Topball · English through sport
ESL / ESP English
Football · free sample chapters
English Through Football
A CEFR-mapped English programme built around the football pitch. Every session trains pitch-side English, tactical discussion and match talk while the ball is moving.
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Sample 1
The football session as English practice
Language is scheduled, not hoped for. Each phase of the session has a language job as well as a football job.
- ▪0–10 min · Arrival and kit check. Naming, greeting and simple present forms.
- ▪10–25 min · Technical block. Instructions and imperatives; every station named before it is performed.
- ▪25–45 min · Rondo and possession games with compulsory English calls before receiving.
- ▪45–65 min · Game phase. Live commentary from rotating players on the sideline.
- ▪65–75 min · Cool-down review. Past simple recount of what the team did well and what broke down.
Sample 2
Taster lesson · Rondo commentary
A 4v2 rondo where the two players resting commentate in English while the ball is live.
- ▪Football aim: quick body shape, first touch away from pressure, and a switch of play every fourth pass.
- ▪Language aim: present continuous, prepositions of direction, and calling names under time pressure.
- ▪Constraint: a receive without an English call is a turnover, regardless of technical quality.
- ▪Commentary bank: 'he's turning', 'switch it', 'man on', 'behind you', 'third man in'.
- ▪Review: each commentator gives two sentences on what the team did well in the past simple.
Sample 3
Why the accreditation matters
Coaching bodies certify coaches. They do not legitimise a school, and that is the gap this manual sits in.
- ▪The language half of most sport-and-English camps has no educational accreditation behind it.
- ▪Topball runs football English on the same CEFR frame as the classroom and tennis programmes.
- ▪The Eaquals quality framework is the benchmark used for curriculum, management and student care.
- ▪Camps licensing this manual receive the rubrics and reporting templates, not just the drills.
In the full manual (9 parts · 35+ sections · A4 print-ready)
- ▪Part 1 — The session as English practice — Arrival language, technical block, rondo and game phases — each phase has a language job as well as a football job.
- ▪Part 2 — Football language by level — A1 to C1 vocabulary and grammar tied to kit, positions, movement, tactics and analysis.
- ▪Part 3 — Rondo commentary method — How live English commentary is used to force fluency under physical load.
- ▪Part 4 — Tactical literacy — Pressing, building out, transitions and set pieces explained in learner-graded English.
- ▪Part 5 — Match-day English — Team talks, referee interaction, post-match interviews and written match reports.
- ▪Part 6 — Assessment and reporting — CEFR rubrics, parent-facing reports and a camp-week progress record.
- ▪Appendices — Printable session cards, a rondo language mat, and a 4-week camp planner.
Pay $19 USD by PayPal and the full manual is released instantly — no waiting and nothing to email. Free updates for twelve months. Paying by Wise instead? Send the reference to coachjcl@cordentennisacademy.page and the link is issued by hand the same day.
From manual to campus
The manual is the programme. The camps are where it is coached.
Topball teaches this curriculum 365 days a year at the Cebu campus, at satellite learning camps in Oxford and Sussex, and online. Students and parents working through the manual at home can join the same programme in person — accommodation included on the Cebu retreats.
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