Letters of Reference by Past Employers

On this page you may read my reference letters.

Click on the images to view a scanned copy of the original reference in a Microsoft Word document.

Reference by Lawrence Maguire, Associate Professor of the Department of English Language and Literature at Sungshin Women's University in Seoul, Korea. Dated June 2007.

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter of recommendation on behalf of Mr. Aled Powell, who had taught in our university's English Department from March 2005 to February 2007. Consequently, I had come to know Mr. Powell quite well in both a professional capacity and on a personal basis over that period. As background for you, I have been a member of the English Department faculty for more than twenty-six years and had served as the Director of the Language Center from January of 2002 until March of 2005.

Aled has proven to be an outstanding teacher, colleague, and member of the department faculty. His student evaluations have been superb, and he has been consistently rated as an enthusiastic and concerned teacher. I have noted personally that the students appear very close and comfortable with Aled. He has always been responsive to the individual learning needs of the students, as well as cooperative and flexible in dealing with any changes or demands in the curriculum of the program. In the classroom he has proven both popular and respected by his students for his well prepared and enthusiastic classes.

I have found Mr. Powell to be highly adaptable, responsive, and creative in meeting the challenge of language teaching in the Korea educational environment. He has shown himself to be quite innovative in developing new materials and approaches to making English accessible and inviting to Korean students. I have also noted that Aled has always evinced a sincere and positive attitude in his cross-cultural relationships with both students and teachers alike.

In short, I would have no qualms whatsoever in recommending him as a member of your faculty. If you should have any further questions regarding his candidacy, please feel free to contact me at the numbers provided on the enclosed name card.

Sincerely yours,

Lawrence G. Maguire
Associate Professor of the Department of English Language and Literature
Sungshin Women's University
Seoul, Korea

Reference by Dr Bae Boo-hyun, Director of International Studies Center and Professor of Department of Tourism English at Changwon College, Changwon, Korea. Dated December 2004.

Re: Reference Letter for Mr. Aled Powell

I am currently the Director of the International Studies Center and professor of the Dept. of Tourism English at Changwon College. I have known Mr. Aled Powell for one year as his supervisor.

From the point of view as Aled's colleague and boss, I am confident to say that he is a very intelligent, focused, and well-organized professor.

Aled has successfully taught his students with his student-centered teaching plans and techniques. He has shown himself to be professional and enthusiastic not only at teaching but also at helping to make school brochures, leaflets and so on in a most satisfactory manner. He has performed his duties well and strived to motivate the students and counsel them to study English for their future prospects and goals.

The assistant teachers who worked with Aled had very positive opinions of his teaching and assessments. He was popular and friendly with staff and with students, who enjoyed his classes and rated him highly in their end-of-semester course evaluation questionnaires.

I really appreciate Aled's efforts and everything he has done for our students. Therefore, it would be with the utmost confidence and pleasure that I give Aled my highest recommendation. If I can be of any further assistance please feel free to contact me at (82) 55-279-5020.

Sincerely,

Bae Boo-hyun, Ph. D.
Director of International Studies Center
Professor of Dept. of Tourism English
Changwon College
Changwon, Korea

Reference by Mrs Jung Kyung-hee, Manager at TOPIA English Zone, Changwon, Korea. Dated January 2004, to cover the time we worked together at Wonderland.

January 26, 2004

To Whom It May Concern:

Aled worked at Wonderland, Changwon, for twelve months, ending November 2003, as an English teacher to students aged 4 to adult. He was responsible for teaching the curriculum, which involved following the school's syllabi of set texts, themed activity days and telephone teaching, as well as testing and evaluating students' progress in monthly reports. Aled also attended an intensive one-day teachers' workshop.

One of Aled's greatest assets was his ability to draw on his experience and supplement the syllabus with his own ideas and materials to give students further and adequate practice in areas of weakness. Aled was able to plan and carry out all his own classes. His inspiration and creativity was valuable, not only in the classroom, but also in preparing for activity days and kindergarten presentations. Aled also prepared presentations on his teaching ideas and methods for monthly staff meetings, which were well-received by the staff.

Aled showed great commitment and dedication to his students, whose progress in English remained his main objective throughout his time at Wonderland. In possessing such a fine quality, I recommend Aled as a teacher to any prospective employer.

Sincerely,

Jung Kyung Hee,
Manager,
TOPIA English Zone,
Palyong Dong, Changwon

Reference by Mrs Anthoula Roumeliotou, Director of Kalloni Foreign Language Center, Lesvos, Greece. Dated May 2002.

To whom it may concern:

During his term of employment under my directorship Aled proved to be a responsible, conscientious and dynamic teacher who applied himself to the full in his role.

His enthusiasm for his work was strongly evident, and his creativity brought forth a notable amount of material which was successfully employed in the classroom.

Aled's teaching ability combined with his maturity enabled him to work independently and effectively to such an extent that I had complete confidence in his planning and development of the courses for which he was responsible; ranging from elementary to proficiency level; ages 7 and up. In preparing students for their first and proficiency certificates in English Aled proved exceptionally efficient, with excellent knowledge of both the Cambridge curriculum and it's British English, as well as the Michigan curriculum in American English.

He was most co-operative in matters relating to his work environment and he enjoyed an excellent relationship with his pupils.

In view of Aled's qualities - both personal and didactic - I would have no hesitation in recommending him for a subsequent teaching position.

Yours faithfully,

Anthoula Roumeliotou

May 25th 2002

Reference by Mr William Henschke, Treasurer of Seaside Amusements, Inc., Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, USA. Dated May 2002.

Gentlemen:

My family owns and operates a small amusement park located in Rehoboth Beach Delaware. During the course of our operation we can have over 100 employees working on any given night. Aled has been with us for 3 seasons, and has risen from a dorm employee to "Park Supervisor and Dorm Supervisor".

Aled was involved in training our staff, which included showing the new personnel how to follow safety standards and deal with the public at the same time. Our employees have to know how to deal with frustrated parents, and challenging children. Aled displayed good communication skills between staff and management, and he was able to resolve some potential problems before they occurred. Aled also had the responsibility of coordinating the closing at the end of the day. This responsibility included organizing the work force to clean the park to get ready for the next day's operation. Aled's ability to complete the task I assigned him, was his largest asset. There are many jobs in operating an amusement park that are not pleasant, but need to be done. When I asked Aled to do something he would complete the task without me having to ask him a second time. Funland's employees qualify for a year-end bonus based on their performance. I had Aled evaluate the employees, and used his conclusions to help calculate their final bonus.

The management of Funland will miss Aled and the leadership he provided for our younger employees. I am confident Aled will have a positive influence on your business.

Sincerely,

William Henschke
Treasurer
Seaside Amusements, Inc.

Reference by Mr Steve Hendricks, Vice-President and Personnel Manager of Seaside Amusements, Inc., Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, USA. Dated September 1999.

To Whom it may concern:

It is my pleasure to submit a reference for Aled.

During his employment with us he proved to exceed our expectations of those who are a part of our summer team. Adherence to safety standards and the ability to deal with the public in a polite and professional manner are the two most important qualities that we hope to see in our employees. In addition to excelling at these, Aled was always punctual in reporting to work and exhibited a high level of enthusiasm while on the job.

I am confident that having Aled as a member of your team would have a positive impact on your organization.

Sincerely,

Steve Hendricks, V.P. / Personnel Mgr.