English villages in South Korea

When you hear the term "English village ", what comes into your mind first? I would say that most of you imagine a village in England. Well... that makes the most sense. But did you know that you can find "English villages" in different parts of the world too?

English village is an institution that provides a language immersion for students of English in their own country. Fluent English speakers, teachers and students meet. Usually, only English is spoken at this place and the architecture looks like in a European town. These villages are established to promote learning of the language and spread awareness about Anglo-American culture.

These villages are in various countries including Spain, Italy, Romania, Poland and more. But these are owned by certain organisations like Angloville and only supported by the organisations themselves. The state that is managing this project differently is South Korea. Here the institutions are quasi-governmental, which means that they are supported by the government while being managed privately; therefore, they are not private or public.

There are more than one English villages in Korea. The very first one was opened in the year 2004 and is located in Ansan, Gyeonggi-do province. Later, other similar institutions were built around this area. In present, there's around 32 such villages in South Korea.

Gyeonggi-do still has probably the most popular one. Attractive even for foreigners. Students can learn English with various cultural experiences. Everything in this place was newly build and simulates English environment. There is even a miniature of Stonehenge there!

In Korea many richer families are sanding their kids to study abroad, this means that the children do not spent money in Korea but different places. So substantial amount of money is leaving the country. These villages aim to avoid this and to create chances for the improvement of English even to families with lower income. Since only English is spoken in this place and there are foreigners, it is quite like the experience of studying abroad. 

Unfortunately, a lot of these villages had to be privatized because they were not profitable enough. So, the question is whether they are worth it and effective. Despite this, the government is still planning to build even more of these institutions and these villages are very popular. They offer even long-term programs for students themselves or the whole family.