The topic of the Model United Nations is to narrow gender differences and promote gender equality in education. Representatives of 11 national groups and more than 30 St. Mary's students attended and spoke.
After many fierce English debates, the French group represented by the students from St. Mary’s Pinghu Campus, the South African group and Brazilian group represented by the students from Shenzhen Campus won the final victory. Their excellent performance received the warmest applause and recognition, congratulations to all students!
We interviewed Nathalie, a foreign teacher who participated in the whole process of the Model United Nations, and three St. Mary's students，to see how they felt and gained from this activity.
Nathalie said, “On the day of the Model UN, I felt so much pride listening to each group go through their work, addressing the audience, and knowing their content. The Model UN is a fantastic simulation of how the world operates for global issues.
Whether you are interested in law, business, government, the arts, social issues, ecology and more, the Model UN provides an experience where students learn about international values, sustainable development, time management, whilst also enhancing their listening and speaking skills.
Students develop confidence and leadership skills when participating in the Model UN. It is an opportunity to learn about global issues, the scale at which they span, work as a team, develop negotiation skills, act as a diplomat; cooperate to promote peace and hopefully have some fun too. Those skills are beneficial for our young learners and will follow them throughout their lives.
Participating in the Model UN provides first and foremost a sense of pride and achievement, and also boosts the academic path of our students. Model UNs take place all over the world and are a standard that is recognized in all centers of higher education. It may also help students find an interest they may not have had before, thus taking them on the road to become our future lawyers, businesspeople, politicians and/or environment advocates.”
Cassie from the French representative group said that the group was also preparing for the Campus International Education Forum while registering for the competition. Time is tight, everything is to use spare time, lunch break, evening break to prepare for the game. Since all three of the group had no experience in the competition, it was a bit confusing at first. The original version of the PPT also had no key points, but under the guidance of Ms. Nathalie, it quickly became better and briefer, and the key points were clarified and refined, so that the performance was logically organized and relaxed in the competition.