by Julia Robins ‘20

Rebekah Byerly has settled into her second year at Sherwood, teaching Calculus with Applications, as well as ESOL Algebra. She is also the Head Indoor Track Coach. Before landing at Sherwood, Byerly taught English to young children in China during the 2017-2018 school year.

She moved a lot when she was young and was raised to always push herself in new ways and take risks, like her father did when he worked at a clinic in Honduras for two years. 

Ever since second grade, Byerly knew that she wanted to become a teacher. While she became passionate about teaching math, Byerly was eager to try teaching abroad since she missed the opportunity to study abroad. The summer of 2017 she completed her TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification after graduating college with a mathematics degree. 

Her first year at university she studied mandarin as her minor, as she had always been fascinated with other languages.  Byerly lived in a Cantonese-speaking part of China, which has nine different tones compared to the four of Mandarin. According to Byerly, most everyone summarizes Cantonese as chicken scratch, which led to an occasional language barrier. 

“The kindergarteners (preschool age for us) were adorable. One of my favorite warm-up activities for the kids was the gummy bear song,” Byerly recalled. “We used to sing and dance to it at least twice a week … I still message my former coworkers to check in on certain kids.”

Her favorite part of being in Guangzhou, China was making a new friend, May. She “was my saving grace. She helped me make China home. My biggest thing when moving to a new country is get to know the locals- they make all the difference. I would not have loved China or Guangzhou as much if I had not met May.” She also just recently gave birth, and Byerly cannot wait to go back and visit her. 

While she is not passionate about teaching English, it was a fun, eye-opening experience that made her “a more well rounded person,” and it helped her “to be more aware of differences and the benefits and challenges that come along with [life in another country]. It also helped me realize how blessed we truly are to be in this country and [it] gave me a better appreciation for the freedoms and liberties our blue passport gives us.” 

She had a difficult transition coming back home because she was not ready to leave. “I miss the lifestyle of being able to walk everywhere. I miss not being able to understand everything and the challenges that come with it. I miss the food and the people. I miss my church families back in Guangzhou and the friends I made from all around the world because of it. I miss the adventure that you go on by being someplace new. If someone were to offer me a ticket back, I would go in a heartbeat,” stated Byerly.