The Bridge Teacher

A NEWSLETTER FOR TEACHERS THE BRIDGE TEACHER For Your Information… Gear up for 2011! ࡗ While you are planning your New Year’s Resolutions, be sure to consider all the resources ACBL has available for bridge teachers. A few of those resources are: Winter Edition • December 2010 • The Cooperative Advertising Program – A fantastic program that can help defray your advertising costs for look beginner and/or newcomer bridge lessons. What’s • Pre-recorded radio ads targeting the “empty nesters” and/or “recently retired” Inside … that can be personalized with your contact information; • Free bridge articles that can be personalized with your contact information and The Business of Bridge presented to your local newspaper for possible publication—or, they can be used —KISS .............................2 as handouts for classroom and/or workshop discussions; Learning by Doing ............ 3 • Brochures & software available as handouts such as ACBL bookmarks, “Learn to Play Bridge 1 & 2” CD’s, and the “Exciting World of Bridge – Are the Inmates Running Welcome to Your First Duplicate Game”. the Asylum? • Youth Promotional DVD available to anyone attempting to get the youth Part Two ........................4–5 audience interested in learning to play bridge. Educational Foundation • FedEx Offi ce discounts – 35% print discount on 8 1/2" x 11" black & white Grants ..............................5 and color printing. Seminars & Meetings • Offi ce Max discounts on certain products and printing. Louisville NABC ............6–7 Visit the ACBL website at www.acbl.org for FYI ................................... 7 more information about the above resources Youth Bridge or send an email to [email protected]. Symposium ...................... 8 Dynamic Graphics AMERICAN CONTRACT BRIDGE LEAGUE 6575 Windchase Blvd. Membership Increases Horn Lake, MS 38637 Don’t forget that new membership fees are increasing. www.acbl.org The cost for a new ACBL membership (fi rst-time) will be $28.00 (U.S.) effective January 1, 2011. Please discard any outdated instant membership applications that you may have at the end of this year (12/31/10). Do you have to start at the very beginning, or are you refi ning partly- developed skills? Is this a bright, The Business of Bridge receptive bunch? Some classes are very fearful and timid; they require a lot more hand holding and cajoling. KISS Plan your time so you have enough examples. It may take two or three by Lynn Berg tries before the light dawns for some. The trick is not to bore the ones who got it right away. Last year I was invited to a real “white bread” situations using Look at the topic in several retirement complex to give a talk on Stayman with hands like different books if you are not using bridge. I knew most of those attending a text for the class. You’ll see that the ࡕ ࡖ ࡗ weren’t duplicate players, so I decided -KJ94 -A732 -JT7 -82 best introductory lessons are starkly to keep it simple and very basic. So I Or simple with well-defi ned goals and examples. talked about Stayman: a little of the ࡕ-KJ94 ࡖ-A73 ࡗ-AJT76 -8 history of the bid, including Sam Be ready to deal with diversions. Even some of the “what if” Stayman’s disclaimer that he had not I realized that most of those questions are diversions when you invented the bid, some very obvious present still played 16-18 no trumps are introducing a new idea. You are examples and some practice hands and took that into account with my teaching Stayman and someone asks, I’d hoped to be able to lay out. examples. “What if partner opens 1NT and the Unfortunately, the audience were But nothing I said was going to next guy bids 3D?” It’s not exactly not at tables for four, and there was convince Gail’s neighbor that she off topic, but it you stop to deal with no way to do cards on the table. should try Stayman. It was just too that issue in the middle of Stayman The whole lesson would probably much for her. 101, you’ll lose the majority. Worse have been easier to follow had they I think the single most common yet is the person who says, “I know been able to see opener’s hand and teacher error is trying to do too much this isn’t what we’re talking about, responder’s hand—not just on an in the time allotted. Usually with but…” You have to be gracious easel or blackboard but actually the best will in the world, with the but fi rm that, interesting as those in front of them. Montessori was motive of giving more and more, we questions are, they’re not what you’re right: we learn better when all of our just do too much. Do you remember discussing today. senses are engaged, as they are when the story of the little boy who asks You can see that planning is the students participate in setting up and where his little brother came from? key. Justice Holmes once apologized manipulating cards on the table. Very uncomfortable, his dad starts to a correspondent that he was sorry My friend Gail, a seasoned to stammer out an explanation of to write such a long letter, that he duplicate player, attended the talk. the process. The boy interrupts hadn’t had time to write a short As the talk progressed, she wondered impatiently: “Dad, I just wanted one. Staying on topic and avoiding if the material was too basic until the to know what hospital Mom was diversions, resisting the impulse woman on her right muttered, “I can’t in.” We need to know what agenda to show just one more wrinkle or be bothered with all that complicated the students have and we need to complicaton: the welfare of the class stuff!” Mind you, I didn’t mention identify simple, clear objectives to is in your hands. Garbage Stayman or Smolen or accomplish in the teaching session. forcing Stayman or Stayman in Don’t tell ‘em how to make a clock competition. I didn’t talk about 5-4 when they ask you for the time. hands or following Stayman with the How can you avoid cramming too eep t bid of a minor as a way of handling much information into your lesson? a very weak hand like -K742 Know your audience. How much ࡖ ࡗ -6 -J97642 -83. I dealt with background can you safely assume? ......?? ♦2 T HE BRIDGE TEACHER’ S BOOKSHELF Learning by Doing by Pat Harrington Experts in education tell us that This hand shows your students the the best way to learn is through need to learn suit preference signals experience. Our bridge students don’t and makes them anxious to hear learn as much from listening to us as what you are about to teach. they do from actively experiencing Nothing teaches better than seeing bidding, play, and defense. As bridge a concept in action. When I introduce teachers we must fi nd new ways to the idea of balancing to a twenty- let our students experience bridge. table class, I set up an experiment. your opponents have fi t.” Once the Here are some examples: I provide each table with a suited students experience confi rmation Teaching defense lends itself deck of cards and instruct them to that this statement is true, they can nicely to learning through experience. lay out a minimum 1ࡖ opening see the benefi t of competing. When I teach the suit preference hand for North (about 13 points) with You could adapt the fi rst part of signal, I begin class by having each six hearts. Then I have the students the experiment for a small class by table play the hand shown below. make up a hand for South showing a having your students try to change minimum response (about 7 points) ࡕ the hands to get rid of the East-West Q 9 6 2 with three hearts. North-South have ࡖ fi t. Let them exchange cards in any K Q J a fi t; the bidding will go 1ࡖ -- 2ࡖ, ࡗ suit except hearts. North-South must K 4 2 and they will try to stop there. ࡔ retain the nine-card heart fi t. Repeat K 4 2 In the second part of the the experiment with North-South ࡕ J 5 ࡕ 10 3 experiment the students shuffl e and having an eight-card fi t several times ࡖ 3 ࡖ A 10 8 4 2 deal out the remaining cards to East for a small group. ࡗ 10 8 7 6 5 ࡗ A 9 3 and West. When the East-West hands B e c a u s e ex p e r ie n c e i s s o i m p o r t a nt ࡔ 10 8 7 6 5 ࡔ Q J 3 are laid on the table, lo and behold, to learning, I have increased the every one of the twenty tables has an ࡕ A K 8 7 4 number of hands that I include for eight-card or better fi t in some suit ࡖ 9 7 6 5 play at the end of each class. When (it’s mathematically impossible not ࡗ Q J I started teaching beginners, I was to). Moreover, many East-West pairs ࡔ A 9 lucky to have time for four hands – have more points than the North- time for each player to declare once. North deals and North-South South pairs who were about to win By the end of an eight-week course, reach 4ࡕ with South declaring.

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