ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – Some Minnesota kindergartners are about to complete their first year of school, and they did it all in Chinese.

At the start of the school year, WCCO visited the first class ofstudents in the new Mandarin immersion program at Benjamin Mays Magnet in St. Paul. We went back to get a report card on the progress they’ve made.

Back in September, we could see it wasn’t easy. Two weeks into school, the students appeared to be overwhelmed. Some had their heads down on their desks, they looked frustrated, and one studentadmitted, “I have no idea what to do.”

Parent Stephen Lee told us it was stressful for his son Ben.

“Ben came home exhausted. He was tired, he wanted to quit. I was almost ready to throw in the towel saying, I don’t know if that’s for him.”

But Lee’s son stuck with it and so did the 16 other students in class. Parents say their kids have learned a lot.

“It’s night and day,” said Lee. “Now when you see it, the discipline, the way he learns, hits the assignments. The fact that his Chinese has exceeded our Chinese is pretty good, pretty impressive.”

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