NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is giving schoolchildren an opportunity to learn the basics of how to produce television programs.

Under its one-year "You Are the Star!" program running through March 2001, NHK is inviting mainly fifth and sixth graders to visit its broadcasting stations in nine blocs across Japan to gain experience working as a newscaster, producer, or other production team member making a short mock news program covering what is happening in local communities or schools.

The NHK Osaka Station opened up its facilities for five days recently to 628 students from nine schools in Osaka Prefecture.

Some 80 students from Suita Minami Elementary School in Suita City tried out for the program by producing a video, complete with script, on their school district.

Taking up their chosen roles in the production team, they learned from NHK staff on which cue a newscaster should start talking on the show and how to handle equipment for switching scenes and sounds.

At first, they had difficulty in performing their roles in synch. After repeated practices, however, they finally made it to an actual take.

Naoto Watanabe, who acted as the newscaster, said he enjoyed the role very much, though he first thought he would be very nervous.

Watching a floor director standing next to a TV camera and giving a cue to a newscaster, Saya Uemura realized for the first time that many people are involved in producing a single TV program. "Watching TV at home, it seemed to me that making a TV program was a piece of cake. But it isn't," said Saya.

NHK is sponsoring this program to help students understand the importance, and also difficulty, of finding things out on their own and communicating what they find to other people.

NHK hopes the production experience will help students learn how to choose a subject in their everyday life, research it, summarize the findings, and devise ways to convey them in an easy-to-understand fashion. It is designed to help students develop their abilities to effectively use information they collect. It is a lot more than just a visit to a TV station to learn how it works, NHK officials said.

The schools that participated in the program were later featured in other NHK broadcasts. In addition, a digest of some of the shows put together by the kids is scheduled to be aired.

Photos: (top) A cameraman shows students how to work the equipment; (above) the kids were also active in front of the cameras. (Japan Broadcasting Corporation)