The football and languages workshops were delivered by Steve Eadon of the Mingalaba organisation, who has used his experience working with Arsenal Football Club as a coach and outreach officer to promote and enthuse young learners of languages and show them the career options available to linguists in the international and sports industry.
Steve started the day by talking to all of Form 3 about his career with Arsenal Football Club and where it has taken him. Steve stressed how useful his linguistic knowledge has been in the international and sports industry, from player care to tour management, and encouraged pupils to see how language learning can unlock the door to these enriching and highly paid careers when used in conjunction with other specialist skills.
Listening to Steve has opened our pupils’ eyes to all the skills, far beyond simply learning words and grammar, with which learning a language arm you.
He also explained how, on a personal level, some linguistic knowledge can help you make a friendly connection with new acquaintances and help both you, and new visitors, to feel more comfortable in an unfamiliar environment – even helping highly paid superstar players to settle down to life in England.
Following the presentation, pupils participated in classroom-based sessions in French, Spanish and German, by the end of which they were able to write a football match report in the target language.
In the afternoon, the pupils took part in a football training session where they put all the vocabulary they had learned into action on the pitch.
Head of French, Jen Dook, said: “Steve gave our pupils an insight into how a knowledge of foreign languages can interlink with the world of sport and associated business in future careers.
“He also showed how, in a more general sense, the ways in which the knowledge of a foreign language at any level can enhance your life and give you an edge in certain situations.”
“The feedback from our pupils has been extremely positive. Listening to Steve has opened our pupils’ eyes to all the skills, far beyond simply learning words and grammar, with which learning a language arm you.”
“It was great to see the use of EPI (Extensive Processing Instruction) – our new method of teaching French – embedded within Steve’s teaching. EPI supports our view of teaching pupils language skills through extensive processing, returning to how we learn our mother tongue when we are young.”
“Steve gave the pupils insights into the real-world application of foreign languages, which is difficult to imagine at a young age in a school environment. Steve is an inspiration to many and proof that great, life-changing experiences can stem from the humble language classroom.”
Read more about learning languages at Oakham School.
Steve’s Story
Steve was initially himself a reluctant learner of languages at school. His interest in the study of German in the classroom grew as time went on. On leaving university he worked for Arsenal FC as a coach, outreach officer and in various aspects of PR for the club, having regular contact with the players and making television appearances to explain the Arsenal ethos to a wide audience. His language degree made him Arsenal’s top choice to do their overseas work; Steve spent time in Kenya, Bermuda and Burma for Arsenal and was selected because of his university experience living overseas and his ability to adapt quickly to life in another country. On his return, his knowledge of German and Spanish, which he picked up after school, made him a good contact for numerous overseas players, many of whom he knows personally and with whom he remains friends to this day, even now many of them have moved on or retired.
Steve established Mingalaba (which means ‘hello’ in Burmese) five years ago, with the sole aim of promoting and enthusing young learners of foreign languages and spends his time visiting schools delivering motivational talks, workshops, and football and language sessions.
