Gracias Para Todo: OFHS World Language Pro Says Thanks and Goodbye

It's been a long time since Betty Perez has been anything but a teacher. For the past 20 years, Perez has broken down language barriers at , as a world language teacher. But this year, she'll be saying goodbye. After spending so much time molding the young minds of her students, Perez said it's going to be tough to say goodbye.

Perez got her start in at Hillcrest High School, after earning a degree at Illinois State University, followed by a master's degree in Applied Linguistics with a concentration in ELL (English Language Learners) from Northeastern and a second master's from St. Xavier University in Curriculum and Instruction. After seven years at Hillcrest, she left the district. 

But she couldn't be kept away for long, as she returned and began a teaching career at where she has taught Spanish and ESL for the about the past 20 years.

"It's a bilingual class, where I teach my kids from Mexico Spanish," Perez said. "It's a lot like kids taking, you know, the majority of the population taking an English class. It's the same thing. We work on things like writing, spelling and accents."

Through her many years Perez said she's met many fantastic students and always enjoys seeing her former students succeed. So much so that she even has a website dedicated to her former students and their life successes.

"A lot of the kids, I keep in contact with them," Perez said. "They come back and they share their successes. It's such a good feeling, because sometimes in the day-to-day teacher, you don't realize the impact of what your teaching does."

With her retirement set for the end of this year, Perez took time to speak with Patch about her career, her students, and Oak Forest. Check out what she had to say in the video.