I went TO shopping

Every day I hear this:

Me: "So what did you do last weekend?"

Student: "I went to shopping."

High level students, low level students, 

mid level students it happens all the time!

Remember that -ing verbs don't need a 'to'.

You wouldn't say, "I went to swimming." "I went to running."

You only need a "to" if you are actually going "to" a PLACE, 

e.g "I went to Kobe." "I went to the supermarket."

So if you say I went TO shopping, 

from now on I will assume you went to a town called ショッピング

and I will ask you to tell me where it is
because I have never heard of it.

:Phil