Luff Peter

Peter Luff

Luff, Peter

9000022724019

Reitaku University Academic Repository / 麗澤大学学術リポジトリ

A Purveyor of the Apple（of Knowledge）Peter LuffBefore arriving in Minami Kashiwa more than a decade ago, theonly associations that the word ‘provo’ sparked in my cerebral cortexwere with extreme Irish republicanism, and it is one of the many giftsbestowed on me by Reitaku that, over the course of time, these synap-tic connections were first supplemented and then largely replaced byaltogether more positive, indeed genial alternatives.  For it transpiredthat the existence of a ‘Provo’ among the residents of the same block inhokubujutaku where my family had come to live, and on the 5th floor ofBuilding B where I was later to have an office, was in no way cause foralarm― indeed, it turned out to be a wholly unexpected bonus in theprocess of acclimatization to a new life in Japan.One of my earliest encounters with John would prove to be com-pletely typical of the man. Learning that we had arrived in our newapartment without counting the luxury of computer games for ourchildren amongst our possessions, he dug out from his storage areasome of the equipment and software we would need and made us agift of them―nor was this by any means the last occasion on whichwe were to be the beneficiaries of his generosity.  But in a way he didexact a price for this largesse, since the handing over of it was accom-panied by what might, in another context, have been classified as a ser-mon.  For John took immediate and serious pains to impress on me, asone of the as-yet-unconverted, the manifest superiority of all productsbearing the Apple logo and the duty of all right thinking people toacquire some of said products at the earliest opportunity―and thisevangelism, too, was something to which I was to become accustomedwith the passing of the years.  I had, it is true, already encounteredother earnest prophets of the sect of ‘ibelievers’, but John’s faith wasamongst the firmest and most ardent, and he never shirked the task ofbringing the message of the（Mac）Book of Jobs to the benighted inthe highways and byways of the campus.  The fact that he practicedwhat he preached did not always endear him to those more orthodoxsouls charged with maintaining the university’s computer system, buteven when the path of righteousness was not smooth underfoot, Johntook the anathemas in his stride and continued on his way.Another computer-related benefit I derived from our relationshipwas the result of a commission to produce a pamphlet advertising thebenefits for overseas students of choosing to come to study at Reitaku.Given that I knew as much about the art and science of desktop pub-lishing as I did about the topography of the dark side of the moon, itwas John’s expertise alone in matters of graphic design that led to thecreation of a rather persuasive and stylish（if we do say so ourselves）finished product.  Throughout our labors on this joint task John provedcharacteristically unselfish in giving of his time and energies both tothe work itself and, along the way, to educating me in the basics ofhow to lay out text and illustrations.As a teacher John imported this enthusiasm for technology intothe classroom―and outside it on occasion, as those who remember theday that the corridor on the 5th floor of B Building was turned into amovie set will testify.  This preoccupation dovetailed neatly with theemphasis that he placed on the need for student autonomy in the mas-tering of the English language, for in both fields he was a believer inthe philosophy of learning by doing.  While he was careful to arguethat autonomy should never be allowed to descend into anarchy, hispreference always lay with ensuring that students did not succeed intheir attempts to pass the burden of learning back to the teacher.  Heshared his insights on this subject in articles and commercial publica-tions, and took it as a compliment if copies of the latter somehowfound their way into student hands by paths that did not bring himpecuniary advantage.One of his abiding research interests was in folklore, with particu-lar reference to South East Asia.  Personal experience and extensivetravel had given him insight into a region that obviously fascinatedhim, and the troubled role of his own country in that most contentiousof conflicts, the Vietnam War, clearly left a deep imprint on him.  Heturned this to advantage by studying the folklore of U.S. troops who132had participated in the fighting there, and this case study in the cultur-al consequences of the interaction between people and unfamiliarplaces illustrated a theme which meant much to him.This explains why, in another of our early conversations, Johnimpressed on me the urgent need to set down on paper my firstimpressions of life in Japan, on the grounds that things here were sodifferent from anywhere else in the world that the strangeness of it allneeded to be captured in words before the sharply etched contoursconfronting the newcomer became blurred and obscured by the haze of‘normal’ existence.  By this time he himself had been at Reitaku fornearly a decade, and in Japan for much longer, so that chance was nolonger available to him― though this loss was something as necessaryas it was inevitable, since it meant that he had become very familiarwith the ways of Chiba drivers, a necessity for survival for those likehim who rode a racing bike at top speed everywhere. Perhaps in retirement he may decide to relocate once more to sur-roundings unknown and so have the opportunity to record all theuncommon things that accompany a new beginning.  If this be thecase, he will profit as a taker as well as a giver of（among other things）his own good advice.  In any event, it is what he gave to others duringhis years at Reitaku which explains why his retirement leaves usimpoverished in terms not merely of numbers.A Purveyor of the Apple（of Knowledge） 133Professor John E. Provo’s ProfileNationality: U.S.A.Date of Birth: Feb. 27, 1948EducationMA TESOL, Columbia University Teachers College: August 28, 1990Graduate study in TESOL, University of Hawaii, 1986BA Psychology, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina:Nov. 24, 1976EFL Teaching ExperienceSept. 2007-present Tokyo University, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo: Departmentof Environmental ScienceApril 1992-present Reitaku University, Kashiwa, Chiba: Associateprofessor since 1995April 1989-April 1994 Rikkyo University, Tokyo: Part-time instructor inDepartment of General EducationApril 1983-April 1992 Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo: Part-timeinstructor in School of International Politics,Economics and BusinessApril 1983-April 1990 Dokkyo University, Saitama: Part-time instructorin Department of EnglishSept. 1978-June 1979 Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand:Part-time instructor in Department of ScienceJune 1979-Oct. 1983 Sony Language Laboratory, Tokyo: Englishinstructor135Sept. 1978-May 1979 American University Alumni Language Center,Bangkok, Thailand: English instructor136Professor John E. Provo’s PublicationsBooksBrainBubbles: Photocopiable ESL/EFL Activities for Enhanced Autonomy, Lulu. com, 2008Eikaiwa Suguni Tsukaeru Chotto Shita Iikata Hyoogen Jiten, Tokyo Do, 2002Saishin Eikaiwa Word Power, Sanshusha, 1999Journal ArticlesMoving the Locus of Control: Two Activities that Provide Content and Enhanced Autonomy forLanguage Classes, The Reitaku Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies: September, 2007A Man of Good Heart, The Reitaku Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies: March, 2006Folklore of the American Soldiers in the Vietnam War appeared in Fabula B.D. 36 Heft 3/4:April 26 1995. Co-authored with Thomas Barden. (refereed, international journal)Getting Connected: An introduction to the Internet and its implications for academic researchappeared in the Reitaku Journal (Kiyoo): July, 1994Sex Differences in Second Language Interaction Among 120 Japanese College Students appearedin the Reitaku University Forum (Ronso): December, 1992Another Look at Sex Differences in Nonnative Speaker Interaction appeared in The LanguageTeacher: July, 1991The Role of the Teacher in the Language Classroom appeared in The Language Teacher: April,1990Conference PapersFolklore of the American Soldiers in Vietnam was read at Perspectives on ContemporaryLegend, The Twelfth International Conference in Paris, July 19-22, 1994. Co-authored with Thomas BardenProfessional PresentationsA three-hour presentation titled New Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching wasgiven as part of the teacher-training course at McKendree College, Tokyo on Feb. 7,1993.Two three-hour lectures titled Critical Review of TESOL Readings were given at McKedreeCollege, Tokyo on October 24 and November 14, 1993.137

A Purveyor of the Apple（of Knowledge）

https://reitaku.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=101&item_no=1&attribute_id=22&file_no=1

A Purveyor of the Apple（of Knowledge）

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Reitaku University Academic Repository / 麗澤大学学術リポジトリ