Page 24 - ABF Newsletter December 2024

TEACHING
TIPS
with Ian Dalziel
THE HUMAN SIDE OF BRIDGE
Teaching
How do we measure our success as bridge teachers? I don’t think the EBU do OFSTED-type inspections and there are no student exams, but there are some yardsticks.
• How many students remain till the year end?
• How many friendships are made at the class?
• How many join a learners’ bridge club?
• What standard have they reached?
It’s important they join a club of some sort as home games rarely last and are not practical for many. Lots of my students say their greatest benefit from taking up bridge is the friendships they made which is great, but the hardest part of the teacher’s role is to get the students to a level where they feel compe- tent in a game. The ‘naturals’ will get there anyway no matter who is the teacher, but such people don’t really need a bridge class.
Does their skill really matter? If they enjoy the game and make friends, isn’t that enough? Not really, for although winning isn’t everything, I don’t know any bridge player who wouldn’t like to be better. If the social side of the game was all that mattered, teach- ing could be done with a fraction of the preparation.
The main problem is that students learn at vastly dif- ferent rates. Some have played bridge or other card games before, but that is only a temporary advan- tage. If the teaching is of good quality, progress de- pends on their attendance rate, the homework done, how often they play between classes but, above all, their aptitude for the game. Any class has a wide range of natural ability, so some need to work much harder than others. Unfortunately, those who most need to do homework are least likely to do it. Per- haps such people only learn with the cards in their
hands and written notes and quizzes just don’t help much.
I find those who take
up bridge are usually
very busy people even
though lots are retired.
Many say they intend to
do the homework but Ian Dalziel is a teacher and regular columnist for “Mr Bridge” magazine in the UK, where
can never find time. Ac- this column was originally published. tually, what they mean is
that it’s not a high enough priority, because some of the busiest people somehow get the homework done.
I run classes up to fifth year and while most are ready to move on at the end of each year, there are always those who would benefit from repeating the year. No-one does, of course, for they want to remain with their friends and to stay back would be seen as a humiliation, reminiscent of the ‘dunce’s cap’. Hence by the fifth year, the range of ability in the class can vary widely. Unless someone has a good grasp of the basics, they will gain nothing from the more advanced lessons; indeed it will just confuse them. I can understand that players want to know more about the game, but for some, ‘talking the talk’ seems to take priority over ‘walking the walk’. Even though conventions are the last thing most learners need, some feel ‘deprived’ if you don’t teach them and may go elsewhere for lessons.
One year I gave up ‘whole class teaching’ and they worked in groups using self teaching exercises, and eve- ryone progressed at their own pace. I produced extensive ‘home lessons’ which replaced the spoken lessons in class. Those who went off for long holi- days just slotted in where they left off. I thought I had finally ‘cracked it’, but I had to abandon it after six months as so few were doing the homework.
Page 24
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: December 2024