allowing you to write an instruction or question, specify how many writing lines you want, and specify whether or not lines should be numbered.
If you no longer want the writing exercise click on the icon to the left of the "Writing exercise" header to remove it.
8. Footer text
You can turn page footers on and off by using the "Include Footer" checkbox.
If enabled, this footer will appear at the bottom of each worksheet page. You can edit it here.
Footers only appear on PDF output, not HTML.
9. Page Options
Click this button to open a dialog with various page options including:
- Paper - The aspect ratio of the paper can be either "A4" or "US Letter". A default is chosen based on the country you selected when signing up. You can change your default from the Edit My Details page.
- Text Direction - Experimental feature to make worksheets with right-to-left text for languages such as Hebrew.
- Include Footer - Whether or not to show a footer at the bottom of each page.
- Page number - Whether or not to show page numbers in the right-hand corner of the footer. This only applies if the footer is included with the above option.
- Margins - Width of margins between edge of PDF page and worksheet content.
10. Answer key
If an answer key is available for a worksheet type a checkbox will appear here. If checked an answer sheet will be appended to the worksheet.
Please note that even if you have included an answer key for your own reference, you can hide it from any access links your create to prevent students from viewing the answers prematurely.
Re-ordering and Deleting Items
You can re-order words or sentences after they have been entered.
If the input is a single text area, reorder words by selecting a word with the mouse, clicking on it and dragging it to a new position.
If there is one input per item, click on the icon and drag the item to change its position.
Click on the icon to delete an item.
