Personalising your materials

Summary

Key Points

• —Coursebooks are designed for an imagined average classroom, so teachers must adapt materials to fit their students' unique contexts and motivations. 8:25
• —Personalizing tasks by linking them to learners' lives taps into forethought theory, increasing motivation and deeper engagement. 10:26
• —A successful example replaced a British‑breakfast writing task with a comparison of students' own breakfasts, resulting in higher investment and a 33% increase in enjoyment. 19:11
• —The speaker introduced a simple three‑step framework—Connect, Adapt, Empower—to guide the personalization process. 20:29
• —A less successful example over‑adapted a beginner activity, eliminating third‑person practice and cognitive challenge, which compromised the intended grammar learning. 40:01
• —The key caution is to preserve the original learning objectives while personalizing, ensuring that engagement does not replace essential language practice. 45:20
• —A practical tool suggested is a short pre‑course survey to gather students' interests, goals, and challenges, providing data for targeted adaptation. 53:31
• —The session concludes with an invitation to apply the Connect‑Adapt‑Empower steps to upcoming lessons and to join a follow‑up Q&A for further support. 56:39
• —Teachers are encouraged to reflect on which learning goals they would never sacrifice when adapting, reinforcing the balance between relevance and rigor. 58:14
• —Integrating the framework requires only small adjustments; using the survey data can streamline planning and prevent extra workload. 59:17