Lewis the Lion meets his first Asian currency: the Singapore Dollar

Lewis checks out some of the Singaporean currency

Lewis checks out some of the Singaporean currency

Lewis the Lion loved arriving in countries where he could find an easy trick to convert the currency from pounds and pence. His first encounter with an Asian currency, the Singapore Dollar (SGD $) was no exception.
The simple trick was to remember that for every pound, the Singapore Dollar was approximately double, i.e.
£1 = SGD $2

Or conversely,

SGD $1 = £0.50 or 50 p

So you either had to double the pounds, or half the Singapore dollar to work out the equivalent value.

Knowing this, can you convert the following amounts for Lewis the Lion into pounds and pence?

1) SGD $10
2) SGD $20
3) SGD $5
4) SGD $12
5) SGD $22.50

Lewis the Lion inspects some of the Singapore Dollar notes

Lewis the Lion inspects some of the Singapore Dollar notes

Lewis the Lion also noticed that on the front of the notes themselves seemed to all have the portrait of someone he didn’t recognise? He did a little bit of research and discovered it was the face of President Yusof bin Ishak.

Lewis looks to see what's on the back of the Singapore notes?

Lewis looks to see what’s on the back of the Singapore notes?

On the back of the notes were pictures showing themes on Education ($2), Garden City ($5), Sports ($10), Arts ($50) and Youth ($100).

Like the US dollar, Lewis the Lion discovered that denominations came in and $2, $5, $10, $50 and $100 dollar notes.

Some of the main coinage in Singapore

Some of the main coinage in Singapore

The coins were cents (i.e. 100 cents in a dollar) and were available in 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cent coins, as well as $1 coins and all displayed the Singapore Coat of Arms in its four official languages.

What can you find out about President Yusof bin Ishak ?

About Helen Molloy

Helen Molloy has been a Primary Learning and Teaching Consultant, leading on the introduction of Primary Languages in the City of Stoke-on-Trent for the past 5 and a half years. She is passionate about language learning and inspiring children into developing a curiosity and awareness of other people's languages and cultures.
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