English villages are

language education Language education – the process and practice of teaching a second or foreign language – is primarily a branch of applied linguistics, but can be an interdisciplinary field. There are four main learning categories for language educati ...

institutions which aim to create a

language immersion Language immersion, or simply immersion, is a technique used in bilingual language education in which two languages are used for instruction in a variety of topics, including math, science, or social studies. The languages used for instruction ...

environment for students of English in their own country. The concept is run as a commercial venture in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

, and is

quasi-governmental A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

in South Korea (see below).

Spain

The first English Village experience was in July 2001 in

Valdelavilla Valdelavilla is an uninhabited village in the Spanish province of Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile-León. A former municipality, it is located in the region of Tierras Altas and in the judicial district of Soria. It belongs to the mun ...

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial popula ...

. Valdelavilla has been recreated in cyberspace in the

Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...

game, populated by English and Spanish avatars who all have English as a common language.

Italy

The first Italian English Village was in

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

in 2005. The current village is in the

region, in the Tevere valley.

Poland

The first Polish English Village program was launched in 2010 by Angloville and has since spread to a four locations in the East and South West of

. Both adult and junior programmes are organized. The second English immersion programme in Poland, AngloBridge, opened in 2016, and courses primarily organised in the South and Centre of the country.

Hungary

Angloville Hungary was launched in 2014 with programmes branded "language island" organized near

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

and

lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and ...

, plus a summer junior programme near

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia region, and – halfway between Budapest and Vienna – situated on one of t ...

Romania

Angloville Romania opened in 2015. Week-long language immersion programmes are held in the mountain resort of

Bușteni Bușteni () is a small mountain town in the north of Prahova County, Muntenia, Romania. It is located in the Prahova Valley, at the bottom of the Bucegi Mountains, that have a maximum altitude of . Its name literally means tree-logs in Romani ...

in the Prahova valley, north of

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...

Turkey

EEC-Anglo has been offering English Village projects since 2006. Intensive residential English programmes are organised in an isolated mountain-top venue near

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

South Korea

English villages in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

provide a short-term immersion English experience in a live-in environment where only English is spoken. This is intended to promote

English learning English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (E ...

and to build students' Anglo-American cultural awareness. The first English village was opened in August 2004 in

Ansan Ansan (Hangeul: , ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It lies southwest of Seoul and is part of the Seoul National Capital Area. It is connected to Seoul by rail via Seoul Subway Line 4. It is situated on the Yellow Sea coast and so ...

Gyeonggi-do Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...

province. Additional English villages have been opened in both Gyeonggi-do and

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

. As of September 2012, there are 32 of such mini towns in suburban areas. English villages employ a mixture of foreign native speakers of English and

fluent Fluency (also called volubility and eloquency) is the property of a person or of a system that delivers information quickly and with expertise. Language use Language fluency is one of a variety of terms used to characterize or measure a person ...

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 expensive after-school programs and by sending them to

study abroad International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internat ...

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 expanded in the near future as financially it has not been a complete failure. The government will begin to use money for projects like this in the future in addition to sending students on scholarships overseas, despite spending money on short term construction projects.

Gyeonggi-do

The English villages of Gyeonggi province are overseen by the Gyeonggi English Culture Foundation, a quasi-governmental body established on the initiative of provincial governor Son Hak-Gyu. The original Ansan Camp was spun off in 2007, and is currently leased to a Christian organization. The much larger Paju Camp opened in 2006. In addition to the week-long residential programs, the facility also hosts many day visitors. Day visitors may be individuals, families, or large groups. English Village Paju Camp offers many special programs including a month-long vacation program, Family Programs, Military Programs, teacher training, and the Civil Servants Program. In addition to the current villages, the foundation established another in Yangpyeong County in 2008. Thereafter, the foundation hopes to franchise the English village concept to other cities.

Current Developments

One Month Program (Vacation Intensive Program) Two week programs were combined to form the One Month Program, the first of its kind in Korea. It is presented twice a year as a summer camp during July and winter camp during January. It was highly successful with students returning. This was a result of highly motivated teachers. Long Term Program (LTP) The Long Term Program is a 10-week intensive adult program that offers a great opportunity to practice and enhance their English skills in and outside of class by speaking with foreign teachers around English Village. The students live there so they are encouraged to participate in the many extracurricular activities with the foreigners that are in and outside of English Village.

Ansan

Ansan English Village was established in 2004 on Daebu Island on the coast of the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour term ...

. Built on the site of a former government complex, the campus covers an area of 184,800 m², including athletic facilities. It has approximately 50 full-time staff. It employs a content-based

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; plural, : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to ...

, with English-medium courses on topics including world

music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

and dance, global awareness,

cooking Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric stoves, to baking in vari ...

, and

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

. The village provides weekend and weekday programs, with a month-long program planned for school vacations. The weekend program works with families, training parents in how to encourage their children to speak English. The weekday program takes in about 200

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

students per week, drawn each week from a different school in Gyeonggi province. The village is currently run by the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...

, although religion is not taught.

Seoul

Seoul English Village was

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to ...

ed by the Seoul government to a consortium of companies including Herald Media publisher of the Korea Herald English newspaper. Herald Media manages the daily operations, curriculum development, and implementation of programs at SEV. It opened in late November 2004. The campus, located in

Songpa-gu Songpa-gu (Hangul: 송파구) is a ''district'' of Seoul, South Korea. Previously known as Wiryeseong, the first capital of the kingdom of Baekje, Songpa is located in the southeastern part of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. With roug ...

in southeastern Seoul, has an area of 16,500 m².

Other Areas

English Villages have opened in other provinces, including:

Jeollanam-do South Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollanam-do''; ), also known as Jeonnam, is a province of South Korea. South Jeolla has a population of 1,902,324 (2014) and has a geographic area of located in the Honam region at the southwestern tip of the Korean ...

Gyeongsangnam-do South Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상남도, translit=Gyeongsangnam-do, ) is a province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO World H ...

and in various cities in Taiwan. Another English Village is set to open in Jeju-do. There is also the English village in the Busan, it is called the Busan Global Villager.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Korean English VillageSpanish company
providing information about the English villages in La Alberca, Cazorla and

Pueblo Ingles In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Tribe (Native American), Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorer ...

* https://web.archive.org/web/20151029002616/http://anglobridge.pl/ Polish organizer
Polish organizer
of Angloville English villages
Hungarian
version of Angloville, called language island English-language education Education in South Korea Language immersion