By Lee Tee Jong

SEOUL, KOREA - For the past four years, South Korean students have been able to immerse themselves in a close-to-natural English-speaking environment, without leaving the country.

Across the nation, there are 21 English villages set up to replicate life in a typical small town, complete with mock banks, post offices, grocery stores, cinemas and police stations.

At Seoul English Village (SEV) in the Suyu district, students aged between 10 and 14 get to interact for a week with foreign instructors in various settings.

When The Straits Times popped into the village's 'hair salon' - equipped with barber's chair, mirror and scissors, as well as wigs in various colours - a student was there for a 'haircut' and discussing the style he would like with an instructor posing as a hairdresser.

'These mock set-ups are effective teaching tools, as students get to learn the language in the way it is used in an English-speaking environment,' said SEV public relations officer Kim Min Eui.

Similarly, the grocery store is packed with fake vegetables, bread and fruit, while the aeroplane cabin comes complete with seats, overhead luggage compartments and reading lights. It even has an emergency exit ramp, which students can slide down to supposed safety.

Both students and parents seem impressed by the way the realistic environment aids the learning of English.

'This is definitely more interesting than memorising words from a textbook,' said Kim Geun Yu, 12, a Grade 6 elementary school pupil.

Housewife Park Cho Mi Hyun, 43, enthused: 'My daughter spent a week at the village last year and still remembers the words she learnt.'

The instructors - 20 Koreans and 40 foreigners from countries like the United States and Canada - are equally pleased with the learning environment.

'As a teacher, it is satisfying to see the students use the words and phrases that they learn to communicate among themselves,' said Ms Kate Ferrandino, 28.

Covering an area the size of six soccer fields, the SEV has condominium-style dormitories and amenities, including a swimming pool, hockey field and 7-Eleven store, so that students and staff need not leave it during their stays.

The SEV receives an average of 400 students a week, including 80 or so from needy families whose 160,000 won (S$176) fees are paid by the government.

'It is part of the government's commitment to provide an English education to all Korean students, regardless of their financial situation,' said Ms Kim.

The SEV is part of the Seoul metropolitan government's efforts to promote the learning of English, a language viewed as crucial to survival in a globalised world.

To create the SEV, it pumped US$37 million (S$53 million) into refurbishing a sports complex and building new dormitory blocks. The SEV was then provided rent-free to YBM Education, a private education operator which runs the place.

The English villages are also a bid to stem the exodus of Korean students overseas - about 35,000 a year of all school ages - to learn English.

There is a sound financial reason for curbing that: According to a survey carried out by online job agency Incruit, South Korean university students spent an average of 15 million won last year on living and studying expenses in the US.

But for all the positive feedback they have received, South Korea's English villages are bleeding financially. Last year, they racked up a combined loss of 21.2 billion won, requiring local governments to foot the bill. The deficit is due largely to efforts to keep fees low to ensure that the experience is accessible to all students.

'We made a loss in the first year of operation and just managed to break even last year,' said Mr Lee Sang Jae, managing director of SEV which brought in US$100,000 in camp fees last year.

The English villages are now looking for ways to boost their incomes. Said SEV's Ms Kim: 'We are expanding our programme to include debates, speech contests and mock trials to attract more locals and foreigners, especially students from Japan and Russia.'