Here is a quick video that explains this sound.<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re teaching the schwa sound, the key is to proceed slowly<\/em>.<\/p>\n Think of it as being like piling building blocks on top of each other. The only way students will be able to absorb more concepts is if they already have a solid foundation on the current topic.<\/p>\n Here are some of our favorite strategies that you can apply to your ESL lesson.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t dive into the schwa sound right away! First, check whether students have at least a basic grasp of word stress<\/a> in Engl<\/strong>ish.<\/strong><\/p>\n One way to do this is to write down a word for everyone to see. Say it slowly at first on your own, then have your students repeat it back. You can then ask your students the following questions:<\/p>\n As an additional cue, you can clap your hands or tap your arm for each syllable as you pronounce the word. Alternatively, play around with the stressed syllable of a word.<\/p>\n For example, pronounce the word \u201cpaper\u201d with the first syllable stressed (\u201cpa<\/strong>per\u201d) and then the second syllable stressed (\u201cpaper<\/strong>\u201d).<\/p>\n Students should then point out which is the right pronunciation. This emphasizes how important word stress is\u2014the wrong word stress can make a word difficult to understand for other English speakers!<\/p>\n The schwa is often described as a \u201clazy\u201d sound that\u2019s similar to \u201cuh.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n When you pronounce it, the mouth is very relaxed. It\u2019s also very fast to say, making it the shortest among all of the short vowel sounds.<\/p>\n If ESL students can already repeat the basic schwa sound, move on to words that use the schwa on different vowels, such as:<\/p>\n Explain to your students that the highlighted vowels in these examples are all pronounced as schwa. Instead of saying the regular vowel, they should say the schwa sound instead.<\/p>\n Going over a lot of words is helpful because students need to get used to the idea that all five vowels have similar sounds when converted into a schwa!<\/p>\n After going over schwa pronunciation, students usually have another question in mind: When are they supposed to say it? More than the pronunciation itself, this is what makes the schwa sound so tricky.<\/p>\n As we said above, the schwa\u00a0only happens in unstressed syllables.<\/strong> Most of the time (but not always!), unstressed syllables in a word use a schwa.<\/p>\n Some one-syllable words also use a schwa because they\u2019re considered unstressed function words\u2014for example, \u201cthe\u201d and \u201ca.\u201d<\/p>\n To highlight these cases, dedicate some time to having students mark unstressed syllables. You can start with words such as \u201cbutter\u201d or \u201ccompete\u201d before expanding to full-on sentences. Have them divide the word into syllables first:<\/p>\n butter<\/em> \u2192 but<\/em> | ter<\/em><\/p>\n Then they can highlight or circle the unstressed syllable and write the schwa symbol e (\u0259) instead to represent the schwa sound.<\/p>\n butter<\/em> \u2192 but<\/em> | ter<\/em><\/strong> (\u0259)<\/p>\n After your students are a little more comfortable identifying the unstressed syllables, let them listen to native audio to see if they can spot the schwa sounds on their own. Podcasts, audio stories, YouTube videos and FluentU<\/a> clips are all great options for this kind of exercise. FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n <\/p> \r\n You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n How to Teach the Schwa Sound<\/h2>\n
Check how well students understand word stress.<\/h3>\n
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Demonstrate how to pronounce the schwa.<\/h3>\n
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Teach students to identify the schwa sound on their own.<\/h3>\n
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