Chat Rooms for Students and Teachers

Why use a chat room?
While chat rooms may seem like a thing of the past due to the popularity of social networks and blogs, they are still popular and useful for English Language Learners and Teachers. Teachers have various reasons for encouraging students to use chat rooms. Some teachers offer chat as an optional activity for extra credit while others include it as a compulsory component to a course. Here are a few reasons to use chat rooms with your class:

• offer a regular weekly activity to motivate students
• help students improve conversational English
• show students that you are open to using modern methods of teaching
• provide a way for online students to connect with each other more personally
• change the classroom dynamics
• help develop new relationships within the class
• allow nervous students to open up
• encourage students to improve their spelling and typing skills
• add unique extension activities to your lessons, such as chats with special guests

Choose the size, time, and length of your chat
If you have a large class, it is not logical that you will all chat in the same room at the same time. You can break up the class by having different chat times, or create a few separate rooms and assign each student a room. You may need to experiment with how long the chat should be. When to have the chat will likely depend on the access to computers at your school. If you have a large computer lab, you may be able to hold it during class hours. If it is difficult to access computers during class hours, you can assign before or after school chats. Start with half an hour and see if the chat feels drawn out or cut off. If the topic is interesting enough, some chats can last up to an hour.

Register for EC Chat
You will find EC chat from the main page of EnglishClub.com. Go to EC Chat.
Decide whether you want your classroom chats to be moderated or not. Chat room 1 is moderated. Chat room 2 is not. In a moderated chat a site administrator may be online to check that the chat room is not being abused. To access Chat room 1 you need to register for a user name and password. Your password will be emailed to you. After you have registered, provide your students with the instructions on how to register.

Access to Chat room 2 is easier because you do not need to register. You will be prompted to create a username when you connect (but since there is no password your username is not protected and may be used by anyone else after you log out). You can create a private room in Chat room 2 by clicking Roam > Creation > Add Password. Make sure to log in before your students so that they can see the private room when they log in. You must be in your private room (not the lobby) when they arrive, otherwise your room will shut down. (The room disappears when it is empty.) If your students are going to be chatting without you, assign a student Administrator. This student should arrive first to set up the room.

Create a room name
Choose something that is easy to remember such as Ms. Morris’s class.
Make sure everyone knows that they need to come into your room, not the lobby.

Share the password
To create a private chat with just your class all of your students will need a password. Make sure it is something simple that students won’t spell incorrectly.

Decide on user names
In chat rooms people rarely use their real names. If you create a private chat room with only your own students, it is safe to use real names or nicknames that all students recognize. You may also decide that you want your class to feel anonymous during the chat. In this case you can let your students choose their own names. Have students add their chat user name to a class list, so that you know who is who.

Establish rules
It is up to you as the teacher to establish the rules. You may come up with a few to start with, but you will likely think of some more after a few sessions. Some types of rules you may want to include are:

• English only
• No swearing
• No writing more than a few sentences at a time
• Use proper punctuation and capitals
• Abbreviations allowed (or not)
• Emoticons allowed (or not)

Assign a Practice Chat
Before the first group chat ask students to try out a chat room, such as chat on MyEC or Chat room 2 (there are usually people chatting in the “lobby”) on EC. Ask them to write down their concerns and any problems they came across in their practice chat. You may also ask them to read chatiquette for homework.

Create a Topic
Prepare students for the chat by telling them what the theme or discussion topic will be.

Topic ideas:

1. course-related discussion topics
2. current events
3. culture topics
4. holidays
5. the 4 questions from the Monthly News Digest
6. a discussion on a video from YouTube or TED or MyEC
7. a discussion on a few quotes or idioms from EC’s reference section
8. brainstorm ideas for a project or class field trip or party
9. a personal chat (pretend someone else such as fictional characters from a novel or movie or celebrities at a party)
10. a reflection on the week or the class or the course
11. a guest speaker on a course-related subject
12. practise using new vocabulary
13. free form chatting or small talk (no set topic)

Ask for Feedback
You can do this during or after the chat. Ask chatters to write a one or two line note describing their experience, or have a class discussion the next day.

Concerns about Chat

1. Safety: Remind students not to give private information to anyone in a chat room.
2. Age restrictions: If students are minors, make sure that parents know you will be using a private chat room for academic purposes.
3. Foul language: Encourage learners to explore the English language, but not to use words or phrases that might offend anyone.
4. Other languages: Insist that the chat is English Only from Day 1.
5. Misunderstandings: Discuss the fact that misunderstandings sometimes arise when emotions are not conveyed via chat.
6. Typing speed: Keep in mind that some students type faster than others.
7. Other Chatters: Students who venture into other rooms (including the lobbies in Chat room 1 and 2) may find other chatters who are not following rules, such as English only. Some chatters may not be there solely for English learning purposes.

Terms to Pre-Teach

Chat: to communicate via online typed messages in real time (instantly)
Chatiquette: the unwritten rules chatters follow
Public Chat room: anyone on the Internet can join this group chat; there is often no password attached
Private Chat room: only people who have a shared password can chat together in this area
Private Chat: a chat between two people in a section away from the group (also called P2P/F2F/one-to-one)
P2P: person to person; a private chat between two people in a section away from the group chat
F2F: friend to friend (another term for a private chat)
Desired Member Name: the name or nickname you want other chatters to see in the chat window (Chat room 1)
User Name: the name you use for chatting (Chat room 2)
Lobby: the main area (public) where all online members chat together
Roam: to look around at other rooms; to search for the section where you create your own room
Private chat request: to ask another chatter to join you in a private area where others will not see your chat
Chat window: the main box where all chat messages and user info are displayed
Avatar: an image or icon you can add to your user profile
Text input box: the blank box that you type into before hitting enter or send
Ctrl C: use to copy something (such as pre-written text or a link) onto your clipboard for sharing in a chat room
Ctrl V: use to paste something into a text input box
Ignore: prevent a specific user’s text from appearing in your chat window and/or prevent private room requests from specific users (right click from user list or drop down from Actions to find “Ignore”)

How to Use EC Chat with other Schools
English Club has a special forum called ESL projects. This is a place where teachers can find other teachers to set up inter-school projects. In the past some teachers have put out a call for international penpals. A more modern form of the penpal is a chat room. Create a topic called “Japanese School looking for English Chat Room Pals” or something similar.

You could also put your call out on a blog or Group at MyEC or via a tweet on Twitter. There are also networking opportunities for teachers on our Facebook page.

Additional uses for chat rooms

• professional development between teachers and admin
• virtual office hours for teachers and students
• more… (please share your ideas and experiences in the comment section)