Set up a schedule, and then you can get it from your teacher regularly and start a Chinese search. This is more manageable than going to China and you can join mandarin course in Singapore even if you can find and teach a good teacher. The teacher can also open the doors of the local Chinese community for you. One mistake is that it is difficult to find a native Chinese speaker who is willing and able to learn Chinese outside of some fields.
Along with, traffic to meet you or your teacher in class time is defeated. Like the previous course, this tuition or punctual face gives face, but it provides many fantastic benefits through internet using Skype, MSN messenger etc., like Internet conferencing software that they prefer in the future.