T1W9

Beacon Current Affairs 2014

Who am I?

Names in the news Places in the news

Chong Tze Chien (pg19) Riau Province (pg12)

Words in the News

(pg2-3)!bursary!

threshold!eligible!

affordable

(pg12)!surpassed!hazardous!blanketed

(pg18)!dry spell!monsoon!moderate!

gallon

(pg10)!playwright!percolate!scenario!

niche

How the budget will affect you (pg2)❖ This year’s budget 2014 was

announced on Feb 21!❖ More money will be spent subsidising

health-care costs of older Singaporeans!

❖ Children studying in ITE, polytechnic and University stand a higher chance of being awarded a bursary!

❖ Siblings in kindergarten may benefit from the Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme (KiFAS) as well!

❖ Read on to find out more and how your parents may be affected as well

Big Spell gets big turnout (pg8)

❖ Record turnout for recent “Spelling Bee” competition!

❖ Do you know what words like “delicatessan” and “chartreuse” mean?!

❖ Read on to find out what words our participants had to spell (trust me - you will be amazed and astounded!)

Record haze levels (pg 12)

❖ Dumai city in Riau province experienced record levels of haze !

❖ Air Pollution Index (API) reached 500 (last year’s was 460)!

❖ Anything above 300 is considered hazardous!

❖ Read on to find out what causes the haze

Rain, rain, don’t go away (pg19)❖ Have you head the song “Rain, rain, go

away?”!❖ Singapore has been experiencing a dry

spell for a month now!❖ This lack of rain is due to the dry phase

of the north-east monsoon setting in earlier than usual (what is monsoon?)!

❖ PUB is pumping 30 million gallons of Newater a day to main water levels in reservoirs!

❖ How have you been affected by the hot weather and the lack of rain? Share your experiences in the blog!

Unearthing the Writer Within (pg 19)

❖ Playwright Chong Tze Chien needs only a week to write a play!

❖ Coming up with the ideas and concept, however, can take anywhere from 6 months to a year!

❖ In fact, he hated writing in school!❖ Read on to find out more about

how he became a playwright and the challenges he faces