Model German UN

On Thursday, July 18th, the Year 11 German class had an enriching opportunity to partake in the 2024 UN Model Conference: “Planet Ocean: Protecting the World’s Oceans, Seas and Marine Resources.” The conference was hosted by the UN Association of Australia and occurred at the Victorian Academy of Teaching.

We eagerly stepped into the roles of diplomats, representing the Gabonese Republic, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United States of America. The conference was an opportunity not only for us to practise our public speaking, negotiation and critical thinking - skills, but also our German skills!

The idea of speaking only in German was initially daunting, but after the conference began and we all started communicating, things fell into place. While many of us were a bit nervous to give our statements to a large audience in German, after we held the microphone, we felt our anxiety slip away. Over time, we felt at ease, and even looked for opportunities to speak  the language! The conference undoubtedly tested our speaking and comprehension abilities in German but allowed us to walk away feeling more confident.

The day was broken down into three main parts; presenting our countries’ position statements, caucus discussions, and lastly the reviewing of the drafted resolutions.

In preparation for the presentation of position statements, students extensively researched their countries’ relationships with the oceans and how they conducted international affairs. It was interesting to see how different governments utilised the ocean to fulfil their goals. The research stage was especially important as it allowed us to envision how our countries would act during the conference. After we drafted our statements we met with Frau Hohmann, who would check over our grammar and help us with our pronunciation.

After giving our statements to the General Assembly, we began the largest portion of the day, the caucus sessions. The caucus was separated into a few segments, with unmoderated and moderated caucus sessions. Essentially, there were guided and unguided discussions. We used the moderated sessions as an opportunity to ask directed questions to other delegates and call the assembly's attention to certain statements. Our class found the unmoderated sessions the most engaging, as it allowed us to discuss with other delegates face-to-face and enabled us to negotiate and debate each other's ideas in time.

Lastly, we had a voting session, where delegates would vote on which amendments would pass. Whilst our United States and Saudi Arabia teams were disappointed with the new changes, the Gabon team were very happy! The new changes resulted in laws around stricter reduction of plastic production, ocean conservation strengthening, and enforcement on wealthier countries assisting smaller countries financially.

The United States team says that a memorable moment in this conference was when China’s delegates kept coming after them critiquing question after question and it was a challenge to keep them at bay. Our Saudi Arabian team says that their memorable moment was building a strong alliance with Japan, and attempting peacemaking with Mexico. And lastly, the Gabon team reports that their most memorable moment was creating a resolution with the small island nations present at the assembly that ended up passing!

Overall, our class had an amazing experience at the conference.

“It was a great opportunity to be able to participate in such an immersive program with other German learners from a range of schools.  It helped us strengthen our understanding of the language, and I look forward to attending the conference next year as well!” - Tara B (11D)

We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Frau Hohmann for putting in the effort in planning out this event, helping us with the preparation and encouraging us throughout the process! It is safe to say that we all left the conference with new insights, a greater passion for global issues and new skills to utilise in the future! We all look forward to more such fulfilling experiences in the future. 

We encourage students to take up VCE German to be able to partake in opportunities such as the Model UN German Conference!

Shikaafaa F (11 D)