This is a short vowel sound - it's pronounced /ə/, and to make this sound you just relax your mouth.
You try - listen and repeat: /ə/, and again /ə/. In fact, this is a very common sound in English,
and in many grammar words it's the only vowel sound, such as: 'a', 'the, 'of',
'that'. Let's practice these - listen and repeat: 'a', 'the, 'of', 'that'. Now you also get this
sound in many words of more than one syllable - listen: 'about', 'common', 'standard', 'butter'.
Let's practice - listen to me and repeat: 'about', 'common', 'standard', 'butter'. Good.
You could say that the vowel /ə/ is the most important vowel in English. In fact, it's so
important it has its own name - it's called John. No, not really it's actually called schwa - schwa,
which is pretty strange when you think about it, because the word schwa doesn't have the schwa
sound in it. So, why is this sound so important? Well it's a very natural sound for English
speakers and it's actually the most frequent sound in English. It appears in just about
every word with more than two syllables and it's very important for getting the stress and rhythm
of English right. Schwa is usually in unstressed syllables. Let's have a look at some examples:
'accuse', 'banana', 'father', 'camera'. OK. Now you try - listen and repeat: 'accuse',
'banana', 'father', 'camera'. Now as well as being a part of many words, schwa can also
be the pronunciation for a whole word itself and to show you this I'm going to need an assistant.
A cup of tea, thank you. An ordinary cup of tea but listen to what happens when I say the
words 'a' and 'of' naturally: a cup of tea - a cup of tea. The words 'a' and 'of' become
schwa /ə/. Now you try - listen and repeat after me: 'a cup of tea' - 'a cup of tea'.
Good. Now this is such a natural and common way to pronounce 'cup of' that in British
English the word 'cuppa' actually means 'a cup of tea', and after all that I'm really
looking forward to my cuppa. Actually, what I really fancy is a piece of cake.