CREATIVITY IN BRAZIL : SOME LANDMARKS

Professor Francisco Gomes de Matos ,

Associação Brasil América, Recife, Brazil

/www.abaweb.org /

fcgm@hotlink.com.br

1973 – Launching of a pioneering newsletter : Creativity :New Ideas in Language

Teaching ( CNILT) , published by the Centro de Lingüística Aplicada Yázigi. São Paulo , January

Textbook series Let´s have fun. English for Brazilian high school students. Books 1 and 2,

By F.Gomes de Matos, Adair Palácio and Alcindo Magalhães. São Paulo:Difusão Nacional Do Livro. Reviewed in Modern Language Journal ( USA ),December,1976: 483-484:

“this remarkable series of texts” …”here,smaller amounts of material yield greater quantities of of worthy activities “(Alan Garfinkel, Purdue University)

1974 - First article by Brazilian researcher Eunice S. Alencar ( University of Brasília and

Catholic University of Brasília): Um estudo de criatividade, in Arquivos Brasileiros de

Psicologia Aplicada (Brazilian Archives of Applied Psychology): ,26 (2) : 59 –69

Article by U.S. . sociolinguist Joshua Fishman, Will foreign languages still be taught

in the year 2000 ? Yes . Reprinted from Materiales en Marcha. San Diego

City Schools ( Dec. 1973). In CNILT , September (This is a pioneering piece on Language education futurism )

1976 - Article “A new technique: Choose and empathize”, by F.Gomes de Matos, CNILT, March

Article “The Yázigi Method :Approach and Techniques – A Description through 39 rhymes,

March

Article “Humanizing the teaching of Grammar in Language Teaching”, by John R.Schmitz,

March (Section II is on Examples of creative approaches . Schmitz´s cogent closing

statement is “To be creative is to be human. On linguistic creativity Chomsky says :

..the creative aszpect of language, the distinctively human ability to express new thoughts and to understand entirely new expressions of thought (Language and Mind, 1972,p.6).

In Lingüística Aplicada ao Ensino de Inglês (Applied Linguistics to the

Teaching of English), by F. Gomes de Matos ( São Paulo : Mc Graw-Hill), there is a

survey of the principles of linguistics as they appear in the linguistic literature and in

personal communications from linguist-authors from several countries. One of the

principles dealt with is that of linguistic creativity. U.S. linguist-translation scholar

Eugene A. Nida interprets that concept as referring both to “ the capacity for people to say

and understand expressions which they have never heard/read before as well as to the

capacity of language as a system to grow and change to meet new ideological and aesthetic

requirements and/or objectives” (personal communication: April 10, 1972).

1977 – First article on creative techniques for the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language:

“Técnicas criativas em Português para Estrangeiros,” by Sonia Biazioli, March

•  First article on mapping language learners ´ creativity : When are our learners creative ? by F.Gomes de Matos and Arnold Green Short. CNILT , March

1978 - Publication of high school series Criatividade em lingua portuguesa ( Creativity in Portuguese as a native language),

by Antonio Melo Mesquita and Caetano José de Lima. São Paulo: Mc-Graw Hill. Consultant:

F.Gomes de Matos.

Publication of two-volume Português do Brasil para Estrangeiros. Conversação,

Cultura,Criatividade ( Brazilian Portuguese as a foreign language. Conversation,Culture,

And Creativity), by Sonia Biazioli and F. Gomes de Matos. São Paulo : Centro de

Lingüística Aplicada Yázigi.

1979 – Publication of Sidney Parnes ´ article CPSI : The General System . CNILT , March.

Reprinted from Journal of Creative Behavior.

Books for the creative teacher: An Annotated Bibliography, by F. Gomes de Matos.

One of the entries: Parnes, Noller & Biondi Guide to Creative Action. CNILT , March.

Letter on Creativity, by U.S. second language education expert Earl Stevick.

A cogent point made therein : “ Any learning worthy of the name is at the same time a creative act of

The learner “, CNILT , November

Establishment , in São Paulo, of ILACE – Instituto Latino-americano de Criatégia

(Latin American Institute of Creategy) www.ilace.org.br .Founder: José Leão de Carvalho.

1982 - Criatividade em Propaganda (Creativity in Advertising), by José Menna Barreto. 3rd. ed.

São Paulo: Summus Editorial

1987 – Criatividade , by D. M.S. Campos and M.G.Weber. Rio de Janeiro: Sprint

1989- Article Somos lingüisticamente criativos : A Escola sabe disso ? ( We‘re linguistically creative .

Do schools know that ?) , by F. Gomes de Matos . Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro ,Revista de Cultura Vozes, September-October

•  - Criatividade e Marketing , by R. Duailibi and H. Simonsen. São Paulo: Mc-Graw Hill

1994 - First interdisciplinary book of readings : Criatividade .Expressão e Desenvolvimento

( Creativity. Expression and Development),Eunice Alencar and Angela Virgolim (eds). Petrópolis,

Rio de Janeiro: Editora Vozes. There is a chapter by F.Gomes de Matos on the creativity of learners of Portuguese as a native language and of foreign languages.

1996 - Pedagogia da positividade .Comunicação construtiva em português (Pedagogy of

Positiveness. Communicating constructively in Portuguese),by F. Gomes de Matos. Recife:

Editora da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. For a brief text in English on that

Approach to Positivistics, access on the web “ Pedagogy of Positiveness Applied to Diplomatic

Communication|”

1997 - A gerência da criatividade ( Managing creativity), by Eunice Alencar. São Paulo:

Makron Books

•  - Toc ..Toc.. Plim ...Plim . Lidando com as emoções,brincando com o pensamento através da criatividade (Knock,Knock,ding,ding) . Dealing with emotions,playing with thinking through creativity), by Angela Virgolim, Denish Fleith and M.Neves Pereira. 3 rd . ed. Campinas,São Paulo:

Papirus

•  - Text (on-line) Creativity in Brazilian Culture , by University of Brasília researcher

Denise Fleith. http://www.www.edu/~culture

Two points made by Fleith: “Brazilian concerns for studying creativity dates from 1970s “

And “The influence of American Creativity studies on Brazilian research is unquestionable”

Article Teaching Vocabulary for Peace Education, by F. Gomes de Matos , in ESL Magazine. A description of 11 techniques,among which the Thril Technique, a probing of the process of alliteration. (ESL = English as a second language)

Comunicar para o bem. Rumo à paz comunicativa ( Communicating for the good.. Toward communicative peace), by F. Gomes de Matos. São Paulo: Editora Ave Maria. Book reviewed in

English in Hispania. Journal of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese,

September, 529-531

2003 - 3 rd edition of Criatividade. Múltiplas perspectivas (Creativity. Multiple perspectives),

by Eunice Alencar and Denish Fleith. Brasília: Editora UnB.

Article Learners´ creative uses of English , by F. Gomes de Matos . Braz-TESOL

Newsletter. São Paulo, December. TESOL= Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.

Article Applied Peace Linguistics , in Applied Linguistics Forum. Newsletter of The TESOL Applied Linguistics Interest Section. U.S.A, January.

Plea made therein : “ Second language learners and their teachers should have the right to learn to communicate peacefully for the good of humankind”