For classroom use, I think Skype would be a great way to show students how to connect with other cultures and people without physically going outside the room! The teacher could contact another teacher in another state (or even country) and set up an activity/lesson that each of them could do with their students using Skype to communicate.
One idea might be to partner students up in the different classrooms and ask questions about each other's culture. Before the Skype session, each teacher could talk to the class about what kinds of questions they might want to ask, what appropriate questions would be, etc. This could be sort of a "mini" project with several lessons before and after the Skype session. After the students were done Skyping with the other classroom students, the teacher could compile a general list of the answers the students found as a whole-group lesson. This might lead into a book they'll read about this culture and they could compare the book to what they learned from their Skype partners.
One problem I can think of is downloading Skype at school. The school might not have enough computers for each student. If this was the case, the class could work as a whole group on one computer and Skype with just one person. Then, the teacher could talk about the Skype session immediately after Skyping.
There are definitely many, many possibilities for using Skype in the classroom. I think that students would think it was a fun activity, and also meaningful as they see how it connects to literature.
