Focus on Friends | Mariella Bonilla: Language as Identity, Literature as a Bridge

 

Upper School Spanish teacher Mariella Bonilla brings joy and a deep sense of accomplishment to her students as they study Spanish language and literature together. Her classroom inspires them—and she is the first to say that they inspire her in return. There is a palpable sense of care in the way Mariella teaches: students feel safe to take risks and make mistakes as they wrestle with new vocabulary, verb forms and syntax, eager to produce coherent and increasingly sophisticated Spanish. This steadiness of purpose and care is something that students feel from the moment they enter her classroom.

For Mariella, her role as maestra de español is a profound responsibility. She represents her culture, her latinidad, and her language not simply as subjects to be studied, but as vehicles for understanding—windows into identity and connection. In Mariella’s classroom, the intentional practice of seeing and being seen is itself a lesson—one that reflects and animates the study of language and culture.

As an immigrant from Peru who built her life in the U.S. and earned her Ph.D. as a Turner Fellow through the Center for Inclusive Education at Stony Brook University, she knows that presence matters. Bi-lingual, bi-cultural readers - those who inhabit a hybrid, inbetween-ness - will understand how leading in spaces where one is speaking a second language requires great courage and integrity. Mariella brings this quiet inner strength to everything she does, showing her students that identity is not something to shrink from, but something to claim with pride and dignity.

Not long ago, a student told her, “You are such an inspiration!” In Mariella, students see what is possible: pride carried with humility, perseverance shaped by purpose, and a passion for learning rooted in curiosity and intellectual openness.

Before entering academia, Mariella spent fifteen years as a paralegal working alongside immigrant communities. That lived experience shapes her classroom, where she centers the literature and voices of “mi gente”— especially the representation of  Latinas navigating migration, belonging, and resilience. Recently, speaking on a panel about immigration stories, she reflected on her “hybrid identity” and the gift of moving fluidly between languages. She invites students to see that living between worlds is not a weakness, but a powerful way of understanding them

Students in Mariella’s classroom stretch themselves through the study of complex Spanish-language texts—like Cervantes’ Don Quijote de la Mancha and Allende’s “Dos palabras”—and when they complete a demanding work of literature, applause often fills the room in a collective, joyful recognition of effort, growth, and shared accomplishment. But Mariella’s commitment to connection extends far beyond the classroom, reaching across the Atlantic to the Barcelona exchange with Colegio Sant Ignasi, where she has taken increasing leadership. As a guide, mentor, and fellow learner, she models intercultural curiosity and mutual respect, helping students experience language as a lived relationship. In daily group coffee breaks in Barcelona at the favorite Café Santa Gloria, Mariella encourages students to listen, reflect, and appreciate diverse perspectives—an embodiment of the principles of Friends’ “Portrait of a Learner.”

Through her teaching and her presencia, Mariella embodies passionate lifelong learning. Her classroom reminds us that education is an act of recognition: seeing one another fully, valuing each voice, and choosing connection. She demonstrates that learning is not merely the acquisition of knowledge, but the cultivation of empathy, openness, integrity, and a commitment to community. In her classroom, students do more than master a language—they witness how curiosity, courage, and care shape both learning and life.