You should say:
- what is it
- how long have you been using it
- detailed information about the website
and explain why you often browse this website
Follow-up Questions:
- How long have you been using the internet?
- How internet has changed our life-style?
- What would be the possible uses of internet in the future?
Model Answer 1:
I have just a few minutes to tell you about a website I often browse. I will tell you what the website is, how long I’ve been using it, a bit about what is on it and why I visit it so often.
The website is the BBC news website. You can find it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news but I just have it as a favourite on my toolbar. I am a complete BBC junkie! I visit the website several times a day if I can, and have been using it for as long as I can remember. Possibly for as long as the website has been in existence but definitely for the past ten years or more.
The BBC news website is massive. It contains rolling headlines of breaking news, and from the landing page you can jump to sections on different types of news categories. For example there are tabs for world news; health issues; environmental reports; education; sport; education and science as well as entertainment and arts stories. You can read just text based articles illustrated with a few pictures – which is my preferred way of accessing news and information – or you can opt to see news film or audio clips. I think the website is really comprehensive and easy to use too.
The BBC news website for me, is a one-stop location for all current affairs and news items. I really like that I can see headlines of breaking news almost instantaneously, but it also includes more thoughtful reporting. Detailed online articles with considered analysis about global or local events. I can also find out what the weather forecast is – always handy in the UK where it can change so quickly, plus I like to be able to keep an eye on what is happening locally to me in Sheffield where I live. I also trust the BBC website to give balanced reporting, I think it has journalistic integrity, so I feel if I read it every day, I will have a good perspective on what is going on in the world, and enough information to come to my own conclusions on current affairs across the globe.The only downside of the website is that I find it can be a bit addictive! Because it is updated frequently it is tempting to keep going back and having another look if there is some running news item that I am following. It can lead me to procrastinate when I am supposed to be working, but I tell myself it is important to keep up to date with what is going on in the world, even though I know that really, it wouldn’t hurt to limit myself to a news ‘fix’ just a couple of times a day!
I wonder if you use the website too, and if you do, whether you might as avid a follower as me!
[ Written by - Lucy Marris | Careers Adviser (UK), TEFL teacher (Vietnam) ]
Possible Answer 2:
I've been using the internet for more than 10 years and from the very beginning till now there are some websites those I use almost every day. www.yahoo.com is one of those web-sites and possibly I'll use this site forever. www.yahoo.com is basically an e-mail service provider and a very popular search engine. I can still remember my first day at a cyber-cafe where I opened the first web site of my life and that was yahoo.com and the cafe owner helped me to open an e-mail address and I still use this email address to send and receive e-mails and for chatting. www.yahoo.com is a popular search engine possibly next to www.google.com but as an e-mail service provider it is more popular than www.google.com in my country .This web-site has many other useful features like: the homepage contains up-to-date news and feeds. It also gives the option to open free websites to its users etc. www.my.yahoo.com is a very popular service and recently the www.answers.yahoo.com has become one of the most popular questions and answers web-site that's millions of people are using.
Alternative Answer 3:
I use internet daily and there are lots of websites that I often browse for different reasons. But probably www.facebook.com is the one I most often browse. It is a social networking website and probably is one of the top 5 most visited websites in the world. The website mainly facilitates me stay connected with my friends and helps me update and broadcast my news as well. Though the primary purpose of this website is to let people communicate friends and known people but there are lots of other features as well. It offers games, eCommerce facility, emailing, chatting, making new friends, social marketing, different campaign, fan page opening etc. I have been using the website from 2004 and it is important to me because all of my friends and relatives are connected there. If a friend has a birthday, the website notifies me and I can wish him/ her a birthday, if someone has a new photo or news to share, I can see it from my account. I can share my photo, video, updates, thought as well. If someone opines on an issue, others can comment on it. For me, the website is important because my childhood friends, adolescence friends, college & University friends are connected there. I get their updates regularly and can let them know what's happening over here. In no other way I could have been connected to the people I am now connected via facebook. I use this website from my computer and from my cell phone as well. For me this is a social networking website where I remain close to my friends and relatives. But with its own right it has become a powerful eCommerce platform, gaming place, marketing channel, and many more other business related platform.
Nowadays everybody owns a facebook ID. Making new friends is easy in facebook and that helps people grow their friends beyond boundary. Millions of people use facebook and it is almost impossible to connect with people you care and know without this website.
Tips for answering this Cue Card question:
Pick a website which is popular and you often visit. If you prefer to talk about a website which is not known to all, mention that this is not a very popular website but I visit it for this particular reason. You can pick a social networking website, email service providing website, news channel website, your university or office website, a website you have developed and visit for updating it, Wikipedia like website etc. If you pick a website which is popular, do not give any fictitious information. Giving false information about a well-known website like Google, Yahoo or Facebook would create some doubts in the examiner's mind as s/he might also be a user of this website.
Do not worry if you do not know every details of the website even if the question asks you to describe about it. If you do not know the owner name, operation since, technical aspects of the website, simply skip those parts instead of giving imaginary information. You can focus on what the website offers to the visitors and what you do from this website. For instance:
Social Networking websites:
Most of my friends are also connected in this website/ social network and I get their updates.
I can publish my updates and let my friends know about it.
It helps me finding my old friends/ family members.
It offers me to use third party applications and play games.
I can share my images and videos.
Help me find out information related to my education/ job.
Chat with my friends.
Email Service providers:
I send emails from this website.
I check the emails sent to me.
I can send attachments.
Has a good spam filtering and threat detection service.
Wikipedia like website:
Helps me finding reliable and details information on various topics.
Loads faster and has subscription option.
I can contribute on updating the information.
Most of the topics are covered and you can get almost all of the information you need.
News websites:
Provides updated and latest news.
Both local and international news are served.
Has email notification service on my selective topics.
Gives sports news and events.
Offers interesting supplementary and magazines as well.
News presentation is outstanding and sources are very reliable.
Covers last minute news as well.
Some similar cue card topics that you should be able to answer as well:
- Talk about a famous social networking website.
- Describe a helpful website that you have visited.
- Describe a website you and your friends often browse.
- Talk about a worth visiting website.
- Describe a website that you would recommend your friends.
