TOOLS FOR TEACHING

In carrying out teaching and learning activities, in addition to requiring resources that are used as references for learning materials in this case English lessons. There is also a need for tools that can help both teachers and students to develop and add to the fun of learning English, because if you only use traditional media to support activities, I don't think it will be enough and it tends to feel boring, especially for students who hope to feel joy in learning. So you don't feel pressured while studying. However, another function of these tools is that they can be crucial aids given the Covid-19 pandemic situation which has resulted in a temporary suspension of school activities. Therefore, here is a list of tools that are popularly used by teachers:

MENTIMETER

One of the tools used as learning media is Mentimeter in the form of a website that can be accessed by mobile and free of charge as long as you are connected to the internet. This site is usually used when a teacher wants to know the level of understanding of their students about the material that will be or has been delivered which is usually in the form of short questions. Its use is also quite easy because Mentimeter does not have many features and only provides basic features that are important in making simple quizzes. As a student, my teacher has used this website as a quiz before or after class and I think this application is very fun because by using this tool, students become more confident with their personal opinions. Perhaps the factor of using anonymous usernames has the effect of reducing students' tension when typing their answers or opinions.

POPPLET

When students are given the task of making mind maps online, Popplet can provide a fun experience because the user interface is very communicative. This is the advantage of this website over others. Although this is just my personal opinion as a user. However, this tool also has the drawback that it can only create a simple mind map without any modifications that can make it even more interesting to look at. But overall this website is still my recommendation for you to use.

KAHOOT!

Similar to Mentimeter, Kahoots is a website used by teachers to test students' understanding of a material that has been delivered, but what distinguishes it from Mentimeter is that this site provides more complete and sophisticated features that can be used for more complex needs. When I was in Senior High School, my teacher used this tool to conduct a final assessment. This proves that Kahoots is very capable of being used as a learning medium.

ZOOM MEETING

During the Covid-19 pandemic, all public activities must be temporarily suspended, including teaching and learning activities in schools. All were shifted to Work from Home which required face-to-face activities to be changed to online. This is where Zoom Meeting comes as a solution to the problems that occur. This tool functions as a video conference and can accommodate more than 100 people in one meeting. Of course, the features I mentioned earlier are only valid if you subscribe to this application. If you only use the free version, there is a time limit for one use which is 40 minutes. Although there are many alternative video conferencing applications besides Zoom, such as Google Meet and Skype. However, the number of Zoom users continued to increase dramatically during PPKM.

CANVA

The latter is a tool that you can use to create something visually related, such as posters, pamphlets, or cards. You can use the Canva app. The reason why I added Canva to the list is this app really helped me with making posters and pamphlets. It only takes a few minutes because this tool already provides a variety of templates that you can use for free, although not all of them. There are lots of customizations that you can apply to the layout you're working on, and the app can also save your projects as long as you've created a Canva account using Email or Facebook.