Well done, pleased to hear it. When I was teaching in China before I used to take advantage for my own ends, during class times sometimes. When say a group of half a dozen made it clear they didn't want to follow a lesson plan . They'd say, we want free-talk. I'd say okay but I also want you to do some translations, it's good for you(simple stuff I needed to practice and get my tones right)...like xia wo yi da tiao, you zhi zhu zai tian hua ban shang(scared the life out of me, there's a spider on the ceiling) Now say that in English ,please, i'd say, after they corrected me. i often would buy one item at a time when I went shopping to practice speaking. You shouldn't take a Chinese with you because if you ask the assistant, where is the butter, instead of trying to understand you ,she will turn to the other person and ask what this mad man is saying. They don't actually call you mad but their expressions look like they are.