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Macao Schools Programmes ~ Part of the English For Asia Group

  • Telling China's Stories to the World

    First words, first conversations – spoken English for ages 4–6.

    Telling China's Stories

    First words. First conversations. 

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First Speakers is the kindergarten course within our extra-curricular “Telling China's Stories to the World” programme. Children learn to greet others, name familiar people and things, and use short sentences to talk about their day. 

Familiar pictures and simple language help students practise. Each activity ends with students using English to express something of their own, rather than simply repeating a line.

A teacher holds up a family photograph while talking with two young children seated beside her at a classroom table.

Lessons draw on everyday life in Macao and mainland China: family, friends, hobbies, favourite foods and the areas where students live. Students also talk about familiar festival experiences – where they go, what they eat and what they see and do.

Teaching approach

First Speakers uses real objects and familiar examples from family life and the local environment. Young learners practise English by looking, touching and talking. 

Each lesson follows a clear pattern: look, point, say, then ask. Students practise greetings, colours, numbers, family words and simple prepositions (in, on, under, next to). They also begin to ask the teacher or a classmate questions.

All lessons are delivered by qualified Native English-speaking Teachers (NETs). 

Programme

First Speakers: Trinity GESE Grades 1–2


Format: 15 lessons × 60 minutes  
Trinity aim: Grade 1 conversation after lesson 8, or Grade 2 after lesson 15 

 
Students practise

  • Saying hello, their name and their age 
  • Pointing to and naming classroom things, colours and clothes 
  • Talking about a family photo: This is my mum. That’s my little brother. 
  • Asking and answering simple personal questions 
  • Describing where something is: The bag is on the chair 

By the end of the course, students can

  • Greet and introduce themselves in full sentences 
  • Name people, objects and places they see every day 
  • Use simple present and have got for facts about their life 
  • Ask one short question and understand the answer 
  • Sit a short Trinity GESE Grade 1 or 2 conversation if the school chooses to enter the exam  

Student competitions 

  • Children celebrate their progress by sharing what they can say in English at the School Showcase in May.
  • Selected K3 children can represent their kindergarten at the Grand Macao-wide Final in July

Benefits for schools 

  • A spoken-English course that complements existing kindergarten routines 
  • Observable can-do checks after lessons 8 and 15 
  • Lessons delivered by trained NET teachers 
  • Materials that stay at young learner level – local everyday settings, no long memorised texts 

Benefits for learners 

  • Confidence to speak in front of others from the first few weeks 
  • Familiar pictures and real objects so the language sticks 
  • Develop a habit of asking as well as answering 
  • Language for the people, places and festival days students already know 

Student Celebration and Recognition Events

Our end-of-year Telling China's Stories events give children a chance to share their first English sentences about familiar people and things. A School Showcase takes place at each kindergarten in May, followed by the Grand Macao-wide Final in July, where selected K3 children can represent their kindergarten. The Grand Macao-wide Final is organised by the English for Asia Teachers Association of Macao (EfATAM).

Find out more about the events

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