Teachers

Paola Almeida Guerra is from Guayaquil, Ecuador.  She is an avid teacher and researcher and enjoys interacting with students and colleagues at all levels.  Paola holds a PhD in Environmental Science and is a professor at ESPOL in her home country as well as at CU as a visitor scholar.  In addition to her zeal for the environment, Paola is very passionate about teaching Spanish and guiding Spanish learners on their way to acquiring the necessary skills to practice this beautiful language in their personal and professional lives.  Paola enjoys traveling and has found intercultural experiences gained from international travel to be some of the most enriching of her life.

David Faulkner holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Spanish, with an emphasis in teaching, and has taught Spanish in every grade from fourth to the university level. He is passionate about the fundamentals of language, as well as interpersonal communication and personal expression, particularly where their practical application has a positive impact on people’s lives. David is the author of Superheroes (2015) and De cabo a rabo (2017), but his true calling is teaching Spanish and inspiring others to practice it in their daily lives. When he’s not teaching, David enjoys spending time with his two children, traveling the world, and staying active. He is an idealist and a relentless dreamer, reveling in the happiness of pursuit.

Andrea Pauw is from Louisville, Kentucky. She recently completed her graduate studies at the University of Virginia, where she taught Spanish for three years. Before graduate school, Andrea lived in the Yucatán, where she taught English and organized music programs for children and youth. She has spent extended periods of time in Perú and Spain. In addition to speaking and teaching Spanish, Andrea has been studying Arabic for the past three years. She is committed to cultivating meaningful and authentic learning experiences for all students and hopes to have you in one of her classes soon!  

Miriam Himes is from Winston-Salem, North Carolina and attended the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where she earned both her Bachelors and Masters in Spanish Language and Literature. During her academic career, Miriam worked as a Teaching Assistant in the Spanish department as well as a tutor for students of all ages. She taught at her university for a year before moving out west to Colorado this fall. She has also had the opportunity to travel to a myriad of Spanish-speaking countries for extended periods of time including Costa Rica, Ecuador, Perú, the Dominican Republic, and completed her study abroad in Spain. Miriam enjoys teaching with a culture and social justice focused methodology and works hard to stay educated on current political issues facing the Spanish-speaking community and is constantly working to become a better ally to marginalized groups here in the U.S. When she isn’t working, Miriam loves to read feminist theory and poetry, go on long walks and hikes with her two dogs, and listen to music.

Boulder Spanish teacher and director Varón Osorio is from Mérida, Yucatán, México. He is a bilingual educator, artist, and entrepreneur who has mastered the art of teaching both the English and Spanish languages. ​At a young age, he was initiated in Latin and classical Greek etymology and followed a career in teaching both Spanish and English. He has now accumulated twenty years of experience and has taught thousands of students from over forty nations in elementary schools, junior and senior high schools, universities, and many private language schools in both the United States and Mexico.