4. A Review of an Online Resource "Rachel's English"

Rachel’s English is a website comprising a series of video recordings presenting pronunciation of American English sounds. It is appropriate for everyone who likes to improve American English pronunciation. Through the video recordings giving credible, detailed explanation by a native speaker of American English, TESOL teachers, especially non-native English teachers, can learn not just how each sound is created but also how to explain the sound production to their students. The website is well-designed, so it is easy for the web users to navigate through all sections of the website. There are a series of videos thoroughly explaining the place of articulation of each sound. In such video recordings, as a presenter is pronouncing a particular sound, there are the drawings of the articulatory organs on the presenter’s face to illustrate the anatomy of the mouth together with a description of how the sound is produced and the movement of the articulatory organs. It is highly helpful for teachers to use these videos in teaching their students the place of articulation. The videos teach how to pronounce individual sounds, covering consonants, vowels and diphthongs, accompanied by example words and stressing of the words. A video text or transcript of a video is provided under the selected video.