The first video (Connected Speech) is aimed at linguistic students, or EFL teachers who want to learn more about features of English pronunciation. It provides a good foundation for teachers to build on to explain the different aspects of pronunciation in a more principled manner. Needless to say that there is no need to tell the students about the “technical terms”, but it is good to know about them.

I feel the second video (Intrusion) would be suitable for strong intermediate, upper-intermediate or advanced students. Although students are lower levels would certainly benefit from it, they might find it difficult follow everything the speaker is saying. One aspect I really liked about this video is that he models the sentences he wants the students to practice many times and gives them a chance to practice themselves. It is also worth mentioning to the students that he talks about intrusive ‘r’, and that the examples that he uses would not be applicable to Ireland or other varieties of English – but it is quite common in British English. He also explains how unnatural we would sound if we didn’t have this feature in our speech, which can help students understand how important it is and motivate them to practice and try to incorporate it their speech. Finally, he mentions that even though it might be difficult for them to reproduce this aspect of connected speech and it might be difficult to master it, it is extremely useful for listening.

Videos 3, 4, & 5 (Linking and Assimilation) would be suitable for strong intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced students for the same reasons that I mentioned for the previous video. One of the advantages of these videos is that they are short and to the point as well as entertaining. I think it was a clever idea to use native speakers (who are not teachers) to model the sentences, as it makes the modelling more authentic. I also thought it was great to show the speakers saying the sentences again after students have been made aware of the feature they should be paying attention to. However, I think it might be beneficial to the students if the native speakers modelled the sentences a few more times before they have to do it themselves. Finally, I thought it was a good idea to include a brief explanation of when these features might appear as well as focusing on the shape of the mouth when certain features occur (as in the 5^th video).  

Although the 6^th video (weak forms) deals with a very important feature of pronunciation in English, it is quite long and rather dull, so I think students will find it difficult to engage with. His explanation is clear, and it provides the students with a lot of opportunities to practice, but students might lose interest rather quickly.
In general, I feel that all the videos had positive aspects and have the potential to be used as great resources. Videos 3,4, and 5 can be used in class as they are not too long, and the teacher can model the examples provided and have the students produce them before moving on to a more “meaningful” activity where the students need to produce those features of pronunciation. For the second video, however, students can watch it at home (as it is longer and would take up too much time in the lesson) and then the teacher can use it as a foundation for more work on intrusion in the class and refer to specific parts of the video if necessary. Finally, the 6^th video can be useful to “borrow” some examples of weak forms and to provide a clear explanations on when this feature appears in speech. 

Lucía

Jurgen Handke - used very technical terms and I don’t at all feel like it would be useful for students. It seems like a university lecture aimed at linguists. Even for me, I felt it was too technical and learning pronunciation sound be fun, which that certainly wasn’t. I wouldn’t direct my students to this.

Oxford Online English - Again there was a lot of information here but it was much more digestible. However, I thought he didn’t use graphics enough which made me realise how important is it to board things. There was plenty of good practice at the end for students.

Eat Sleep Dream English - This guy gave nice, clear explanations with clever graphics. Although he didn’t explain why it happens. But maybe that is okay, students becoming aware of something can be a nice first step. This was slow enough for learners and he models sentences that students can practice. I liked how he talked about mouthing the words to get the muscle memory working and also about saying things in slow motion. 

Tim’s  Pronunciation Workshop - This show used real life examples of people speaking. I think sometimes students look at you and think ’nobody actually sounds like that,’ so I think it can be valuable for students to see this. There was also modeling and time for the students to repeat. 

Did I find them useful as a teacher? - No, although only because I’ve done all this before as part as the course. Would I use these in class? - No, I’d prefer to do it myself but I would encourage students to look at these videos as further practice and independent learning, particularly the last two I mentioned.

The video on intrusion is beneficial to teachers and maybe high level students. He gives really clear explanations and examples, and points out the importance of intrusion for listening skills. 

The BBC Learning English videos on catenation and assimilation allow learners to listen to a range of different accents and gives them opportunities to listen and repeat what they hear. They’re quick and funny.  He gives simple model sentences: Whi(te) piece of paper, I ha(te) potatoes, spli(t) personality. The egg exercise is funny and can be done in the classroom with an apple or an iPhone. 

The Oxford Online weak form video I think is really useful for students again as it gives them time to digest what’s being said and the opportunity to repeat sentences. I’d ask them to watch it at home to solidify in-class practice. 

All of these videos are certainly useful for teachers, but I’m not sure if they’re all beneficial to learners. Some of the videos are quite long and the language wouldn’t be suited to lower levels. For higher levels, sure, but just not in class. I’d direct students towards Tim’s Pronunciation Workshop videos because they’re witty and concise and the language isn’t too difficult. There are a lot of useful techniques and examples in these videos - I think it’s best to take the ideas and present them yourself in the classroom. 

‘Sound like a native’ was nice. He explained clearly what intrusion is and gave good examples. I like how he encouraged students to repeat after his modelling and focus on what their mouth is doing by just whispering/mouthing . This shifts attention from meaning to articulation. He mentioned the importance of intrusion not only for speaking but listening skills too as students often mishear/do not understand words because of this (particularly phrasal verbs).

Tim’s bite-sized series could be very helpful for students. Each one has a clear focus with a short explanation and a variety of examples from native speakers. As Graham said, sometimes students look at you funny not believing people actually talk like that. So I think the more exposure they get to authentic accents and speech the better. I like that a pause is given after each modelled sentence so students can practise. 

Oli’s video on weak forms was very informative. I find that students like having rules so it was useful that he mentioned the typical words that are weak (prepositions, auxiliaries, conjunctions…) and strong (nouns, verbs, adjectives…). And he draws attention to shifts in stress too depending on what the speaker wants to emphasise which I think is quite important for students to be able to pick up on. It’s quite interactive too. He gives the viewer a chance to find the weak forms in the sentence and then repeat the example. It’s a little long, but I found it quite engaging and I think it would be easy to follow for students.

All in all the videos were useful as a teacher in reinforcing what I’ve learned through doing this course. Regarding students, I rarely show videos in class so I probably wouldn’t use these in class. Though I would use elements and examples from each when teaching the various points covered and I would certainly recommend students go home and watch some of them (particularly Tim’s workshop and Sound like a native). They are a great way to supplement and revise what we have studied in class.

I also believe that these videos would be a good resource for students but mainly as self-study or homework settings.

The BBC English videos stole the show as always. They’re informative, engaging and to the point. They could work in the classroom but I feel they are more useful for the teacher to watch, adapt to suit the level of their class and to make it more topical. In short, I don’t see any reason the teacher can’t do the lesson in their own style instead of showing the video. 

The only video I’d avoid suggesting to students is the Jurgen Handke one on connected speech which Eva explained perfectly. It’s clinical and disengaging. While the content is solid and I feel Handke articulated the topic well, it may be a bit too technical for most students. 

Sound like a native speaker is an enjoyable video. The presenter is likable and he modelled intrusion very well but I feel like he rambles in between points which would be difficult for learners to keep up with..

The sound like a native intrusion video was also very good. He was clear & explained it very well. He gave lots of examples & was really encouraging. I would probably recommend this for higher levels though as I feel lower level students would struggle with it.

The weak forms video was very good. It can be a difficult topic to teach & study. He breaks it down really well & makes it digestible for students. He also gave me tips on how to teach weak forms to my own class. 

Finally, I found the connected speech video really interesting & helpful. However, as it isn’t aimed at students, I wouldn’t use it with or recommend it to students. It’s best kept as a resource for teachers’ own knowledge. 

Overall, I feel that all of the videos are a useful resource for both teacher & student. They should be used to compliment topics covered in class or for students who want to study more pronunciation.