English Village - South Korea

South Korea

English villages in South Korea provide a short-term immersion English experience in a live-in environment where only English is spoken. This is intended to promote English learning and to build students' Anglo-American cultural awareness. The first English village was opened in August 2004 in Ansan, Gyeonggi-do province. Additional English villages have been opened in both Gyeonggi-do and Seoul.

English villages employ a mixture of foreign native speakers of English and fluent English-speaking Korean staff. They are intended to help students face the particular challenges of speaking English in the Korean context. Many families seek to improve their children's English ability by sending them to several expensive after-school programs and by sending them to study abroad in English-speaking countries. Study abroad results in a substantial amount of money leaving the country. The English villages are intended to reduce this loss, and make the immersion experience accessible to students from low-income families as well. However, many questions remain whether the English villages will be cost-effective. In fact, most have been privatized due to operating losses.

The English village concept is to be scrapped in the near future as financially it has been a complete failure. The government will begin to use money for projects like this in the future to send students on scholarships overseas, instead of spending money on short term construction projects.