You may hear about apps such as Wechat, HelloTalk, or QQ, where students are able to have conversations with native Chinese speakers who are learning English to improve alongside them. In class, you are introduced to a few of these tools and taught how to navigate them in order to learn more efficiently. Language is, after all, a "use it or lose it" skill. In my own experience, I have used each of these tools to great effect and have made a lot of Chinese friends, some of whom I still text or exchange letters with to this day.