James F. Byrnes High School

Tom Barber 

Spanish Teacher

Chair, Department of Modern Languages

tom.barber@spart5.net
864-949-2355 Ext: 7803

Important note for parents: Class assignments can be found on the Schoology page for your child's class.  I no longer update them for this site.  ¡Gracias!

I am originally from Alexandria, Louisiana, where I grew up pulling for the LSU Tigers and New Orleans Saints.  That also explains why I am a big fan of the Houston Astros.  [O los Astros de Houston.]  I have lived in six different states (Louisiana, Texas, South Carolina, California, Arkansas and Tennessee) and have found plenty of Spanish speakers in all of them.  For the record, I've lived in South Carolina longer than in any other state!

I attended Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas and graduated with a B.A. in Economics.  After spending a year at the University of Bordeaux, France with a Rotary Scholarship, I attended the University of South Carolina in Columbia.  After two years of study, seven months of which were spent in the South American country of Colombia, I received a Masters in International Business.  I then spent 10 years in business prior to beginning to teach Spanish.  I am now in my 21st year of teaching and my 11th year at Byrnes High School.  I am delighted to say that I now have eight former students teaching in District 5, including two at Byrnes!

I have a lovely wife who is a violinist and violin teacher and two sons, the oldest of whom teaches English at The Stony Brook School in Stony Brook (on Long Island), New York and the youngest of whom is a graduate of USC-Upstate who currently lives in Sumter, SC.  Both are Byrnes graduates.  Also, both are married and I currently have three grandchildren!

Since you can tell I'm a sports fan, I must say that some of my sports allegiances have changed over the years.  My favorite college team (in all sports!) is the USC Gamecocks, my favorite NFL team is the Carolina Panthers and, of course, my favorite NBA team is the Charlotte Hornets.