. . . if you're in Hollywood. Here, TV is a vital English tutor

Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise would not approve of the viewing habits of the average Hong Kong teenager who, according to various youth surveys, watches close to three hours of television a day.

But rather than discouraging our goggle-eyed children, Michael Tien Puk-sun, chairman of the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (Scolar), is on a mission to encourage them to watch more. He believes more should use television as a means of tuning in to an English-speaking environment, and thus enhancing their language skills.

'TV helps language by making it interesting and creating the motivation to learn. It helps with the speaking and listening part,' he says.

Parents, he says, will go to almost any length to ensure their children win places in English medium schools. But outside the school day few use the language, as reflected in the ratings for English-language television. (TVB Pearl and ATV World attract about 160,000 viewers a night, while up to two million tune in to the two stations' Cantonese channels).

A recent joint survey by TVB and ATV revealed a widespread lack of interest in the fate of English-language TV. Six out of 10 Hong Kong viewers were found to want more non-English programmes aired on the two terrestrial English-language channels. ATV is hoping that this apathy for English can help persuade the Broadcasting Authority to lift its ban on non-English programmes being aired on the channels during prime-time.

Mr Tien is determined that this will not happen. He has also set Scolar to work with TVB on building a new strategy for popular TV to be used as a language-learning tool, in particular during early evening time-slots. But he says it is not enough for children to watch television alone.