Voice of America TV with subtitles

The U.S. switch from analog to digital television broadcasts on Jun. 12 and yesterday was a truly historic day in my city, Zaragoza - Spain, because we also saw the end to more than 60 years of analog broadcast of television signals.

But there are still million homes that haven't made the DTV switch. Some might actually opt to take their time, make do with a book or watch some Internet TV channels, like this:

Voice of America Special English TV. For students and teachers.

The Roots of Special English: The goal is to communicate by radio and TV in clear and simple English with people whose native language was not English and are not fluent in English.

Three Elements Make Special English Unique:
- It has a core vocabulary of 1500 words.
- Writers use short, simple sentences that contain only one idea. They use active voice. They do not use idioms.
- Broadcasters read at a slower pace, about two-thirds the speed of standard English. This helps people learning English hear each word clearly. It also helps people who are fluent English speakers understand complex subjects.

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