I am always on the lookout for innovative and engaging ways to teach my students. When I started my ESL career, Kahoot was the first app that caught my attention and since then, it has become my go-to app for creating interactive and fun quizzes for my students. With its game-like format and live feedback feature, Kahoot has revolutionized the way I teach, making the learning experience more enjoyable and effective for my students. In this blog, I will share my experiences as an ESL teacher who is in love with Kahoot, highlighting its unique features and benefits that make it an invaluable tool for any teacher looking to create engaging and interactive lessons.
What is Kahoot and How Does It Work?
Kahoot is an interactive learning platform that allows teachers to create quizzes, surveys, and games. It’s a fun and engaging way to teach new concepts, reinforce learning, and assess student understanding. Kahoot works by creating a virtual learning environment where teachers can design and share interactive and gamified activities with their students. These activities are designed to be completed in real-time, with students answering questions on their devices (phones, tablets, or computers) while the teacher displays the questions and answers on a shared screen.
Kahoot is simple to use. Teachers must first create an account and choose the type of activity they want to create. They can then add questions, answers, images, and videos to their activity, as well as set time limits and point values for each question. Once the activity is created, the teacher can share a unique game code with their students, who can then join the game using their own devices.
When the game starts, the teacher displays the questions and answer choices on a shared screen, and students respond on their own devices. The game is timed, and points are awarded for correct answers and for answering quickly. At the end of the game, the teacher can display the scores, review the questions and answers, and provide feedback to students.
How Can ESL Teachers Use Kahoot In The Classroom?
ESL teachers can use Kahoot in a variety of ways to engage their students and improve their language skills. Here are some examples:
1. Vocabulary quizzes: ESL teachers can use Kahoot to create quizzes that test students’ knowledge of new vocabulary words. Teachers can include images and audio to help students make connections between the words and their meanings.
2. Grammar games: Kahoot can also be used to reinforce grammar concepts such as verb tenses, prepositions, and sentence structure. Teachers can create games that challenge students to identify the correct grammar rule or apply it correctly in a sentence.
3. Listening comprehension: Kahoot can also be used to improve students’ listening skills. Teachers can create quizzes that include audio clips or videos, and ask students to answer questions based on what they heard or saw.
4. Reading comprehension: Kahoot can also be used to assess students’ understanding of a text. Teachers can create quizzes that ask students to identify key details, make inferences, or summarize the main idea of a reading passage.
Benefits of Using Kahoot Inside the Classroom
Engages students: Kahoot is a fun and interactive tool that helps to engage students in their learning. The game-like format of Kahoot quizzes and activities motivates students to participate and stay focused throughout the lesson.
1. Increases Participation
With Kahoot, every student has the opportunity to participate in the learning activity, and there is no chance of anyone being left out. The platform also allows students to compete against each other, which further increases their participation and engagement.
2. Provides Instant Feedback
Kahoot provides instant feedback to students after each question, which helps them to quickly identify their strengths and weaknesses. This feedback helps students to stay on track and adjust their learning strategies as needed.
Supports Different Learning Styles
Kahoot can be customized to suit different learning styles and preferences. Teachers can include images, videos, and audio to accommodate visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.
3. Improves Retention
Kahoot quizzes and activities are designed to be interactive and engaging, which helps to improve retention and memory recall. Students are more likely to remember what they have learned when they have been actively engaged in the learning process.
4. Easy to Use
Kahoot is easy to use and requires no special technical skills or equipment. Teachers can create quizzes and activities in a matter of minutes and share them with their students via a game code.
Final thoughts
As an ESL teacher, I have fallen in love with Kahoot! Kahoot is an interactive learning platform that allows me to create fun, and interactive quizzes for my students. What sets Kahoot apart from other quiz-making tools is its game-like format that encourages friendly competition and teamwork.
I love how easy it is to create a Kahoot quiz. The platform offers a wide variety of question formats, including multiple choice, true/false, and open-ended questions, and even allows me to include images and videos in my quizzes. This allows me to tailor my quizzes to my students’ interests and learning needs, making the learning experience more relevant and enjoyable for them.
What I appreciate most about Kahoot is how it promotes active learning in the classroom. Instead of sitting passively and listening to lectures, my students become active participants in the learning process as they engage with the quizzes. I honestly believe that Kahoot is an invaluable tool for any ESL teacher looking to make learning fun, engaging, and interactive for their students.