This document provides a summary of stories from Beacon Current Affairs Term 2 Week 5. It discusses teenagers volunteering to help others through activities like first aid duties. It profiles Malala Yousafzai, noting she is a 15-year-old activist for female education who survived an assassination attempt. The document also describes an informal volunteer group that helps low-income families with home repairs and a discussion on how helping others brings out the best in people, providing examples of philanthropic acts in Indonesia and Myanmar. It concludes by encouraging readers to identify a problem and discuss ways to address it.

1. Beacon Current Affairs
2015
Term 2 Week 5

2. Who am I?

3. Names in the news Places in the news
Malala Yousafzai (pg8) Myanmar (pg20)
Words in the News
(pg4-5)
shunned
volunteer
Internship
Empower
(Pg8-9)
assassination
Advocate
Philanthropist
Gender inequality
(Pg16)
informal
limited resources
hands-on
needy
(pg20)
cry for help
starvation
bloodbank

4. In service to others (pg 4-5)
Many young people have felt
the calling to help the less
fortunate
Chan Wen Xin (right) is a
volunteer with the Singapore
Red Cross
She was on first-aid duty from
1.30 am to 9.30 am the day
before Mr Lee’s state funeral
Read on and be inspired by
how other teenagers are
helping out in their own time

5. What is an activist? (pg 8-9)
An activist is someone in
society who speaks up or takes
action when they see problems
that need to be fixed
Malala Yousafzai is an activist
for female education
She is only 15, but has been the
target of assassination
Read on to find out what many
other good people around the
world are doing to help change
the world (for the better)

6. Joy of volunteering (pg 16)
Helping Joy is an informal
group of volunteers who
clean and paint homes of
low-income families
The group was started
after a discussion on how
to help the needy with
limited resources
We don’t need to be rich
to help other people; we
just need to have the heart

7. Helping others brings out the
best in oneself (pg20)
Indonesian billionaire
reads the newspapers for
people in need of help
Famous footballer writes
signatures of needy people
on his chest
Security officer has donated
blood at least 69 times
Art director visits
orphanages in Myanmar to
help less fortunate children

8. Look at page 12-15 of your LRD. Think of a
problem in your neighbourhood or class or school,
and discuss what you can do about it
–Mr Ng