New edition of SBBMUN 2018, in partnership and cooperation with Üsküdar American Academy

SB Bilingual Model of the United Nations : A first in Turkey !

6 - 8 June : The first, fully-integrated, bilingual MUN conference in Turkey ! For the second year in succession, a large group of students, led by Ms Melisa, Ms Alara , from Saint Benoît, and by Alp from Üsküdar American Academy, organised a fuly-bilingual conference, in English and French, in the impressive setting of the school.

Their significant success clearly shows that the challenge of working bilingually, in two foreign languages – not to mention the effectively trilingual skills of these young people, when their mother tongue is also taken into consideration! – is completely feasible.

Our students are well able to research and debate the burning questions of today’s world – questions taken from the current agenda of the United Nations.

SB BMUN 2018 : a conference taking firmer root, yet addressing controversial themes !

For this edition of our bilingual conference, the organising team composed of 12 students, including two from Üsküdar American Academy, and augmented by the members of the Press Team, led by Ms Biricik, as well as by an International Court of Justice, presided by Ms Ayşe, chose an overall conference theme centring on the impact of the rapid and profound technological developments, that are transforming our lives in the 21st century.

These themes were explored in debates in English, French, and bilingually in both languages, in four committees, and a model Security Council… each forum comprising some twenty students in all.

Committee debates led to a fully-bilingual General Assembly, with the participation of delegates from the two schools and lasting the whole of Saturday, 9th June.

At the same time, the Court dealt with an important question of international diplomacy, hearing criminal accusations brought against politicians in an historic, real case between the French Republic and the Republic of Djibouti.

The Security Council worked to find peaceful solutions for resolving a crisis in relations between the USA and North Korea.

Fundamentally collaborative work, actively using English and French for communications

All contributed to the collaborative drawing up of resolutions, tackling significant questions on the agenda, questions concerning: international disarmament, the future for education, when enriched by the latest technology, the environment, and ethical problems posed by all these changes. And the interactions took place through informal negotiation, formal speech-making, ordered debating – with spontaneous questioning and answering – , suggestions for amending resolutions for adoption… all to conclude, of course, in voting after debating. The sessions took place in a concentrated atmosphere of collaborative work, lasting for around eight hours per day.

A conference with reporting, illustration and commentary by a Saint Benoît Press Team

This team accompanied the student delegates, interviewing and photographing them at work, commenting their work, in articles published in the conference journal : with two editions issued during the conference.

A selection of comments are posted below.

They will give you an impression of the commitment and views of all the students involved !

Some observations by a few of our participants

Here are some comments and appreciations reported by our journalists :

Hasan : « Since this was my first MUN experience as a delegate, I was nervous at first, but it was a nice, informative conference ! »

Elif : « Being an admin is nice, but also really tiring. Some delegates are nice and kind. Some of them made me work so hard ! »

Deniz observed that being a Committee President : « There was a lot of work to do and the topics for debate were difficult to present in well-composed resolutions. All in all however, people had a good time and were happy in rising to the challenges posed ! »

Talya : « This was my first time at an SB BMUN. I was in the Environment Committee, as the international impressive initiative Ambassador for France ! »

Elif : « In my view, this conference was well organised and fun. Nothing went wrong for me ! »

See you next year and MilanMUN in its 15th edition, in 2019

A great success of international participation by our students, many of them beginners in MUN! Congratulations for their commitment and their contributions to making this MilanMUN 2018 a success.

We hope to come back in 2019 and if possible, with a team of students increased by the presence of students of Saint Benoît who will contribute to the organisation and the continuity of this high school and international impressive initiative !

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