Nowadays internet has become a vast source of knowledge in the world. Several websites developed and published on the internet make it simple and easy to gather any information by simply searching through search engines. Business people make a wide use of these websites for promoting and marketing their products and services. The websites allow variety of information to be viewed for 24 hours thus increasing the traffic and attracting more and more viewers. The World Wide Web has a multitude uses. There are various kinds of websites available under several categories like education, entertainment, health, business etc. The users too prefer to gain information through websites because they can find it instantly by simply searching on the internet.
Let us have a look on some such websites under various categories which can prove very useful in the day to day life of common people like us:
A) Websites for learning English:
In today’s world the English language has gained utmost importance. Those who find it difficult to speak and understand English language can find these websites beneficial. There are many websites available for learning English in an easier way. These sites can be very useful for students to clear their basic concepts of the language.
1) Dave’s ESL Café:
This site is useful for learning English grammar. There are various examples given regarding the difficulties of application of tenses and adverbs. There are various chapters on colloquial language, pronunciation and style of the language. These chapters help to understand the difference between written and colloquial language. There are also various proverbs, idioms and questions available on this site.
www.eslcafe.com
2) About.com:
This site is for those who want to gain the most preliminary knowledge of English language. One has to register on this site and the registered users get e-mails which has the tips of English learning. While registration the users can choose options according to their choice and requirement. On the basis of the option chosen by the users, the elementary lessons begin with the English letters and slowly move to further level.
www.esl.about.com.
3) Voice of America:
This site has videos for gaining proficiency on English language. One can also find the correct pronunciation of words and sentences. This site also sections for the practice of English speaking in day to day life. One can choose the proper level for practice out of the three practice levels available. This section has examples of English spoken at various places like in the café, restaurant, telephone, bus stand etc
. http://www.voanews.com/learning-emglish/theclassroom/home.
4) Private English portal:
On this site the English language expert Steve Ford gives training of the English language through videos. If one is unable to understand the pronunciation or if the tutorials are given at a very fast speed then the videos are given subtitles. The videos of Steve are also available on you tube.
www.privateenglishportal.com
www.youtube.com/user/private
5) English page:
This site is useful for those who have a good command on the language and wants information about advance levels of English language. The site has tutorials and dictionary. The site also runs a students platform.
www.englishpage.com
6) English grammar lessons.com
Many students find it difficult to use correct tense and adverbs in the sentence. This site has useful chapters for students with such difficulty. There are 30 lessons of grammar and along with this various practice lessons are also available. The English language expert Pearson Brown and his wife Caroline runs this website. Their lessons are also available in the form of email. The Brown couple runs one more website for English and it is also very helpful.
www.english-grammar-lessons.com
www.carolinebrownlisteninglessons.com
7) Grammar Monster:
This site is also useful site for learning and understanding English grammar in a better way. It is useful for students studying in standard three to standard six.
www.grammar-monster.com
8) English grammar lessons:
This site has various English tutorials available for downloading in PDF format. One can also read these tutorials in text format. Videos are also available on this site. www.englishgrammar.org/lessons
B) Websites which helps in study:
The students need information which has reference in their text book but is not explained in details. In such case the detail knowledge of the subject and topics can be gained from some websites available on the internet. Let us have a look on such websites:
1) Refdesk.com
This site is useful for the verification of particular information. There are various facts and information available on this site. There can be no better home page than this site for students. One can also search Google and yahoo from the homepage of refdesk. Along with this the search facility is also available for wikipedia, you tube, dictionary and encyclopedia. Various archives regarding daily news, important facts, important people, particular words, particular incidence etc.
2) Factmonster.com
This site can be treated as useful means of help for online almanac, dictionary, and encyclopedia. The homepage of this site has various links for latest world news, sports, science, mathematics etc. By clicking this links one can reach the treasure of facts and information. The timeline section enables the user to access the various historical information. We can also evaluate our vocabulary knowledge in the word voice section. The site also has atlas which can enable to search any place in the world.
3) Wolframalpha.com
This is a very unique search engine and it is very useful for students and researchers. This engine is competent to show any sort of information according to requirement. It is not a common search engine but can be referred as intelligent search result. If one types Hindi and Mandarin as search terms in this engine then it displays the comparative description of these two languages. This site not only provides mere information but also provides detailed explanation of the information. One can find all the information from history to current affairs. The information is available in various sections like history, arts, sports, entertainment, business, health and science, calendar and holidays. There is also a homework segment for students. It has knowledgeable crosswords, teller device and many other such facilities.
4) Wisegeek.com
This site has collection of various articles on various subjects useful for students. The site has nearly four thousand five hundred articles on science and engineering, fifteen thousand five hundred articles on adult education and training, thirteen hundred articles on renowned persons, more than seven thousand articles on business and economics, four thousand articles on animals and environment and near about for thousand articles are available on gadgets and technology.
C) Websites to increase the general knowledge:
There are many good websites for children available on the internet. These sites have useful information about study, hobbies and arts. These sites help to increase the general knowledge of the children and also help to awaken their curious attitude. Let us have a look on some such sites:
1) Howstuffworks.com
This is a very good website to gain information regarding the working of important products, technology, machines, geographical events, software and hardware. It also provides information about the events that happens before any result is displayed. The various pages available on this site have information about each and every topic.
2) Switchzoo.com
This site has information regarding animals. Along with the knowledgeable information of animals the site also has stories and pictures related to animals. We can also hear the sounds of various animals, watch videos and play games related to animals.
3) Whyflies.com
This site is very interesting for the science students. The scientific reason behind any important event is explained on this site. The archive section of this site has many articles on biology, environment, treatment, social science etc. This site answers the queries in a very simple language.
4) PBSkids.org:
PBS Cartoons
This site is very popular among kids. This site is developed by PBS television channel. In this site the various popular cartoon characters converse and play with the users and teach them a lot of things while playing. The site has many fascinating games about numbers, letters science etc and also has interesting exercise which the kids enjoy.
5) ABCteach.com:
This site has all the information right from all the topics taught in school to the attractive puzzles and crosswords. This is one of the best sites of online learning. This site has various drawing projects. One can find flash cards, puzzles, crosswords and many such activities. This will help the children to learn through entertainment.
6) Windows2universe.com
This site has excellent information about space, earth and solar system. For ex, what do we mean by supernova? How man has evolved? What does the red spot on Jupiter planet indicates? And many such questions are answered on this site. There is also latest news about space and much information useful for teachers is also available.