Bengal Spotlight: Mónica (World Languages)

MÓNICA VALLIN
High School Spanish / 10th Grade Dean
Burke Tenure: 2018-Present

What are your favorite subjects to teach?
“Literature and culture and food because you can connect them to race and politics, to family; they are central to social justice movements in ways that are not always apparent. Every food has a story behind it.”

How could language instruction in the United States improve?
“Learning another language isn’t mandatory – which is so key for the mind’s development. It opens the door to learning about other cultures and, ideally becoming more inclusive and accepting. Now, in Bolivia and Peru, students are learning indigenous languages and we’re seeing that decolonization of education in Mexico. But not in the US.”

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As she concluded her tenure at Ethical Culture Fieldston School in the Bronx, Mónica was heartbroken to leave progressive education. Fieldston’s Head of School at the time was friends with David Shapiro* and advised her, “When you can, make your way to Burke.” In the interim, she taught at a K-12 school in Virginia and earned her Ph.D from Georgetown University in Spanish Literature in 2017. While passionate about the intellectual discourse of her Ph.D program, Mónica was drawn back to “the soul” of high school, where “you are really getting to know a child and helping them shape their life.”

Reflecting on the past year, Mónica says, “the pandemic really forced us to look at equitable access to learning and differentiated instruction. You can’t assume every child has different colored markers, let alone access to Zoom.” When asked how today’s students may look back on this time, she hypothesizes that “it will be this generation’s Mexican Revolution [1910-1920], which inspired and informed literature into the 1980s. We may see these 6th graders writing those novels in 20-30 years.”