The Schwa Sound

Did you know that the word ‘schwa’ refers to the most common vowel sound in English? It is often called ‘the lazy sound’ because we don’t do any movements with our mouths to make the sound; instead, our mouths and tongues are relaxed. The schwa makes speaking easier because we don’t have to work as hard to say all the words we need to. The schwa sound is like the' eh' sound you might make. It can be represented as a vowel graph, digraph, or trigraph. This unit of work helps students recognise and understand this tricky vowel sound. It works with any books relevant to your class, because schwas are everywhere!