Mindmapping as an E-Tool for Teaching English

         For the last weeks I've been taking a course in teaching English online and exploring e-learning tools that might be useful for English teachers. There are quite a lot of them but we shall take one thing at a time and look at Mindmapping tools. Mind maps are really good for visualising vocabulary, turning grammar and spelling rules into steps, organising brainstorms. You can either create mind maps yourselves to present the material to your students or you can ask your students to make mind maps as part of practising and share them with the rest of the class.
         One of the mindmapping tools  I've found remarkably useful is Coggle.it
         To begin with, it's completely free. Besides, it's really user-friendly and easy to start with. You log in with your Google account, click the plus signs on either sides to add branches to your mind map and click any item to edit it. You can move the branches by clicking and holding them thus designing the mind map the very way you like. When you are through with the mind map you can download it as PDF or as an image file. You can also share it with those you invite. Even more, you can allow your students edit your mind map if you wish.
        Here is an example mind map I created with Coggle it. It's devoted to green idioms and it shows their meanings and example sentences.

 

      The way to go for me now is to explore other mindmapping tools like Freemind, Mindomo, Vue etc. of which I've heard but haven't tried them so far. 

      Have something to say on the topic? Your comments, ideas and questions will be welcome and appreciated!