Jeff Koterba
C&C Host and Founder
General Conversation at All Levels
I first fell in love with French culture when a grade school teacher showed our class the short film, The Red Balloon (it’s available on YouTube). Although the film included little dialogue, I was hooked and would begin a lifelong love affair with French films.
Still, I’d always had the false belief that I wasn’t someone who could learn another language.
And then, in 2016 I was invited to attend a cartooning salon in France. The festival is held in a small town three hours south of Paris and many of the locals don’t speak English. So once and for all, about five years ago, I decided to jump in.
I’ve since taken many classes with Alliance Française Omaha and have used many apps, as well. Indeed, I do a little freelance illustrating for the app, FrenchToday. It was early in my French-learning journey that I made contact with Charlie from the popular YouTube channel, Street French. It was at Charlie’s urging that I launched Café et Conversation – Omaha five years ago.
Alicia Jaunty
C&C Host and Head Organizer
General Conversation at All Levels
Hi, I’m Alicia! My French journey started in college, where I studied it along with Spanish and Linguistics.
I spent a few months in Montreal in 2017 and that’s where I really fell in love with the French language. I try to go back to Quebec every few years.
Besides French, I study Spanish, German, Catalan, and Ukranian. I also love cooking, traveling, playing tennis and watching sports (mainly rugby, hockey and baseball these days).
Gene Williams
C&C Host General Conversation at All Levels
Bonjour! C’est moi: I’ve been enjoying learning French for 6 years, and you’d think I’d be fluent by now! Ouais! Let’s just say it’s a work in progress, but I really enjoy it especially when I (successfully) have a pleasant, coherent, and thoughtful conversation with my fellow francophones.
I love to travel, having been to Europe several times with more trips planned. When there, I most enjoy conversing with native Francophones if possible. And here’s how I got to Omaha: in 1981, I won the 2nd clarinet job with the Omaha Symphony. Did that for 7 years, then joined OPS as a band director, which I continued for 27 years in total.
Now retired from OPS, I continue playing clarinet in the Lincoln & Omaha Symphonies, the Lakeside Summer Chautauqua in Lakeside, OH, and substitute teaching in Elkhorn. When not practicing clarinet or French, you’ll find me on the golf course (please don’t call me there☺).
And just to mix it up, I even play a little polka music most years at the German American Society’s Oktoberfest.
I’m married to Janet, my favorite Omaha Symphonic Chorus chorister and Omaha Dancing Grannie. We’re proud parents of Maggie, our favorite Hy-Vee employee as a Purchasing Assistant at their headquarters. She and her husband Wade live in Altoona, IA, with their awesome pit bull, Hercules.
Dennis Vaughn
C&C Host Specializing in Beginner French
I’ve been a member of Café et Converstion—Omaha and Alliance Francaise Omaha for three years now. I’ve always been interested in all things French. A few years ago I learned that some of my ancestors came from France. Lifestyle, culture, art, cuisine, and language are all things that interest me—especially the cuisine!
Cooking has been a real passion for me me during the last 25 years. If I see something on a menu I’ve never tried, that’s my choice.
I hate to admit this, but I find myself responding to cashiers or servers in French. My goal is to be able to speak and understand French conversation more fluently.
Kristi Molina
C&C Host
Special Events
I’m originally from North Dakota, but have spent the last 29 years teaching Spanish in Lincoln, Nebraska.
I fell in love with foreign languages in my first language exploratory class in 6th grade.
I’ve always wanted to speak a bunch of languages, but didn’t buckle down and get serious with French until I had all that extra time on my hands during Covid. I found this C&C group and dove in without reservation to reach my goal of speaking French as fast as I could.
I love learning and speaking languages, and I also love doing fun and unique things, which is why I try to plan a few new and different activities for C&C when I can.
I’m also blessed to have had the opportunity to immerse myself in French culture a few times to really try to wrap my head around this language.
Janet Frederick
C&C Host
Special Events
I was first exposed to French in high school. I’m from a small town near Sioux City, Iowa.
As a young farm girl, I remember how exotic I thought our teacher was. She spoke of regions and cities in France where she had lived. It all sounded so distant, yet intriguing.
I attended University of South Dakota in Vermillion where I majored in Computer Science, and I continued to take French courses. I ended up with enough French credits to have a double major in French (as well as Computer Science).
After graduation from USD, I spent the summer in France and Denmark. It was during that time that I completely fell in love with the French language, the country and the culture.
Seven years of class-room French behind me, yet that time in France was worth all of it and more in terms of how my French improved!
After returning home from France, found a job in Michigan where I lived for 30 years. I moved back to Iowa in 2017 to help care for my elderly father. It has been my pleasure and blessing to find Café et Conversation and to meet so many interesting people.
In July, we started Café et Conversation – Sioux City. Now, I’m finding more interesting people who live right here in my city! I am so very grateful for every opportunity to continue to master the French language. It will be a life-long labor of love.
I have three adult children and one daughter-in-law. All whom I adore. Keeping active is important to me. I enjoy working in my yard, tennis, biking, hiking, live theater, concerts, traveling and on a good day, even golf.
Ryan Foehlinger
C&C Host
Special Events
Bonjour, moi c’est Ryan! My love for French began when I was 12, during a family trip to Paris, where I was immediately captivated by the language and culture. This passion led me to study French throughout high school and college, including a semester abroad in Besançon, France. After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, I returned to Besançon to teach English.
For the past 12 years, I have been teaching French at Millard North High School, and I make sure to visit France (and Montréal) whenever I can! I love helping students (and adult learners) work through sentences and find the right words. I bring a bit of “gamification” to my Café et Conversation sessions, encouraging people to practice speaking in a fun way!
Outside of French, I love traveling, playing the guitar and piano (ask me about my bands!), reading, snuggling with my cat, going on long walks, and checking out new coffee shops and bars around town! A bientôt!
Satera Nelson
C&C Host
Special Events
Salut ! I was first introduced to the French language in middle school. I’ve been enamored with it ever since. I continued studying the language through college and found an amazing summer study abroad program in Paris. I loved it so much and knew that that would not be my only visit to France.
After college, I focused on my career, teaching anatomy, and regrettably didn’t do much with French. However, I picked it back up during the pandemic. It was my pandemic project/goal to speak French fluently. I made French an integral part of my life and one of my most cherished hobbies – I changed my telephone language, hired a couple of tutors, made French friends, read, listened to podcasts, and watched movies/series as much as I could in French. And once it was safe, I planned regular trips to France.
I’m so grateful to have found C&C, with plentiful opportunities to speak French, upon moving back to Omaha!
Beyond French, I love reading, traveling, spending time with family and friends, and quiet nights at home with my senior cat, Ming Li.
Sara Parkening
C&C Host
Special Events
My love for the French language began in middle school in Lincoln, Nebraska. French was my favorite class throughout high school. My junior year of high school, I had the opportunity to go to France for 10 days on a school sponsored trip. The trip was life changing and informed my decision to become a French teacher. I double majored in Secondary Education and French at UNL. During my time at UNL, I studied abroad in Besançon, France for a semester. As part of my masters course work, I was able to return to Besançon and teach English for a year.
I have been teaching middle school French since 2008. I love to get students excited about learning French. During my career, I have had the opportunity to take three student groups to France.
In 2008, another French teacher at the time and myself started a group called Apéro Lincoln. Initially, our hope was to gather other French teachers together simply to practice our French. Before we knew it, people were coming out of the woodwork: grad students from French speaking countries, native French speakers residing in Lincoln, people who studied French years ago and were looking for opportunities to practice and dust off their skills, members of another French conversational group, beginners, and a couple French teachers. With a mission identical to that of Café et Conversation, we decided to join C&C Midwest during the summer of 2024.
My husband and I have two active boys, ages 8 and 10. We spend most of our time cheering them on from the sidelines of the soccer pitch. Since 2008, we have opened our home to 14 international students from France, Switzerland, Poland and Spain. We enjoy comparing cultures and exposing our young boys to different cultures and ways of life.