BIO
Since discovering the power of acquisition driven instruction, Bertha Delgadillo has been on a mission to become the best teacher version of herself for her students. Currently, she is an impactful high school public educator in Savannah, Georgia teaching Spanish II – AP Spanish Language and Culture. Bertha, a native of Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, has been teaching middle & high school Spanish since 2013.
As a teacher leader in her district, her classroom door is always open to world language teachers for observations. Bertha also enjoys sharing effective acquisition driven instructional strategies during district teaching training, professional regional and national conferences, and informal gatherings.
She holds a BA in Spanish Education and an M.Ed in Adult Education and Community Leadership from Georgia Southern University. In the spring of 2019, she received one of fifteen national Life Changer of the Year Awards and, in 2020, she was recently recognized as the Young Hispanic Leader of the Year by the Metropolitan Savannah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as a result of her tenacious ability to guide students to use their language skills by serving and connecting with their local community.
In addition to her devotion to many aspects of world language teaching, she has a passion for inspiring all students, but most specially DACA students, to envision to the fullest and set out to reach their goals against all odds as she once did.
MY WL TEACHING JOURNEY
I’m a Spanish teacher who has taught middle and high school. I know what it’s like to give your heart to teaching a language only to see little results and experience much stress and frustration. Trust me, I’ve been there. I was there in 2015, two years into my career, and it did not feel good at all.
I even questioned if teaching Spanish was my true calling. I almost quit, but I am so glad I did not. Today, I find joy in my classroom daily, and if you feel like you are not living your best teaching years at this moment, I want to tell you that all of that can change for the better. Not overnight, but certainly at a steady pace. Believe it!
I understand that you might even have a side job to make ends meet and a family that needs your time. It isn’t easy. For three years of my teaching career, I also worked as a part time waitress, and often neglected my family and sometimes, even my own self.
I had little energy left to search solutions for my classroom. What saved me? I connected with an online community and I was able to revitalize myself, escape apathy, get out of constant survival mode, grow, and thrive. I want to invite you to connect with me and nerd out on anything WL related (or anything else) you might want to talk about!
One last confession: Once upon a time, I used to fill in 90 minute blocks with general lists of activities failing to lead my learners to a higher degree of proficiency simply because I didn’t know better. After investing hours in professional development and reading second language acquisition books, I started implementing powerful changes in my classroom and began witnessing the MAGIC of acquisition happening wondering to myself “Where else will I get to do this?” and reconfirming in my heart that teaching is and has always been my calling.
My teaching story has a happy ending and it just keeps getting better. It isn’t ideal, and it isn’t perfect, my classroom isn’t perfect either, but it is real. I have so many people who I admire and look up to in this journey. They extended their hand, helped me, and some of them even coached me, and I keep learning from them. It is my desire to give back to the teaching community in the same way these wonderful educators have helped me. Let’s connect and please do let me know how I can be of service.
FROM UNDOCUMENTED STUDENT TO SUCCESSFUL TEACHER
I came to the United States at the age of 11 against my own will not knowing that I was not going to see my paternal family for the next 21 years. I did not know the language when I arrived to Glennville, Georgia. I almost failed seventh grade as a result, but I made it.
My ESL teachers were the angels God placed on my path to strengthen me through assimilation and finding my identity at such a time. They helped me acquire the language in record time, and by the time I completed the eighth grade, I found myself reading on level and outperforming my peers.
Then, came high school where at the tender age of 16, I learned that I could not look forward to having a driver’s license like my classmates, but that wasn’t a big concern to me. The day the reality of growing up undocumented really hit me was the day I was turned back from taking the SAT because I did not hold a proper ID. I was almost ridiculed in front of at least 25 students from random schools because of it.
A year later, the time to apply to college arrived and the second harshest reality of an undocumented student slapped me on the face. No matter how badly I wanted to go to college, my parents could not afford it. How could they? My mom made less than $350 per week and my father was not in a position to help at the time…but GOD. He made a way in the middle of the impossible. Somehow, in a time way before DACA, I was able to go to college and obtain my A.A., B.A., and even a M. Ed., all without government funding because as an undocumented student, well, it just wasn’t and still isn’t an option.
My English teachers taught me so much during my high school years, more than they could ever know. They taught me how to write so that I could apply for scholarships, an invaluable tool, but most of all, they were patient listeners and with their feedback on my daily journals, they communicated with me on a personal level. They don’t know that they gave life to dreams that were beginning to wither. I am grateful for each one of them to this day.
I made it to college and I had to work twice as hard to make ends meet and maintain my private scholarship granted by the Goizueta Foundation. There was no DACA at the time, so I could not legally work, I had to work for less than the minimum wage at the time, and had to find ways to provide for myself, but God never left me to perish. Once again, HE made a way, and I made it! I graduated with honors three times because that is what God does, HE outdoes himself easily.
There is a lot more to my story beyond my college years. A lot more, and I omitted so many things in what I have disclosed this far. Thank you for reading. Why am I sharing all of this? In case you are wondering, it is because if you have students who are undocumented in present times, I want you to tell them that it can be done. Please tell them that they can dream and conquer because I did. By the grace of God, I made it and I can tell my DACA students that everything is possible.
Listen to a little bit about my story in Spanish here.
