Great Scot September 2019 Great Scot 157_September 2019_ONLINE | Page 25

GERMAN MODEL UN
CONFERENCE
Übung macht den
Meister (Practice makes
perfect)
A handful of Year 10 and 11 German
students sacrificed the first Friday of their Term
2 holidays to participate in the 2019 German
Model UN Conference at Bayview Eden Hotel
in Melbourne, organised by the United Nations
Association of Australia, and involving students
from more than 20 schools.
This turned out to be an absolutely
rewarding sacrifice! The day was spent
debating (in German) an overall resolution
on the topic of ‘Sustainable Cities’. Tom An,
Jim Zhang and I (all Year 11) represented the
Kingdom of Belgium, while Alexander Wood
(Year 11), Charles Heyburn and Luke O’Brien
(both Year 10) represented Mexico. Both teams
took advantage of their years of education in
the German language to establish and expand
on our countries’ opinions on a multitude of
clauses within the overall resolution. With
frequent use of our bilingual dictionaries,
both teams managed to prepare compelling
and fluent speeches, and questions for
other delegates. Much to the delight of all
parties, the resolution was eventually passed,
concluding a convivial, challenging and
beneficial day.
I strongly encourage all German students
to participate in this conference, when given
the opportunity. It will help you to develop a
greater mastery of the language, by improving
your on-the-spot fluency and range of
vocabulary, while simultaneously allowing you
to meet and learn from girls and boys who are
studying German at other schools.
On behalf of all boys involved, I would like
to thank Herr Dr Reifarth for helping us with
our preparation and organising us on the day.
Without his guidance, we would have been
somewhat confused!
NICHOLAS KLUCKOW – YEAR 11

RIGHT : SCOTCH BOYS REPRESENTING BELGIUM (TOP)
AND MEXICO (BELOW) AT THE MODEL UN CONFERENCE
IN MELBOURNE. ARGUMENTS WERE PRESENTED IN
GERMAN.
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