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English Now the Foreign Language of Schools Abroad

By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo and Mary Ann Zehr

On a typical weekday morning, many of the subway riders in Pusan, South Korea, can be found with English dictionaries and textbooks in hand as they squeeze in some studying before work.

In the afternoons, many children go from school to English lessons provided by private companies or tutors, for which their parents pay hundreds of dollars a month. Soon, several new English-immersion villages, some sponsored by the government, will open for intensive and extended instruction for middle school students.

A similar trend is occurring in China and Japan, where school officials and private companies are struggling to meet the rapidly growing demand for English instruction for...