I know, but it's unlikely that someone here will be able to explain, compare and contrast these words better than a dedicated dictionary or language site could, given the limitations of a post.

Here is something that I found, which might help you further: Concession-Opposition

Hi Michelle, rather than giving a long winded answer which is going to be incomplete anyway, I suggest you try a good online dictionary (just enter, e.g., "cependant English" and you get a choice of quite a few). If you enter this "cependant, alors que, pourtant, et en revanche" in Google, you're presented a list of quite helpful links contrasting these and similar expressions.

LOL I understand the translations.  But my teacher has this long explanation about when/how to use them and I was hoping you had a better one.