The following list of resources is not intended to be comprehensive and further suggestions for inclusion will be welcomed by Tim Anderson.
From Sue Woodcock:
“When we look to improvers and moving on lessons, we usually use boards from the Club and other events as our material.
One of our teachers makes her own quizzes which she shares with us all.”
English Bridge Education and Development (EBED)
EBED (English Bridge Education and Development) is an independent charity whose initiatives include the training and support for more bridge teachers, providing those teachers with support, as they begin their teaching, and enhanced range of materials to provide a smooth path from novice to player.
Bridge for All materials include the Red, Green and Yellow books plus lots more included in a £45 subscription to EBTA which entitles members to a whole range of resources including SAVINGS, SUPPORT and TECHNICAL benefits. You can read all about the benefits of EBTA membership here.
The EBU recommends that new teachers join EBTA to gain access to all the resources that are available and any club setting up a programme would be wise to make this investment in their teacher.
From Sue Woodcock:
For Year 1 we basically follow the EBU Red Book but after that we all back this up with the Welsh Board material which we all find excellent. Many of us also use the Andrew Robson Material.
From John Glasscock:
Our Red Book and Green book course run over 3 terms of 10 weekly sessions of 2 hours with some added practice sessions as needed. Each term costs £60. We organise the purchase of the EBU books at the beginning of the year at an additional cost. The fast track course is £120 per person per weekend to include a light lunch on each day.
From Lucy Cross:
“My husband and I have used the handbanks on the EBED website, which sometimes we tweak, but it is useful to have a basic set to start with. We both think the Hand Play/Hand Generator software also on the EBED website is great - easy to use and to set up hands.
English Bridge Union
The EBU offers free marketing materials to clubs and teachers which can be downloaded or ordered as printed materials. Learners at every stage can also benefit from a huge range of English Bridge articles, indexed by topic, on all aspects of the game.
Bridge Base Online (BBO)
BBO is the long-established online bridge platform and has free teaching features.
BBO's General guidelines for setting up teaching tables on BBO are here.
We also have guidance on How to deliver an online lesson with ZOOM and BBO.
From Ned Paul:
“I use a combination of Zoom/BBO because with BBO you can have (with two browsers and two account names) two matches running on BBO and therefore accommodate four tables.
Using BBO in this way you are always at one of the tables observing and you can toggle between the tables of one match and alt-tab to the other match. So just a few seconds to be at someone’s table on request. Meanwhile the Zoom is always open with all the players online and they can speak whenever they need help or sometimes you can intervene to comment about stuff anyway. Keep Zoom minimised. Also, at the beginning and the end they can have a social chat which they like.”
RealBridge
RealBridge is an online platform for playing and teaching bridge. It has built-in video and audio, which replicates as closely as possible the face-to-face bridge experience.
RealBridge has greatly improved its teaching features since launch and details can be found in Realbridge for Teachers.
No Fear Bridge
The No Fear Bridge site is packed with online learning and practice activities for bridge beginners and learners of all levels.
From Pat Welsh:
"I deliver courses of usually 4-6 weeks duration at a cost of £10 per person so they pay £40-£60 per course in advance by Bank transfer. In my classes we use a combination of Zoom, BBO and NFB to provide an interactive lesson with PowerPoint presentations for the theory. Homework is set on NFB, so the students practise topics learned during the week after their lesson, as well as reading the relevant section in the Beginning Bridge Book. Each lesson provides two full hours of teaching, and we also have a short break during the session for refreshments which enables the students to chat to each other as they would do in a f2f class. I also set up WhatsApp groups for each course so that the students can communicate with each other and arrange social games once they have attained the basic skills in bidding and play. (This is done with express consent given by the students who want to take part). During my lessons I also teach Bridge Etiquette and give them the skills they will need to join a Duplicate Club once they are ready."
From Tony Morgan:
“A lot of my students have told me that they have benefited from using No Fear Bridge”
From Ned Paul:
“Outside the EBU ‘No Fear Bridge’ has got to be the prime site that people use. I send people to it occasionally and generally get positive feedback.”
BridgeWhiz: teach bridge to children
BridgeWhiz is an exciting, digital initiative designed to teach young people the essentials of the fascinating game of bridge. It was developed with support from the ACBL Educational Foundation, based in the USA, but is international in scope and supported by UK teachers. The great advantage of BridgeWhiz is that children can learn with others their own age even if they are not part of a local group. The course is 21 weeks long, each live lession is 90 minutes, and class sizes between 20-40. Bridge practice is on Shark Bridge (see below) and the kids play as South against robots and are never dummy! Live video and audio is included. Teachers are all background checked. There are also fee-based classes for parents!
Shark Bridge
Shark Bridge is a playing platform designed primarily for teaching and is used by BridgeWhiz (see above) but BridgeWhiz is not a requirement! The Shark Bridge platform is based on a long-established computer bridge game which has several times won the World Bridge Computer Championship. The online platform or console was developed in 2020, during the COVID lockdown, in order to support online teaching at a critical time. Teachers can see multiple tables, load pre-arranged deals, replay or demonstrate bidding and the play of a hand, and more.
New Zealand materials
New Zealand Bridge, the national body for bridge in New Zealand, has some high quality learning materials available for free use on its site, including lesson notes, slides, videos, and prepared hands.
Welsh Bridge Union Materials
The Welsh Bridge Union has a wide selection of slides teaching various topics on its web site.
Scottish Bridge Union Materials
The Scottish Bridge Union has two approved bridge courses, a fast track 20 lesson course and a fuller 60 lesson course, which can be downloaded for free, as well as some downloadable marketing materials.
Funbridge
Funbridge is an app for Apple and Android devices, and also runs in the web browser on Windows and Mac PCs. Developed in France, it now has over 1 million deals played every day by users around the world. It is subscription-based but with free games avaialable subject to putting up with advertising.
There are several ways in which it is good for beginners. One is that all games are played against robots, which means players can go at theiir own pace with no pressure. The result oof a board is compared with typically 100 other players giving a good idea of performance, and using either match points or IMP scoring. The robots always play 5-card majors but the player can choose a weak no trump convention with lots of other options. Games can be replayed so the player can try "what-if" alternative plays in order to improve.
Funbridge also has a tutorial section which teaches the game. Players will learn five-card major bidding but that is no bad thing considering its popularity internationally.
From Peter Dawes:
“Online, the funbridge app is good. You can play endless practice hands on your own v robots. Fee required, but if you’re on a budget, you get regular bundles of free games: after a period, another bundle gets offered. SAYC by default, but you can select ACOL for your own system in settings.”
Tricky Bridge
Tricky Bridge is a professionally developed app for learning bridge from scratch. The app runs on Apple and Android phones and devices, and makes no assumptions at all about previous experience of bridge or card games. It is free for the first 57 lessons which takes beginners well into a good knowledge of bridge. It is rated 4.8 out of 5 by its user reviews, an excellent result.
From Ned Paul”
“There are a couple of recent additions to useful resources. One is the American app for phones and tablets ‘Tricky Bridge’. Although it focuses on 5-card majors it’s got to be the most fun way of getting into bridge by mobile device. I have introduced it to my 8-year old grandson and we have got quite a way through the lessons. (when you have installed the app, swipe left to right to get to ‘tuition’, the learning bit of the app and go from there. Guarantee you’ll be engaged.”
BridgePlay
If your club would like to introduce learners to the game supported either by a teacher or by club members able to supervise learner sessions even without hands-on teaching skills, then a solution is to use BridgePlay, a teaching platform used with great success by the Yorkshire Contract Bridge Association and open for wider use. It includes a wide range of features including support for teachers and teaching assistants, and moving students from seat to seat.
The site also offers an excellent series of 30 video lessons for free, taking beginners through the first year of learning. Each video can be watched multiple times and there is supporting information for students and teachers. Each lesson should be followed by supervised practice either face to face at the club or perhaps online. The first 30 lessons are available to everyone. Each lesson has a video, student pack and teacher pack. The practice hands are part of the teacher's pack and all are freely available from bridgeplay.uk You will need to sign up as a teacher to view the teacher packs (no charge).
BridgePlay.uk also includes a playing platform for teaching bridge. Sign up as a teacher to try this out. If you decide to use it after evaluation then the charge for the teacher is £60/Year.
To learn more please contact Jim Edwards at jimedwards.bridge@gmail.com
World Bridge Federation Youth Teaching materials
The World Bridge Federation (WBF) has teaching materials aimed at young people, teaching a 5-card major bidding system. You can find these here.
BAMSA teacher and coach conference videos and slides
In October 2023 RealBridge and BAMSA run an online conference covering many aspects of bridge teaching, including a focus on teaching young people. The slides and videos are all online here.