Day 1 - Friday, January 9, 2026

Hi all,

We had an excellent first day today! We learnt the structure of debate, what the history of the UN is, and did a practice debate in class today!

This week, I have not assigned any homework or tasks, but next week in class, we will elaborate on the topic we were discussing this week:

Should countries make all cars electric by the year 2040?

Students will be grouped up into teams and assigned a country in class next week, and we will learn more about how to do proper research into a topic and have a chance to practice this together in class. 

Some notices for research and formulating opening statements:

Students should research in their groups to formulate their country's position and stance on the statement. A country can partially agree with the statement, but you must explain why! You would still be taking the affirmative position even if your agreement is partial/conditional upon other factors, e.g. developing nations should provide food aid, but under the following conditions _____/only in certain cases, such as ____. 

Please work as a group to formulate your argument - it is best to create a shared Google Doc/Word Document to complete your work. Please make sure that the workload is evenly distributed, and that you are not using generative AI such as ChatGPT to write your responses for you!

Welcome 

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to our program!  My name is Mahveen Khalil and I will be the instructor for Model UN. 

About Mahveen

I am a third-year University of Toronto student, majoring in Psychology and double minoring in Political Science and Biomedical Ethics. This is my third year teaching a variety of programs at Explorer Hop, including Model UN, Financial Literacy, and Entrepreneurship. I have lived in five different countries, and I love to travel, which gives me a well-rounded, inclusive and diverse perspective. I am hoping to pursue a career in Clinical Psychology or other related fields - happy to get any wisdom others in the field are willing to give me as I try to make this decision! 

My primary objective is to ensure that all our young debaters gain valuable knowledge and enjoy a positive, engaging experience!

You can reach me at mahveen@explorerhop.com for any questions or feedback!

To help you prepare, we’ve included all the essential information you’ll need below. Please take a few minutes to read it— It's packed with helpful details about what to expect, and how to make the most of the experience!

I love teaching Model UN because this is a fun and engaging way of improving public speaking skills, confidence, and the ability to be quick on your feet. Model UN really helps improve your child's persuasive capabilities, which is an essential skill to have!

In this blog, you will get information on everything you need to keep up to date on our program.  This blog will be updated weekly so please bookmark this page and refer to it weekly!

PLEASE DO NOT UNSUBSCRIBE TO OUR EMAILS, AS WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO EMAIL YOU ANY UPDATES.

General Information

🕒 Class will start at 3:50PM and end at 4:50PM! 
Please note as requested by the school, we are going to try to start the class earlier at 3:50PM.  This means, pickup is 4:50PM.  Please be on time to pick up your child.   

How the program works: 

• Our Model UN Represenatatives will be assigned a country, either individually or in small teams, to respond to a debate topic relating to pressing world matters from their assigned country's perspective.
• Representatives will research facts, statistics and other relevant information to form their argument. It is important to remember that you are not debating from your own personal standpoint, but rather from your country's standpoint. You will be able to gauge the country's standpoint based on the information you gather in your research.
• We will walk through each part of a debate, including opening statements, rebuttals/cross examination, and closing statements. We will learn how to do effective research, present ourselves in a formal manner and use sophisticated vocabulary.
• Debaters will be given a score at the end of every debate, which will be broken down and explained. Feedback will be given on what went well and what can be improved, and debaters will formulate their next debate with the feedback in mind to continuously improve!

UPCOMING EVENTS

During the school year, we will also be having an inter-school debate with TFS, Bayview Glen and Sunnybrook.  Historically, Sunnybrook students have done very well, winning many trophies and medals!  I am excited to teach them again!