Quienes somos

MesaMima is the brainchild of two California-based teachers who decided to make the shift to proficiency based instruction, and realized that they needed resources. The Five C's, ACTFL IPA, Comprehensible Input...whatever YOUR focus, there are two things that Spanish teachers are missing: Time and Resources. MesaMima knew that they couldn't create time, so they settled on resources. These are materials that are used EVERY DAY with students, meaning that they are guaranteed to work with today's learners.

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Andrea (la castaña) grew up in Novi, Michigan, near Detroit, the city that will always be 'home'. She has taught all levels of Spanish. Some of her fondest memories of learning the language are studying while traveling in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Spain. When Andrea isn't creating or teaching high school classes then she's training on the beach for her next marathon, or out walking her black lab, Porter.

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Carolyn (la rubia) is also a Midwesterner at heart, though she has been in San Diego since 2001. She attended DePaul University in Chicago, near her hometown, where she earned a BA in Spanish and Secondary Education. For the last few years of a career that started in 2002, she has been teaching AP Spanish Language & Culture. In her free time, she is also called mom to two pretty cool kids, one who -- full circle -- is in Chicago in college and another who is a freshman in high school. When she's not busy with those two, she's out on the links with her husband or frying up tostones in the kitchen. 

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Strangely, both halves of MesaMima studied abroad in Mérida, Mexico in 1998, so they also saw it fit to get their MAs together at the University of Nebraska, Kearney (in an amazing online program) and to study together in Cusco, Peru. They teach across the hall from each other, so they get to support each other daily when this job gets taxing...as if that ever happens. Each other’s best travel partners, they continue to look for the next adventure that awaits!


MesaMima gets its name from some gastronomic inspiration: Andrea and Carolyn decided that they needed to share all this great work with you while eating aceitunas, ostras y montatditos at el Mercado San Miguel, in Madrid. The first two letters in each word!