The addition of technology allows for much faster communication over long distances. There are several sites on the Internet designed for the purpose of connecting classrooms with key-pals. This is one of the best. It is a commercial site, but you will not see irritating ads on every page. The teacher will be notified if there is any bad language in messages in these accounts automatically.
Teachers also have access to read and delete messages.
It is much safer than a child connecting to any stranger on the web, but it is not as controlled by the teacher. They do not provide an e-mail account for you, but do route your mail through their site and evaluate it somehow, although the details are not explained on the site. This project is a variation on Key-pals. Taking advantage of the fact that many classes across the US count the first 100 days of school as a way to work with numbers and counting this project connects these classes into one big network. Each class chooses 100 other classes and send them Happy 100th Day messages.