1-on-1 Model United Nations Coaching · Grades 6–12 · Taipei
Model United Nations, from debate to diplomacy.
Model United Nations coaching for Grades 6–12 international school students preparing for TASMUN, YMUNT, THIMUN circuit conferences, and other regional events. The program builds the diplomatic judgment conference chairs reward, develops fluency in country research, position paper drafting, procedural debate, and negotiation, and carries the student from foundation through competitive performance across the conferences they attend.
What Students Learn
MUN coaching at the level conference chairs reward.
Parents come to Model United Nations at Harland looking for a coach with serious MUN background, who knows what conference chairs read for in formal debate, and who can help their child move from being articulate in class to being effective in a committee room of one hundred other delegates. The program covers what Model UN demands. Researching a country's foreign policy positions on the specific agenda items the committee will debate. Drafting a position paper that summarizes the country's stance with the credibility a chair will recognize. Speaking clearly and persuasively in formal debate (moderated caucus) and in informal negotiation (unmoderated caucus). Reading the room: when to speak, when to lobby, when to merge resolutions, when to hold a position. Drafting resolutions and amendments that can build coalitions and pass votes. Handling parliamentary conventions cleanly: motions, points, voting protocol, the differences between THIMUN and North American style. These are the skills behind every delegate who places well at conference, because conference chairs and award panels read for substance, procedure, and the diplomatic judgment that lets a delegation help move a resolution to a vote.
Public speaking and Model UN reward different things. Public speaking rewards a clear position well argued. Model UN rewards a delegate who can speak, negotiate, draft, and build coalitions that pass resolutions. A student who can deliver a strong speech is doing something different from a delegate who can read which countries will support an amendment, draft language those countries will sign on to, manage procedure to bring the resolution to the floor, and defend it through debate. Speech and debate build a clear voice. MUN builds a delegate who contributes meaningfully to committee outcomes. Most school speech and debate experience prepares students for the first kind of skill. Model United Nations is where the second kind gets coached.
Model United Nations at Harland follows a unit-based pathway tied to the conferences the student is preparing for. Pathways typically span two to four units depending on the student's starting point and the conferences they are targeting. A student new to MUN preparing for their first school-hosted conference may complete in two units, building procedural fluency, position paper craft, and basic speaking confidence. A student already attending TASMUN or YMUNT and aiming for the THIMUN circuit may run three or four units across the season, adding negotiation tactics, resolution drafting, and the crisis simulation skills international conferences demand. Each unit closes in a defined deliverable: a position paper that a chair would accept, a recorded mock debate session showing procedural fluency, a draft resolution that survives review for negotiability and grammar. After each unit, the pathway is reviewed and adjusted around what the unit has revealed. Harland's program decides what gets coached. The student's specific conferences and starting point are what the coaching is built around. That is what lets diplomatic judgment compound conference over conference.
Progress shows up in places parents can see. A delegate who can summarize their country's position on a complex agenda item without consulting notes. Position papers returned with substantive comments rather than basic structural fixes. Mock debate recordings where the student handles procedure cleanly and contributes substantively in caucus. A student who comes home from a conference able to talk through what their bloc accomplished, what compromises moved their resolution forward, and what they would do differently next time.
How We Teach It
MUN coached through the conferences each student is preparing for.
Harland's pedagogy is content-based learning. Procedural fluency, position paper craft, and negotiation skill develop through the conferences the student is preparing for, not through generic public speaking drills. Lessons center on the student's assigned country and committee for their next conference, the specific agenda items they will debate, and the procedural style their target conference uses, with a coach whose own background is in competitive Model UN.
For Grades 6–12, that means lessons calibrated directly to the student's conference goals and current skill level. A student in their foundation unit moves through procedural conventions, learning the difference between a motion and a point, how to address the chair, and what an opening speech needs to accomplish in the first ninety seconds. A student in their position-paper unit works through their assigned country's foreign policy on the specific agenda items, building the source-backed paragraphs that establish credibility with a chair before the conference begins. A student in their pre-conference unit runs through live mock caucus, getting feedback on speaking, lobbying technique, and the negotiation tactics that move a draft resolution toward a vote.
Model UN is also a question of diplomatic judgment. Some students arrive with strong public speaking but pull back when negotiation requires building coalitions with delegates whose positions oppose theirs. Some students think clearly about policy but struggle to translate that into the procedural moves that get a resolution to the floor. The 1-on-1 format gives coaches room to think in real time on the student's specific country, their assigned committee, and the live debate dynamics they are trying to read. They distinguish what the student has prepared from what the student can use in the room. Skill and diplomatic judgment develop together. Neither moves far in isolation.
The format also lets coaches calibrate to the student's specific starting point. A student strong in writing but uneven in speaking spends early units on the speaking confidence formal debate demands. A student strong in argument but light on procedural fluency spends early units on the Robert's Rules conventions and THIMUN variations that conferences use. A student returning from a prior conference addresses the specific gap the previous conference revealed, whether that was negotiation, paper credibility, procedural handling, or coalition-building. Each pathway begins where the student is.
Curriculum and Conference Cycle
A pathway tied to the conferences the student is targeting.
Model United Nations at Harland follows a unit-based pathway tied to the regional and international conference calendar. The regional MUN calendar runs throughout the school year. TASMUN, hosted by Taipei American School, is held each autumn. YMUNT (Yale Model United Nations Taiwan) takes place in spring. The THIMUN circuit spans from THIMUN Singapore in autumn through THIMUN The Hague in late January, with various THIMUN-affiliated events through the year. Other school-hosted conferences run at additional points throughout the year. The Harland pathway adapts to which conferences the student is preparing for and their starting skill level.
The program is built around the published procedure of the specific conferences the student is targeting. THIMUN circuit conferences follow their distinctive procedure, with its own conventions for resolution drafting and debate format. North American circuit conferences (Harvard Model UN and its affiliates) use a faster-paced style with crisis committees alongside the traditional General Assembly format. School-hosted conferences typically blend procedural styles. Harland coaches to the parliamentary style the student's target conference uses and works with the student to translate their country and committee assignment into specific preparation goals. Harland does not run a Model UN delegation. We coach students who participate in their school's MUN club or attend conferences as part of regional delegations. Where a student is not yet part of a school MUN program, Harland builds the foundation skills that prepare them to join one and contribute meaningfully. In every case, Harland's program provides the spine.
Prerequisites and What Comes Next
Where Model United Nations fits in your child's learning.
Before starting
Model United Nations assumes reasonable comfort with public speaking and written argument at international school level, plus interest in international affairs or persuasive negotiation. Students whose writing foundation needs strengthening often benefit from pairing coaching with Analytical Writing for position paper craft. Students whose speaking foundation needs strengthening often benefit from pairing with Debate & Rhetoric for procedural speaking and formal address. Students at the youngest end of the audience (Grades 6 and 7) often start with mock conferences before formal competition, building procedural and speaking confidence before debuting at a school-hosted event.
For students attending their first MUN conference, the consultation and assessment class establishes the conference targets, country and committee assignment if already known, and what foundation is in place. For students returning from a prior conference, the conversation starts from the previous conference review and what it revealed about specific skill gaps. For students arriving on a compressed timeline before a near conference date, the pathway prioritizes the skills the specific committee and conference style most require in the time available. The Student Coordinator helps you choose the entry point that fits.
What comes after
The pathway extends as the student moves through the conference circuit. Students starting at school-hosted conferences often progress to regional events like TASMUN or YMUNT, then to international conferences like THIMUN Singapore or Harvard MUN. Students continuing in negotiation and procedural skill often pair with Debate & Rhetoric for deeper preparation in formal debate and rhetorical strategy. Students using MUN experience in university applications often continue with College Application Essays, where conference results and delegation leadership contribute meaningfully to humanities, international relations, and pre-law applications.
The longer-term aim of Model United Nations is to make itself unnecessary. The program brings students to the point where they can take a hard international policy question, research it seriously, find common ground with delegates representing opposed positions, and help build a resolution that passes a vote. Whether or not the student earns Best Delegate or Outstanding Delegate at any given conference, the development is real and visible: in how the student listens to opposing positions, how they identify common interests, how they convert disagreement into a workable compromise. Universities and humanities programs reading these students' applications see grit, perseverance, and the determination to turn disagreement into resolution. A parent who is no longer worried about whether their child can hold their own in a room full of strong delegates is the point of all of it.
Common Questions
Common questions about Model United Nations at Harland.
Who is Model United Nations at Harland for? +
My child is articulate but stalls in formal debate format. Is MUN right? +
Can my child begin MUN over the summer? +
What does the program cover? +
How long is each lesson and how often does my child attend? +
How are lessons scheduled, and what if we need to reschedule? +
How do you measure progress? +
How do we begin? +
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Start a conversation about your child's Model UN season.
Every Harland relationship begins with a consultation, followed by an assessment class for your child. Tell us about your goals and where your child is now.
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