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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiheral...ade/cities_neighborhoods/kendall/14652192.htm
Five beaming middle school students stood May 18 in the library of Doral Middle School, each with two unique accessories.
One was a medal.
The other: a hearing aid.
Doral Middle School was home to the fifth annual Deaf Spelling Bee, designed by the Hearing Research Institute to help hard-of-hearing students take part in a competition that has a long tradition with children who hear.
Thirty-five students from kindergarten through fifth grade from eight Miami-Dade schools participated in the bee, which allowed them to write words on a white board after a moderator read the words to them.
The two-part spelling bee began May 9 at Auburndale Elementary School, 3255 SW Sixth St., when all words were communicated to the students in sign language. The students in turn spelled their words on a board. Christian Bilbao, 10, of Auburndale Elementary, won that part. In the second phase of the competition, students read lips or heard words through hearing aids.
Michelle Gorra, 10, a fourth-grader at Auburndale Elementary, took first place after spelling every word correctly. She said her mother made her study the spelling list every day for three weeks before the competition.
''I just wanted a break,'' she said. ``I wanted to go watch TV.''
Some of the prize, a $100 U.S. savings bond, will go toward a new PlayStation 2, she said.
Second place went to Maira Cordoba, 11, from Kenwood K-8 Center, 9300 SW 79th Ave., after misspelling the word ``pretzel.''
Jeanie Herron, an itinerant teacher who works with deaf students including Michelle and the fourth-place winner, 11-year-old Damian DelSol, said English is not even many of the students' first language. Aside from making up games for them that made spelling fun, she said she worked hard at making sure the students and their parents were enthusiastic about the competition.
''They were excited about it,'' she said.
Dennis Hoffman, the project coordinator for Miami-Dade schools, said the students were able to spell much harder words this year.
The driving force behind the spelling bee is The Hearing Research Institute, a nonprofit organization that works to enrich the lives of deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Florida for nearly 16 years.
According to Robert Pickard, medical director for the institute, deaf students often fall behind on reading and graduate from high school at a fourth-grade reading level, which can affect their self-esteem.
''We mean to raise the reading level of all deaf and hard-of-hearing students,'' he said. ``And we can.''
Five beaming middle school students stood May 18 in the library of Doral Middle School, each with two unique accessories.
One was a medal.
The other: a hearing aid.
Doral Middle School was home to the fifth annual Deaf Spelling Bee, designed by the Hearing Research Institute to help hard-of-hearing students take part in a competition that has a long tradition with children who hear.
Thirty-five students from kindergarten through fifth grade from eight Miami-Dade schools participated in the bee, which allowed them to write words on a white board after a moderator read the words to them.
The two-part spelling bee began May 9 at Auburndale Elementary School, 3255 SW Sixth St., when all words were communicated to the students in sign language. The students in turn spelled their words on a board. Christian Bilbao, 10, of Auburndale Elementary, won that part. In the second phase of the competition, students read lips or heard words through hearing aids.
Michelle Gorra, 10, a fourth-grader at Auburndale Elementary, took first place after spelling every word correctly. She said her mother made her study the spelling list every day for three weeks before the competition.
''I just wanted a break,'' she said. ``I wanted to go watch TV.''
Some of the prize, a $100 U.S. savings bond, will go toward a new PlayStation 2, she said.
Second place went to Maira Cordoba, 11, from Kenwood K-8 Center, 9300 SW 79th Ave., after misspelling the word ``pretzel.''
Jeanie Herron, an itinerant teacher who works with deaf students including Michelle and the fourth-place winner, 11-year-old Damian DelSol, said English is not even many of the students' first language. Aside from making up games for them that made spelling fun, she said she worked hard at making sure the students and their parents were enthusiastic about the competition.
''They were excited about it,'' she said.
Dennis Hoffman, the project coordinator for Miami-Dade schools, said the students were able to spell much harder words this year.
The driving force behind the spelling bee is The Hearing Research Institute, a nonprofit organization that works to enrich the lives of deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Florida for nearly 16 years.
According to Robert Pickard, medical director for the institute, deaf students often fall behind on reading and graduate from high school at a fourth-grade reading level, which can affect their self-esteem.
''We mean to raise the reading level of all deaf and hard-of-hearing students,'' he said. ``And we can.''