Oh Jane - You've Done It Again!

Submitted by sitemaster on Mon, 2017/02/13 - 10:07am

Jane, Ayako, & BookJane, Ayako, & BookCambridge's pocket rocket Jane Stearns has embarked on an unusual endeavour with support from the Waikato-Bays Regional Committee. Part of Jane's wide range of involvement is working out of the Migrant Centre in Hamilton with migrants and refugees, many of whom have little or no English when they arrive in New Zealand.

But some of them have played cards - some of them have even played Bridge in their own countries.

Looking at the generic of the Cambridge club at least, there would be a considerable drop in numbers should all the foreign-born members not play. One of our most valued members, Ayako Imahashi from Japan, actually came to us from exactly this situation. She had played a little bridge with her family in Japan and was encouraged by the Migrant Centre in Leamington to come along to lessons in Cambridge.

It was a challenge she rose to magnificently and very good for her grasp of English - a vehicle to help with her integration to New Zealand society. Of course, there were also enormous spin-offs in meeting such a lot of friendly supportive people. Jane is using Ayako's story to underpin the theme of a 48-page booklet she has produced. It is called Card Words and the cost of printing the first 50 copies will be covered by the WBRC.

The booklet itself is aimed at introducing immigrants with little English to bridge vocabulary and the structure of the game itself. The idea behind the booklet is:

  1. To encourage those who do not have English as their first language but played bridge in their home country to take up the game and come to a club
  2. To encourage those who do not have English as their first language but have played a trick taking game in their home country to have enough vocabulary to be able to attend Lesson 1 of a course

While the purpose of the booklet is not to teach them bridge, Jane aims to introduce them to a medium for social interaction and, hopefully, to build up enough confidence and vocabulary to attend lessons at a bridge club nearby.