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The long a and short a sounds do not make sense when trying to say balloon. I tell kids that if they are reading a word, and neither the long or short vowel sounds make sense for that particular vowel, try the schwa which is a short “u” sound.įor example, just say the child is trying to read the word balloon. I use the poster with the zebra as an example. Since the schwa sound is one of the trickiest sounds to teach, I like to keep it simple when I teach it to kids.Īfter teaching the most common vowel sounds, the last thing I teach is the schwa sound. How to Help Kids Figure Out the Schwa Sound The easiest way to explain it to kids is to tell them that most of the time it makes a short “u” sound. It’s a sound that any of the vowels can make. The schwa sound is a weak unstressed sound that occurs in many words. The schwa sound in words is one of the most common in the English language and yet it’s the trickiest to teach.
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