Portuguese School of Macao Director Manuel Machado says Portuguese is a second language for 75 percent of the new pupils at his school, most having Cantonese as their first language, Lusa reports.

The Portuguese news agency quotes Mr Machado as saying that three years ago Portuguese was a second language for 40 percent of new pupils.

The report says the school makes its pupils speak Portuguese if they attend a writing workshop or meetings of its philosophy club.

The school also teaches Portuguese to pupils at secondary schools in Macao where the language of instruction is Chinese, giving a three-year-course of two-hour classes taught three times a week outside normal schools hours.

Demand for instruction in Portuguese is growing, Lusa quotes Mr Machado as saying.