JAMES MUNRO LEAF
November 21, 2017
It is my pleasure to recommend James Leaf for the MA program in Teaching English as a Second Language. While much of Mr. Leaf's work has been in English literature and theater, James is a broadly educated man, with an incredible breadth of knowledge of and a great curiosity about the Western intellectual tradition. He is intensely well read and nimbly able to bring what he has read, studied, and learned to bear on any topic that he is either studying or teaching.
Mr. Leaf directed two community-based theatrical productions for the Friends of the Buffalo Story, the not-for- profit that I direct in Buffalo. In this capacity he showed his ability to work clearly and effectively with young people from a wide variety of different backgrounds. He is a born teacher and a passionate learner, a man easily able to make all kinds of connections between and among various thoughts and ideas in ways that both challenge and edify the people he is working with.
He has excellent listening skills and a mature and measured personality which allows him to learn from and respond to others. These strengths, combined with a healthy ego balanced with great empathy; a concern with excellence tempered by an awareness of human frailty; a marvelous sense of humor make James Leaf a perfect candidate for such a highly esteemed program as yours.
Whether teaching native born Americans with highly developed language and literary skills, or new Americans with none, James is the man that I would want in the front of my classroom. My recommendation of him is unqualified.
Mark Goldman, President
The Friends of the Buffalo Story Buffalo, NY