BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
VILLA HILLS - ''Eyes and ears'' is a phrase first-grade teacher Becky Siler uses to call students' attention - to her hands.
In this class, bilingual education means learning by hearing voices and seeing sign language.
These River Ridge Elementary students all have good hearing. They're learning sign language from Mrs. Siler and specialist Jonda McDonald so they can communicate with deaf students who will be attending a new deaf education program at the school.
''The opportunity for these students to sign all the time will help their awareness,'' Mrs. McDonald said. ''As the years go on and students continue in classes with deaf students, we hope it will help them learn that the deaf students are the same as them. They just talk with their hands.''
The program, a partnership among Northern Kentucky school districts and the Kentucky School for the Deaf in Danville, is the first of its kind in the state.
Mrs. McDonald and program coordinator Christi Bailey, employees of the Kentucky School for the Deaf, will offer deaf education for Northern Kentucky students and their families close to home.
Before now, most deaf students had to attend classes in Danville or at St. Rita School for the Deaf in Evendale.
River Ridge Principal Jim Kiger said he knows how difficult it can be for families to have to send their child away to school, whether they are deaf, blind or have other special needs.
He thinks the regional approach will be a better option for some families.
Programs for deaf students are scheduled to start Nov. 30 at River Ridge. That's when three preschool students will take classes with Mrs. McDonald.
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TO LEARN MORE
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Get more information about the Northern Kentucky-Kentucky School for the Deaf regional program at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at a community meeting at River Ridge Elementary School in Villa Hills.
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Eventually, the program will expand to serve children from birth through fifth grade, with an emphasis on providing families with support.
A supportive community already awaits within the walls of River Ridge. Teachers and students are obviously excited about using sign language. Teachers Mrs. Siler and Lorrie Bertlesen use sign language regularly in class.
And Dr. Harvey Corson, superintendent of the Kentucky School for the Deaf, created a special sign for River Ridge. It combines the sign for school with the sign for two ''Rs.'
Students are learning a combination of Sign English, signs used at the same time as spoken words, and American Sign Language, a version of hand signs used as concepts and not individual words. American Sign Language is not meant to be spoken. If it were, the translation would sound like broken English. It is a silent language, Mrs. Bailey said.
Students use their new language skills in the hallways. In Mrs. Siler's class, new spelling words are learned in English and sign language. And students are picking up the skills quickly.
Haru Kato, Rodney Griffith and many of their classmates can carry on full conversations with Mrs. McDonald and Ms. Bailey in sign language. Hands are always flying whenever Mrs. McDonald and Ms. Bailey are speaking. They use sign language at all times so any deaf people nearby can participate in the conversation.
''Most children learn a lot from incidental learning, or what they overhear,'' Ms. Bailey said. ''With deaf students, they don't get that so we try to provide it visually through sign language.'' Even the principal is learning.
''It's still a learning experience for me,'' Mr. Kiger said. ''But by seeing it used all the time you just pick it up.''
