WRAL – Robert Brittain 
Chris Cox, the principal of Stough Mandarin Language Immersion Magnet Elementary School in Raleigh, was giddy with excitement after observing a classroom of third grade students. “I observed a group of our 8-year-olds solving mathematical word problems, while speaking completely in Mandarin,” Cox said, almost like a proud father. “The learning and comprehension of our students fascinates me. Their minds are like sponges. By ages 7 and 8, the majority of our students are functionally bilingual – they are able to speak conversationally in either their native or their foreign tongue.” Both Cox and Sheri Golden Perry, senior administrator of global programming for the Office of Magnet and Curriculum Enhancement with the Wake County Public School System, recommend the language immersion journey should begin early, in kindergarten.
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