- December 4, 2025
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Lakewood Ranch’s Jodi Kaupla, who has worked in customer service at Target for five years, said connecting with her customers is important, especially when English is not their first language.
“They light up when you try to engage them in their own language, even if it's only a few words,” Kaupla said.
Kaupla said she knows she might not be using the right tense — past, present or future — but her customers pick up on her effort and appreciate it.
For two years, Kaupla has been a student in LWR Conversational Spanish, a club taught by Lakewood Ranch’s Montse Florensa. Kaupla said speaking can sometimes be difficult and uncomfortable, but she likes that the group is small and that there’s no room for embarrassment when they make mistakes.
“I would say when we're speaking and engaging, when we do the question and answer type exercise, that really helps because we spend a lot of time learning in the book,” Kaupla said. “The knowledge is there, but then to be able to pull it from your brain and speak it and communicate it, that's another step.”
Kaupla appreciates the consistency of the club as they meet every Wednesday at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall North. The beginner class is from 9:30-10:30 a.m. with the intermediate class immediately following until 11:30 a.m. Florensa said she takes 10 people per class, and currently has 14 people enrolled.
Lakewood Ranch’s Wendy Nebrija is part of the intermediate class and has been part of the club for two-and-a-half years. Nebrija has family members who live in Spain, so she started studying Spanish again in order to be able to communicate when she visits.
“I had taken Spanish in high school, actually since seventh grade, and a little in college, so I could speak some Spanish, but when I'm there, nobody speaks English,” Nebrija said.
Her daughter Julia, along with her husband Gonzalo Ferreivos and their two children, live in Coruña, Spain. Sabela, 6, and Carla, 4, have been raised learning Spanish, English and Gallego, a sister language to Portuguese.
Nebrija said she Googled “Spanish Lakewood Ranch” during one of her trips to Spain, which is how she discovered LWR Conversational Spanish. Nebrija recommended implementing Spanish into everyday life when trying to learn the language. She gave the example of watching Spanish television or listening to Spanish radio.
Like Nebrija, Andrew Faber has also been in the club for two-and-a-half years and is in the intermediate class. He said he finds lots of joy and satisfaction in the improvement in his Spanish speaking skills. He said it’s important to get over the fear of messing up and the club provides a fun and supportive environment to do so.
“You have to develop a certain amount of courage and bravery to just put yourself out there and realize that you're going to be corrected in a lot of different ways, and that's OK,” Faber said. “You learn through your mistakes.”
Teresa Wilson has been learning Spanish for two years but has been coming to the club for two months.
“With her (instructor Montse Florensa), you get feedback,” Wilson said. On your own it's difficult. I used the ChatGPT learning function, which is good, but there's nothing to replace someone who's a native speaker who can correct you.”
Florensa was born in Cuba, raised in Puerto Rico and has lived in Spain and the United States. She likes to quiz her students on how Spanish differs in each country.
“There are differences,” Florensa said. “You cannot put everybody in the same box so I'm glad that they're interested in learning that. You don't have to be afraid of people because they don't speak your language.”
Florensa retired three years ago, which is when she started the club. She said it was a way for her to build connections and relationships.
“I've developed friendships from it, so it has been very emotionally rewarding,” Florensa said.
“It gives me great purpose and I feel like in today's world, every community needs people to feel comfortable in another language, in another culture.”
Chris Johnson has been attending the beginner class for three months and said she has taken a giant step in her Spanish-speaking ability since joining.
“I’ve learned how to be a better listener and have patience with my own learning as an adult,” Johnson said. “It's much harder to learn as an adult than as a child. It's different.”
Johnson hasn’t used her Spanish speaking ability much in her everyday life, but said it is beneficial when she is watching movies.
“There's so much Spanish in many movies and some of them have subtitles, but some of them don't,” Johnson said. “I find that I'm able to pick out words and look at the context and put it together.”
Kathy Notyce was inspired to pursue learning Spanish because she heard that learning a new language is good for your cognitive thinking as you age.
“I want to communicate with friends and people who I meet who don't perhaps speak English, Notyce said.
Notyce has been attending the beginner class for a month. After the first session, she wasn’t quite sure it was the place for her because she knew the other students had been at it for a while and she felt behind. She expressed her concern to Florensa, who encouraged her to keep going. Florensa offered to meet with Notyce more than the scheduled class periods to work one on one, to catch up with the other students.
“I'm feeling more comfortable with this challenge,” Notyce said. "I'm embracing it. I still struggle, but that's part of learning a new language and learning a new skill set.”
“I was petrified (to speak Spanish aloud) and I never felt like I was good enough, but you're never going to be good enough,” Wilson said. “It's just a lifelong process. There's no end. It's a journey, and you just have to jump in.”
