Speech in English

Graduation speech, May 9^th 2019. 

By Master Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Martínez ©

(- Here exordium -)

Greeting in Sign Language

Greeting in French

Greeting in English

Greeting in Spanish

Several of us have heard the ancient story about "The Babel’s tower", appreciated public: in our days we are living in "the Babel’s world".

Let us reflect on ourselves as human beings, let's start with three theories about our origins, the first which says that our ancestors were great apes, the second theory indicates that we come from fish, these are two theories of evolution up to homo sapiens-sapiens.

The third theory says that we were created, this is the theory of the origin of humanity; each one has the freedom to accept the theory that most convinces them...

Let us now think about how the primitive language developed, for this I will share three theories.

The first theory indicates that the first humans felt the need to tell their neighbors about the places where there was food, to warn about the dangers and everything related to survival; They also needed to express their relationships with one to another, describe personalities, behaviors and issues related to life in society and this added to the need to tell stories about moral codes, tales, imaginaries and gods.

The second theory indicates that the primate brain developed language as a consequence of the hallucinations produced by eating mushrooms; and the third theory indicates that the first human was made in the image and likeness of the God who spoke saying "... let there be light"; each one has the freedom to accept the theory that most convinces them...

Let us now think of ourselves as inhabitants of the "Babel’s planet", where distance is not an impediment to communicate with others and the need to know at least a second language arises in some.

When I was a child, in my early school years, this was my Spanish to English translator in a small format (-here to show the dictionary to the public-) and this one (-here to show the smartphone to the public-) is nowadays not only a translator but the possibility of multiple translators and plenty of help to communicate with others in different languages ​​added to the possibility of learning other languages, among many other uses such as talking with Siri from Apple, Cortana from Microsoft and all the voices of Google traslator.

It is necessary to take a broader view of the concept of bilingualism as suggested by Arias Castaño (UTP- 2019): "... seeing the participants of the communities as potential bilinguals and not only as language learners, that is, not only with the achievement of a level of competence but the possibility for bilingual users to acquire and use all the linguistic repertoires of their languages ​​in their different interaction contexts ".

Not everything is invented, and everything is susceptible to be improved, it is also necessary to evolve and leave behind the standardized test.

Let's leave behind all the existing theories, all the definitions and all the technological aids, something of great value is achieved when participating in learning groups such as the Centro Colombo Americano and it is the possibility of interacting, face to face with human beings: classmates, teachers and people from the administrative area, everyone gets the smile, the right word, the moments of joy, the love to teach, to listen and to learn and apprehend.

Today we are celebrating the closing of a successful goal, as a consequence of desire, determination and discipline; each one of us knows what this implied in investment of time, effort, sacrifice and economy ...

I want to thank the Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira for the student scholarship granted to my colleagues and me.

I present my profound gratitude to the teachers of the Centro Colombo Americano with whom I had the opportunity to share: Dagoberto, Juan Carlos, Ximena, Diana, Carlos and Simona, perform their teaching with love and commitment. With no doubt, I extend this gratitude to the entire teaching staff of Colombo, without a doubt they are also excellent.

I congratulate the Centro Colombo Americano for its work of 51 years in the city of Pereira.

I congratulate each one of you for having reached the end of this path, there will always be new paths, new goals; in learning there is pleasure and joy.

To my classmates (-Eliana, Tatiana, Luisa Fernanda, Luvan, Mateo, Julian, Manuel, Carlos Julio and Chris-) thousands and thousands of thanks for each shared moment and for letting me know about their lives, you are a great group of human beings.

Before finishing I want to share a gift, each one is at liberty to receive it:

"The Lord is God made man, he was crucified, he died for your sins, He was resurrected; He is alive and will return to enjoy life with you.

If you receive this gift and you recognize yourself as a yourself as a sinner, you will have eternal life and you will receive the Holy Spirit to guide you"

Remember that life is beautiful, that we are in a wonderful world, and Hakuna Matata, which is translated from the Swahili language as "no problem" and that is interpreted as “Live and be happy”, have this in your mind all the time… “Live and be happy”...

(French) Merci beaucoup
Sign Language 

(English)Thank you very much.

(Español) Muchas gracias.

MSc. Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Martínez