Topball Tennis and ESL/ESP English School.
Drills, feedback, match play — for your English.
I teach English online 1:1 to a genuinely international student body: French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and Vietnamese learners, among others. Vietnam Business English is a major focus and a fast-growing part of my school — but every ESL student is welcome, from exam prep and daily conversation to accent work and professional communication.
Personal, prepared 1:1 lessons from a warm, professional workspace — the same teacher every session, with clear goals and weekly progress tracking.
Business English for meetings, calls, email and presentations with a teacher who understands the context of working in and with Vietnam.
Academic English teaching for university success — writing, presentations and confident seminar communication.
Performance tennis coaching online — analysis, training plans, match strategy and accountability.
Alongside the online lessons I run a physical school at Asmara Resort in Cebu City, with accommodation on site. It is a proper classroom — old-fashioned solid wooden desks, a board, and the quiet that makes study work — a few steps from the courts. Students learn English in the morning, train in the afternoon, and sleep where they study.
The tone is borrowed from the British schools I grew up around — Eton and Harrow: formal desks, proper handwriting, reading aloud, standards held politely but firmly. That combination is the whole idea behind the school: language taught with the discipline of an athlete's week, in one place, with the same teacher and coach throughout.
Traditional wooden school desks, board teaching and printed workbooks — no screens required.
Rooms at Asmara Resort included, so study, training, meals and rest sit in one place.
Structured lessons: grammar, writing, reading and speaking, taught in person.
On-court coaching that reuses the day's language — the playbook goes to court with you.
Learn in the classroom, practise through sport and see your progress. From beginner to advanced, we help you find the right starting level.
Start speaking, follow instructions and talk about your day.
Explain your ideas, coach a partner and handle real conversations.
IELTS-style speaking and writing, with IELTS and TOEFL readiness in mind.
The Topball Circuit
Our ESL/ESP English School is built around a distinctive, continually evolving structure that combines the strengths of a dedicated residential campus with the flexibility and international reach of a global satellite network.
The heart of the school: an integrated environment built for focused study and training. On-site accommodation for a stable, immersive daily routine, tennis courts on campus for consistent practice and structured coaching, and one schedule that coordinates English study with tennis development. Live, study and train in one place.
Beyond Cebu we operate as a satellite school. Each summer we run programmes and study/training options connected with internationally recognised institutions — Oxford University and the University of Sussex — giving students a different academic and cultural environment while staying on the same English-learning pathway.
We continue to develop further locations for training and studying worldwide. This is not a static list of destinations — it is a carefully managed, expanding network shaped by partnerships, seasonal availability and student needs.
The model is being formalised continually — refined through experience, aligned to CEFR, strengthened by new collaborations and updated so standards stay consistent across locations.
Most schools offer either a single campus experience or a set of disconnected short-term programmes. Our approach deliberately combines both: a stable residential base in Cebu City and an international satellite pathway that can include prestigious summer environments such as Oxford and Sussex, alongside other developing global options. Integrated, adaptable and continuously evolving — for students who want structure and international opportunity.
Accreditation and standards
Our teaching method is unusual — English trained like an athlete — so the measurement of it must be conventional and transparent. Everything a student earns here is described in language other schools, universities and employers already recognise. EAQUALS membership will convert that uniqueness into a quality-backed value proposition: a common, internationally understood standard for governance, teaching standards, learner protection, course design and assessment.
PTR certified · member since 2010
The tennis side of the integrated programme is delivered by a PTR instructor, certified across the Adult Development and Performance pathways. Current PTR certification sits in the staff dossier alongside TEFL and EAP certificates, and can be shown to parents, agents, universities and partner schools on request.
Our A1–C1 scope and sequence is mapped to the Council of Europe Companion Volume descriptors. Placement tests, rubrics and end-of-level reports are kept on file for every student.
The school operates from Asmara Resort, Cebu City, with local business registration and the relevant training-provider compliance base for our programme type.
Working towards recognised test pathways (Linguaskill, LanguageCert, Trinity ISE) so students leave with an independently CEFR-mapped certificate alongside our own level report.
Following a productive meeting with EAQUALS, Topball will begin the formal membership process in November 2026. EAQUALS provides a shared language for quality — governance, teaching standards, learner protection, course design and assessment — that reassures parents, agents, universities and corporate partners that our programme is a rigorous, measurable language education product, not just 'fun sport + English'.
Assessors, accreditation bodies, exam boards, universities and agent partners are welcome to request our curriculum documents, assessment rubrics, sample marked work, teacher certificates, observation records and safeguarding policies. Site visits to the Cebu City campus can be arranged.
coachjcl@cordentennisacademy.page · Director of Studies: James Corden-Lloyd
CEFR is an open framework published by the Council of Europe; we state alignment to it and hold the evidence to support that claim. Exam-centre approval and school accreditation are separate third-party processes and are described above only at their current stage.
My current students come from France, Italy, Spain, China, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam. Business English for Vietnam professionals is the fastest-growing part of my online school — but every course below is taught 1:1 with the same teacher, structured homework, correction and weekly progress tracking, wherever you are in the world.
Learners who want fluency and confidence
Structured speaking practice with live correction, natural phrasing, listening drills and homework you actually use. Ideal for learners in Japan and across Asia who study with agencies but want a consistent, personal teacher.
University and visa applicants with a deadline
Band-targeted preparation across all four papers, with writing marked against the official criteria and speaking rehearsed under exam timing. Progress is tracked week by week against your target band.
Professionals in Vietnam working with international teams
Meetings, negotiation, email, presentations and calls — practised in the situations you face at work. Built for Vietnamese professionals who need clear, confident English with regional understanding: we rehearse the real conversation you have on Monday, then refine the language until it sounds effortless.
Learners who want the classic British sound
Queen's English / BBC-standard pronunciation: vowel accuracy, consonant clarity, stress, intonation and connected speech. Taught by a British teacher, with before-and-after recordings so you can hear the change.
These are real sample themes from my Business English teaching. Each one is informative and instructive: a clear objective, useful phrases you can use at work tomorrow, and the task we do together. Read them in your own language, then claim a free 15-minute taster lesson to try one.
Tiếng Việt · Bahasa Indonesia and 13 more languages.
Give a clear, confident 30-second introduction in a meeting or on a first call — name, role, company, and what you are responsible for.
Record a 30-second introduction. We listen back together and rebuild it line by line.
Claim a free 15-minute taster lesson.
Choose any theme above. We meet online, you speak, I correct and coach — and you leave with three phrases you can use at work immediately. Mention “free taster” and your chosen theme in the request form.
“Just as a tennis player practices their serve to perfect their game, we must practice our language skills daily to ace the challenges of communication.”
Tennis is not just a game; it’s a dynamic dialogue between players that extends to the lessons learned both on and off the court. Each stroke, from the groundstroke to the volley, depends on precision, timing and strategic thinking. Mastering grammar asks for the same attention to detail and the same ability to adapt to context.
Just as players refine their technique through repetition and feedback, learners of English sharpen theirs through consistent exercise and real engagement. You learn the basics — adverbs, adjectives, conditionals, passives — entirely inside a tennis setting. So let play begin.
Nouns name people, places, things and ideas. Just as every strong player has a foundation in their strokes, every English speaker needs a good grip on nouns — so we treat them with the same focus we give a backhand or a serve.
Grammar is taught in the classroom — nouns, adjectives, adverbs, conditionals and passives, every example drawn from the court.
Each student then goes on court and delivers a lesson pretending to be the tennis coach, with classmates as their players. Everyone rotates.
Instructions, corrections and encouragement have to be clear and immediate — the fastest route to real speaking confidence.
Part Two of Mastering English and Tennis — the opener on grammar and nouns, taught entirely inside a tennis setting.
The grammar syllabus is classroom-based and camp-ready. If you run a language school and want your students on a Topball tennis and English camp — Cebu, Oxford or Sussex — get in touch and we’ll build the programme around your levels and exam targets.
The Aide Mémoire Tennis Playbook comes in two editions — blue for male players and pink for female players — and doubles as a writing and reading workbook. Students record sessions, reflect in English and build language the same way they build a forehand: repetition, feedback, routine.
Aide Mémoire Tennis Playbook — Male edition
Aide Mémoire Tennis Playbook — Female edition
Guided prompts and match reflections build sentence control, tense accuracy and vocabulary without it ever feeling like a grammar drill.
Short, purposeful passages on technique, tactics and routines — comprehension practice students genuinely want to read.
Journalling before and after sessions builds self-awareness, resets nerves and turns pressure into a routine players can name and manage.
A short introduction to how the playbook is used — writing, reading and reflection built around the athlete's week.
Record a short clip on your phone — a two-minute IELTS Part 2 answer, TOEFL response or Business English presentation is enough — and James returns detailed feedback on fluency, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, with what to practise next.
Performance is the common thread. Whether you are preparing for university or improving match play, you want results, accountability and a coach who understands training cycles, mindset and progression.
Premium
Academic performance teaching, not casual lessons: essay structure, argumentation, referencing expectations, seminar discussion and presentations. Weekly session plus written feedback on your work between sessions.
PTR-certified
Video submission and analysis, technical goals, drill prescription, match strategy and a live check-in. Framed around measurable outcomes: serve consistency, unforced-error reduction, tactical clarity.
Signature
One English session and one tennis performance session each week, tied together by shared goal-setting, routines and mindset work. Built for student-athletes and ambitious learners who perform under pressure.
Try a focused 1:1 session before committing to a programme. Many Vietnam professionals start with Business English, while learners from France, Italy, Spain, China, Japan and Indonesia choose IELTS, Daily Conversation or Received Pronunciation. James will confirm your slot by email or WhatsApp.
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Secure checkout via PayPal. You will receive a confirmation reference and James will be in touch within 24 hours to arrange the lesson time.
The best lessons are prepared lessons. Tell me your course, your level, the times that suit your time zone and — most importantly — what you want to achieve. I build the session plan and materials before we meet, then confirm your slot by email or WhatsApp within 24 hours.
I am a British educator and coach who has taught English online for years to a diverse international student body — French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and Vietnamese learners, among others. Vietnam Business English is now a major focus: professionals in Vietnam study with me directly for clear, confident communication in meetings, calls and presentations. Same teacher, clear goals, no rotating tutors. Alongside English I am a PTR performance tennis coach, which means my teaching is built on training cycles, feedback loops and measurable improvement.
Accredited TEFL Certificate
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Verified certificateEnglish for Academic Purposes (EAP)
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Verified certificatePTR Performance Instructor 2026
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Also the author of tennis and English-learning books, plus fiction drawn from a past life in international affairs — see the author page.
I will reply personally with a suggested lesson plan, available time slots for your timezone, and pricing.