Our senior touch typing tutor Liz Davis was interviewed recently by the Evening Standard to discuss the importance of why being able to type is such an important skill to have. Liz, who we like to call the ‘Trainer to the Stars’ as she has previously worked closely with Hollywood actor Ben Whitshaw as Q in James Bond films Skyfall ad Spectre and actress Lily James as Winston Churchill’s PA Elizabeth Layton in Darkest Hour teaching them both to touch type for their roles. As part of the interview Liz gave some top tips on how to become a perfect touch typist.
1. Have a good posture Sit up straight and don’t slouch, that slows you down! Make sure you hold your wrists off the desk, as that allows fluid movement of your hands and fingers across the keyboard to help you build great speeds.
2. Ditch the wrist rest Wrist rest or not? I advise not. You want to build strength in your wrists and keep your elbow and shoulder movements flexible to develop rhythm.
3. Use a regular keyboard Start on a regular straight-ended keyboard, not a laptop. The keyboard has pronounced keys and a raised edge on the ‘F’ and ‘J’ keys which helps to anchor your index fingers so that you can return easily to the Home keys. You can buy a cheap keyboard to plug into your laptop while learning.
4. Spell out words in your head Spell out letters, punctuation and spaces in your head as you practise. This helps to embed habits through your senses – visual, verbal, audio and touch – and there are a number of benefits. You can use muscle memory to associate a letter with the correct finger and key; it encourages rhythm, so you can increase your tempo and increase speed; and it develops your accuracy through focusing on individual characters.
5. Turn your screen off Try turning your PC monitor off when you practise using hard copy text. This focuses your mind purely on typing. When you turn the monitor on again, you’ll quickly see which characters or combinations are giving you trouble and can focus on those.
6. Keep practising Practice makes perfect – little and often is best. Half an hour’s practice each day is definitely better that two hours, twice a week.
For the full interview click here
