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I’m John Lyse (pronounced “Lee-See”), and I’m excited to begin another year as a Spanish teacher at NAHS.  I retired last year from the U.S. Army, where I spent sixteen years as an Arabic linguist.  Before I began a career in the military, I spoke Spanish professionally for thirteen years.  I graduated from Oregon State University in 2003 with a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish, and lived and worked for two years in Guatemala.  I have also studied and spoken Arabic, Turkish, Mayan (Kekchi), Korean, and Japanese in their respective regions of the world.  In addition to completing my first year of teaching high school in June of last year, I have taught and trained people in a variety of classroom settings: GED classes for adult students at a community college, customer service classes at a credit card bank, and military classes on a multitude of topics.  

I was born and raised in Alaska, and have lived and worked in many places around the world: South Korea, Japan, Australia, Guatemala, Germany, Moldova, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and all over the United States.  Military service finally brought me to South Carolina, which my family and I absolutely love.  My wife and I have seven children and three beautiful grandchildren.  In addition to being a language nerd, I am a great fan of math, history, and geography, and love to take road trips throughout the United States.