The Advancement of ELT Using Polls

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    Source: Mentimeter (https://shorturl.at/ikzX5)

Welcome back, students! I hope you're having a nice week. In this blog post, we're going to explore how you can enhance your teaching and interaction in the classroom using polling apps!

“What is a polling app exactly?” Basically, it is an app that lets you, as a teacher, assess your students or ask their opinions on a particular topic. Usually, polls are used as formative assessments to measure students' progress. Besides that, as a student, you can use this for discussions, surveys, presentations, and so many other activities. Sounds interesting, right? Without wasting more time, let's just dive right into the point!

There are numerous polling apps and websites which you can access such as Mentimeter, Poll Everywhere, Quizizz, Slido, and EasyPolls. Despite having so many options, I will only talk about one polling app that is already well-known. It is Mentimeter! Have you ever used this app? I hope you have! So, Mentimeter is an interactive teaching and learning tool from Sweden. It was founded in 2014, and by 2021, it had had over 270 million users worldwide!

I chose this specific app for our discussion because of how useful it is both for teachers and for learners. First of all, teachers can easily use this app in their teaching as it has been designed in such a way to be simple. Next, there are numerous modes that you can choose from according to your needs and preference. Some examples include word cloud, poll, open ended, scales, ranking, and pin it. You can even create presentations with existing and editable templates! Along with the various modes and templates you can use, there are many features to improve your lessons even more, and you can modify the polls to meet your needs. As for students, they can use this app in their presentations by asking their friends to give their thoughts about something. By using this, students will be more engaged and active.

In contrast to the positive traits, there is also a downside of Mentimeter that you need to know before using it. There are some exclusive features, and in order to use them, you need to subscribe to its monthly plan. Otherwise, you can't use some of its attributes. For instance, if you're using the app without paying, you can only accommodate up to 50 people per month. Additionally, the question types and options are limited.

In general, Mentimeter is a wonderful polling app to use in the classroom with your students. Now, the real question is how we can use it in real life. Let me give you an example. I am an English teacher who is about to teach narrative text to a tenth grade class. To start the class, I can use Mentimeter and choose word cloud mode. Then, I will ask the students to describe shortly what they know about narrative. This pre-instructional activity is perfect to start any lesson because it is able to trigger information and make students more curious.

That is it for this post! I will post more blogs to discuss deeper how to teach English using technology! So, from our discussion about polling apps, would you try using a polling app in your class? If so, what app would you use? Let me know in the comment section!

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