Schwa worksheets are hard to find!! This is understandable as it is often not taught, or half taught in English lessons and classrooms. However, to fill that gap, and if you have students of the level where you can introduce this common but tricky sound we have a set of 5 schwa worksheets for you to use below. These are free at the moment so get them while they are hot!!
These Schwa Worksheets include the following schwa tasks and help.
- Schwa Description and examples
- Read and listen exercises
- Schwa Vowel Examples
- Schwa and Spelling
- Schwa craft (cut and paste)
- Schwa coloring match worksheet
As we mentioned Schwa sounds can be tricky to spot, they are insanely close to a couple of other sounds in English, so much so that some teachers skip over the schwa sound entirely, however we think that is a mistake. We also have a an article on how to teach and how to recognise the schwa sound. Which we will link below.
Why You Should Teach The Schwa Sound.
We think it is important to teach this sound, and let the students know they are learning this sound explicitly. It is such a common sound, and such an important part in connected speech, word stress and fluency that once students have reached a decent level you can introduce it. These schwa worksheets will help.
Just as a quick example think of how you would say the following words. standalone and in a sentence. You can check the table below to help
| Schwa Standalone word | Schwa Word in a Sentence | How Schwa Sounds To The Ear |
| today | Are you coming today | Are you coming t’day |
| away | Put your toys away | Put yuh toys uhway |
| Saturday | We went on Saturday | We went on Satuhday |
| of | Lord of the Rings | Lord uv the Rings |
Schwa allows conversation to flow more naturally ( although of course both ways are correct and fine) However if Second language students are talking with native English speakers then without this knowledge they might not understand if they are unaware of the Schwa Sound.
It will take time before they start to use it, and immersion in English will be the best way, but being aware of it will start their development, and avoid lots of misunderstandings along the way!
Hopefully these schwa worksheets will help with this.
There is more information at the British Council in the link here.
Making English Fun!
I have been a teacher of English for over 15 years, in that time i made hundreds and thousands of resources and learnt so much i think its worth sharing. Hopefully to help teachers and parents around the world.
