Most English language programmes use sport as a motivational tool — a hook to make grammar more interesting, a theme to decorate a worksheet. Hatriqa Football English at Dragon Study Tours is something fundamentally different. It is a specialist Football English methodology created by an award-winning team from University College London, tested on players from the Premier League and La Liga, and built specifically to teach the English of the football world — the language players, coaches, fans, and practitioners actually need to communicate in the modern game at every level.
At Dragon Study Tours in Hua Hin, Hatriqa Football English at Dragon Study Tours is available as part of the closed-group academic programme, bringing one of the most credentialled football language methodologies in the world into a residential English immersion setting that no day school programme can replicate.
Where Hatriqa Football English Comes From
Hatriqa was created by Mark Bailey, a Teaching Fellow in English at UCL’s Institute of Education — ranked number one in the world for education by the QS World University Rankings. Mark holds two English teaching qualifications from the University of Cambridge and a Masters degree from UCL. The programme has been tested on players from the Premier League and La Liga and is affiliated with UCL Innovation and Enterprise, the University of Cambridge, and Osaka University.
This is not a football-themed worksheet pack produced by a curriculum designer who has never been on a training ground. Hatriqa Football English at Dragon Study Tours is a rigorously developed academic methodology with genuine sport industry credentials — built by someone who understands both the science of language acquisition and the specific communication demands of professional football.
What Makes Hatriqa Football English at Dragon Study Tours Different
The central distinction of Hatriqa Football English at Dragon Study Tours is that it teaches Football English — not football-themed English. There is a meaningful difference. Football-themed English uses football as decoration: match reports instead of news reports, player profiles instead of person profiles. Football English teaches the specific language of the training ground, the dressing room, the press conference, and the international transfer negotiation — language that does not appear in any general English textbook because it exists in a specific professional world.
For students who are serious about football — who play at club level, who aspire to a career in football, who want to engage with the global football community — Hatriqa Football English at Dragon Study Tours offers something no generic course can: language that was built for their world and has been proven to work at the highest level of the sport.
Who Hatriqa Football English at Dragon Study Tours Is For
Hatriqa Football English at Dragon Study Tours is designed for students who have a genuine connection to football — players who want to understand their coaches better, fans who want to engage with the global football community in English, and young learners for whom football is the most powerful motivational context available. It is available across age groups and language levels, with the curriculum adapted to the group’s specific needs and objectives.
The Study Plan
Before the group arrives in Hua Hin, Dragon Study Tours sends the tour organiser a complete Hatriqa study plan — lesson by lesson, objective by objective. Every session has a clear learning goal connected to both the Hatriqa Football English methodology and the group’s English language development targets. Tour organisers know exactly what will be taught before departure, and there are no surprises on the first morning.
The Three-Block Morning
Native English teachers lead classes of maximum twelve students from 08:30 to 11:50 in three structured blocks. Block One covers listening and reading using authentic Hatriqa football materials — player communication scenarios, coaching dialogue, match media, and the Hatriqa Soccer Reader graded stories. Block Two covers speaking, grammar, and communication through Hatriqa role-plays and football discussion tasks — all delivered by native English teachers, all in classes small enough for every student to speak in every session. Block Three is collaborative project work — football English outputs produced in small teams using the Hatriqa methodology.
The Endorsements That Matter
Hatriqa Football English at Dragon Study Tours carries endorsements from Damian Roden — Head of Performance in the Premier League and MLS — who has stated directly that a knowledge of Football English makes players more confident, easier to coach, and more likely to reach peak performance. It is also endorsed by an Associate Professor at Osaka University and by performance professionals from the Premier League and MLS. These are not marketing statements. They are peer validations from people who have used the programme with real players and found it to work.
No other residential English programme in Thailand offers access to a football language methodology with this level of academic and sport industry credibility. Hatriqa Football English at Dragon Study Tours is the most credentialled programme of its kind available in Southeast Asia.
For the full range of courses available at Dragon Study Tours, visit the academic programme page. To understand how Hatriqa was created, read How Hatriqa Was Created at UCL. To understand how it works for players and coaches specifically, see Hatriqa Football English for Players and Coaches. For the full excursion programme, the 50 Things to Do in Hua Hin covers every destination. Visit the booking page or request a quote.
