Internet chatrooms have something of a mixed reputation in the community. While teenagers enjoy talking to other people from all over the globe in chatrooms, many teachers and parents see them as places that are dangerous.
However, in the foreign language classroom the use of chatrooms can be of real educational benefit, some argue.

There are already a number of online learning networks that offer real-time communication between students from all continents.

www.epals.com is one of them. It claims to be "the leading provider of safe collaborative technology for schools to connect and learn in a protected, project-based learning network. With classrooms in 200 countries and territories, ePals makes it easy to connect learners locally, nationally or internationally".

So what do you think?
Is it possible and wise to use online chatrooms in the language classroom, or not?
Which benefits or dangers do you see?

by Linda Jelinski