Adapting a session for the people in the room.

Start with what people tell you

This page is a companion to the teaching guide. It is about fitting a kit to the people who come, without changing what the kit says.

The teaching guide covers how to teach any session: explaining without advising, staying nonpartisan, checking understanding, interpreters and online sessions. The hosting guide’s accessibility checklist covers the room. This page adds what to check and offer for particular groups of people. Use the sections that fit your room; most rooms need more than one.

Before the session

• Ask the host who is likely to come and what they have asked for before. Hosts often know their community well.
• Ask the host to invite people to say what they need when they book or sign up, and to tell you without passing on anyone’s name or reasons.
• Read the kit’s Who it’s for line. Several kits already name groups such as people new to the country, first-time filers or people who help a relative.
• Decide in advance which part of the run sheet you would shorten if adjustments take more time (see Short on time in the teaching guide).

At the start

• Say what will happen, how long it will take and when the breaks are. A predictable shape helps almost everyone.
• Say that people can ask for things to be repeated, step out at any time, and pass on any question or activity.
• Point out the large-print copies, the glossary words on the board and where to sit to see and hear well, as things anyone can use.

Older adults

Age tells you little about what someone knows. Some older adults have handled money and paperwork for decades; some are using a smartphone for the first time. Check, and offer.

What to check and offer

• Seeing and hearing. Offer seats near the screen and the speaker, large-print copies, and a microphone or hearing loop if the room has one. Face the room when you speak, not the screen.
• Pace. Pause after each part of the run sheet, and keep to the breaks you announced. Ask the room whether to go over something again, rather than asking one person.
• Devices. Don’t assume people do or don’t use smartphones, online banking or portals. When a kit shows a website, show it on screen and give the address on paper too.
• Family and carers. Some people come with a relative or carer, and some come because they help a parent. Speak to the person, not to whoever came with them. Money and health can be private, even from family.
• Examples. Use the kit’s made-up examples. Avoid jokes or stories that cast older people as easy targets or as bad with technology.

In the kit

• Scams and fraud is written for adults of any age and for anyone who helps a parent, relative or neighbor with money. Its prepare list suggests a printed copy of the first-hour steps (slides 12 and 13) for anyone who wants a spare for a relative.
• Portals and video appointments is for people new to smartphones and for family members or carers who help them. It uses a paper mock-up, so nobody logs in to anything.
• Medicines and costs and Your health records include people who help a family member.
• Activity variant: work through the activity as one group, with you reading each card or line aloud, instead of in small groups reading small print.

Materials

• The handout and worksheet with Print in large print, and a printed copy of the slides people need to read closely.
• A printed copy of the free help page for your country, for anyone who would rather not look it up on a phone.

Official help for older adults

• United States: the Eldercare Locator, a public service of the Administration for Community Living, connects older adults and their families to local services (1-800-677-1116).
• United States: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s resources for older adults, including where to find help responding to elder financial abuse, and its Managing someone else’s money guides for people named in a power of attorney, court-appointed guardians, trustees and government fiduciaries.
• Money Smart for Older Adults, developed jointly by the FDIC and the CFPB, is a free instructor-led curriculum on preventing fraud and scams, for older adults and their caregivers. It can be taught in full or by topic, if a group wants more than one session on scams.
• Elsewhere: the free help page for your country and subject.

If you are worried that an older adult is being exploited or harmed, that is a safeguarding concern: follow the safeguarding statement. Don’t investigate it yourself.

Newcomers, refugees and people learning the language

People new to a country often know a lot about how money, healthcare or government worked where they lived before. What is new is how it works here, and sometimes the words for it.

What to check and offer

• Language. The written plan sets the language of each series. Ask the host whether anyone needs an interpreter, and use the teaching guide’s interpreters and mixed languages section. To teach in another language yourself, see Teaching a session in another language.
• Words. Write the key words for each part on the board. Avoid idioms, sports metaphors and abbreviations, and say an agency’s full name before its short name. The glossary, Words you’ll hear, has a plain definition for most kit terms.
• Comparisons. “How did this work where you lived before?” can help a room, as long as answering is optional. Some people won’t want to talk about it.
• Status. Never ask about anyone’s immigration status. If someone asks what a service will do with their information, don’t guess: point to that service’s own official page.
• Hard experiences. Topics like lost documents, debts or dealing with officials can bring back difficult memories. Don’t ask for stories, offer breaks, and let people step out.

In the kit

• Banking without the fees, How coverage works here and Tax time and benefits name people new to the country in their audience. Who decides what explains which part of government handles what, which often differs from people’s home country.
• Teach the country block for the country you are teaching in, not the country people come from. Don’t compare countries’ systems from memory.
• Activity variants: pair people who share a language, read every card aloud, and allow more time for the activity by trimming another part.

Materials

• Sessions are taught in the language the host asks for, but the kits, handouts and worksheets on this site are in English. If people need them in another language, how they get them is agreed in the written plan.
• The glossary page, Words you’ll hear, printed or on screen, alongside the handout.
• A list of local services that speak people’s languages, if the host has one. The local help sheet puts nearby free services next to the official ones.

Official help for newcomers

• Canada: Find free newcomer services near you searches the free settlement services funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, including language assessment and English or French classes, and can show services offered in English or in French. The page lists who can use them, including permanent residents and resettled refugees. It does not cover Quebec.
• Australia: TIS National is an interpreting service provided by the Department of Home Affairs.
• Elsewhere: the free help page for your country and subject, and the host’s own contacts.

People with disabilities

Ask what helps, and take the answer as given. People know what they need, and many disabilities can’t be seen.

Offer adjustments to everyone, at booking and at the start, rather than waiting to be asked. Describe people as in charge of their own lives: “wheelchair user” rather than “wheelchair-bound”, “has” a condition rather than “suffers from” it (from the UK government’s inclusive language guidance). The same goes for money: the CFPB’s companion guide for people with disabilities starts from the point that everyone has a right to control their own money and make their own financial decisions.

Sight

• Offer large print. The UK government’s guidance on accessible communication formats recommends at least 16 point for people with sight loss, and says no single size suits everyone, so ask what works. Print in large print on the handouts and worksheets sets body text at 16 point; lists and source details print slightly smaller, so print a copy first if someone needs a particular size.
• Say aloud everything on each slide, including numbers and the made-up documents in the activity. Describe pictures and layouts briefly.
• Ask the host to send the links to the handout and worksheet beforehand. They are web pages, so people can use their own screen reader, magnifier or text size. For another format, the accessibility statement says how to ask.

Hearing

• Use the microphone or hearing loop if the room has one, keep one person talking at a time, and repeat questions from the room before answering.
• Face people when you speak, and don’t talk while you write on the board or look at the screen.
• Write the key points and any numbers on the board. Online, turn on captions if the platform has them.
• A sign language interpreter is arranged before the session, as part of the written plan with the host. Meet them first, as you would any interpreter.

Mobility

• Check the step-free route, space at the tables and a seat near the door for anyone who wants one.
• Bring materials to people rather than asking them to collect them. Make any moving around in an activity optional.
• Keep to regular breaks, and say people can stand, stretch or leave and come back at any time.

Cognitive and learning disabilities

• One idea at a time, in short sentences, with the key point repeated at the end of each part.
• Give more time for the activity and use fewer cards or items. The UK guidance describes Easy Read, which pairs simple, jargon-free text with clear pictures for people with learning disabilities. The kit handouts are not Easy Read, so say so if someone asks for it, and ask the Moraph lead.
• Someone may come with a support worker or a family member. Speak to the person, and let them decide what the other person helps with.

Mental health

• Money, debt and health can be stressful subjects. Say at the start that nobody has to share anything and people can step out at any time.
• Keep to the plan you announced, and warn people before a change of activity. Avoid language that blames or shames, as each kit’s Take care list says.
• If someone may not be safe, that is an emergency: use the local emergency number, as the teaching guide’s When someone is in trouble right now says.

In the kit

• Every kit can be adapted in the same ways: more time, fewer items, the activity done aloud as one group, and the slides read out in full.
• Portals and video appointments and Your health records include family members and carers who help someone.

Official help and guidance

• United States: the Department of Justice’s effective communication guidance says businesses and nonprofits that serve the public are encouraged to consult the person about which aid or service is appropriate, and state and local governments must give primary consideration to the aid the person asks for. Examples include sign language interpreters, real-time captioning, notetakers and large print or Braille. Your host knows its own obligations; this is not legal advice.
• United States: USAGov’s disability services page links to official benefits, employment and rights information.
• The FDIC’s Money Smart for Adults has disability-related topics and scenarios for instructors, and lists Braille and large-print versions in the FDIC catalog.
• United Kingdom: the accessible communication formats guidance covers large print, Easy Read, audio, Braille and British Sign Language.

Low confidence with reading or numbers

You usually can’t tell who finds reading or numbers hard, and people rarely say so. Build the session so it works for everyone, instead of trying to spot individuals.

What to check and offer

• Never ask anyone to read aloud, and don’t look at worksheets unless invited. Volunteers can read for their table if they want to.
• Say everything that is on a slide or card. Explain each term the first time you use it, and point to the glossary for the rest.
• Work one example on the board step by step before people try their own. The kits use round, made-up numbers; keep it that way, and hand out the calculators the kit lists.
• Let people talk an answer through instead of writing it.
• Check that your explanation landed with the teach-back method. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s teach-back tool describes asking people to say in their own words what they need to know, reminds you that it checks how well you explained, not the person, and suggests avoiding yes-or-no questions such as “Do you understand?”. The teaching guide has ways to do this in a group.

In the kit

• Everyday money needs no experience or spreadsheets. Reading a medical bill and Your health records are written for people whatever their confidence with paperwork, and Budgets in plain words for people with no finance background.
• Activity variants: do the first item together as a room; sort half the cards instead of all of them; one person at each table reads, by choice, and others decide.

Materials

• Print in large print helps many people who don’t think of themselves as needing it. Leave a few large-print copies on every table.
• The glossary, Words you’ll hear. If you write anything of your own for the session, the U.S. government’s plain language guidance is a free starting point.
• The worksheet goes home with each person, so nobody needs to finish it in the room.

Young adults, first jobs and first accounts

Many people meet a payslip, a bank account, a credit check or a tax return for the first time in their late teens and early twenties. Treat them as the adults they are.

What to check and offer

• Don’t assume family support. Some young adults live alone, care for someone, are parents themselves, or have no one to ask.
• Skip lectures about spending habits. The kits explain how things work; people decide for themselves.
• Many people will want to look things up on their phones. Show the official route on screen, and keep personal details out of the session, as the kits ask.
• Use the kits’ made-up examples. Don’t ask about anyone’s pay, debts or family.

In the kit

• Banking without the fees is for adults opening a first account. Everyday money includes people whose pay changes from week to week, and Tax time and benefits includes first-time filers.
• Credit reports and scores and Borrowing safely cover first credit, and pay-later plans are in Borrowing safely’s audience. Scams and fraud is for adults of any age.
• Serving locally covers public roles such as election work. Point to each role’s own eligibility rules, as its Take care list says.

Official help for young adults

• United States: the FDIC’s Money Smart for Young Adults is an instructor-led curriculum with modules on banking, income, credit, borrowing, protecting your identity, paying for education and training, and living on your own.
• Elsewhere: the free help page for your country and subject.

People in financial or health crisis

Some people come because something is going wrong now: a debt, an illness, a bill they can’t pay. A session can still help, as long as it stays general and points to the people who can look at their case.

What to check and offer

• People may be tired, worried or distracted. Offer breaks, and let people leave and come back without explaining.
• Never ask about anyone’s situation in front of the room. Offer a private word at the break or the end, and point to the free help on the country handout.
• Don’t promise outcomes: that a debt will be cleared, money returned or a service free. The kits’ Take care lists say the same.
• Avoid shame. The kits’ Take care lists say why: check cashers and short-term loans often fill a real gap, people borrow because they need to, and people with poor credit have often been through illness, job loss or a relationship ending.
• Keep it short and concrete. One clear next step and the right phone number are worth more than everything at once.

In the kit

• Everyday money says what to do if someone mentions a cut-off notice, an eviction or a debt collector: speak privately and point to the free help in the country block. Borrowing safely asks you to note a local free debt advice service the host recommends, and check it is free and not a lender.
• Finding low-cost care is for people with no cover, not enough cover or a gap. Reading a medical bill and Medicines and costs are for people facing costs now.
• In Your health records, people can draft the practice request with practice details rather than their own.

Materials

• The country handout, and a printed copy of the free help page for your country and subject.
• The local help sheet, or the host’s own list of nearby free services, checked as free before you hand it out.

Official help

• Money, healthcare and local government: the free help pages, by country. Each lists government services, regulators, ombudsmen and statutory bodies only.
• Mental health, United States: the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline offers free, confidential support by call, text or chat at 988, 24 hours a day.
• Mental health, England: the NHS page on urgent help for mental health says to call 999 or go to A&E if someone’s life is at risk, and to call 111 and choose the mental health option for urgent help.
• Elsewhere: know the local emergency number before you start, as the teaching guide asks.

Mixed groups

Most rooms are mixed. Start with the changes that cost nobody anything, then offer the extras.

For everyone, every time

• Say what is on each slide, write key words on the board, and keep to the breaks you announced.
• Put large-print copies on every table and point out the glossary.
• Offer choices in the activity: write or talk, all the cards or some of them, work in a pair or listen first.

Without singling anyone out

• Offer adjustments to the whole room (“some people find it easier to…”), not to one person in front of others.
• Let people choose partners, or mix tables by confidence as the teaching guide suggests. Pair people who share a language when that helps.
• When people need different paces, keep the room moving and go over a step again at the break for anyone who wants it.

Afterwards

Note what you changed and what helped, without names, for the host and the Moraph lead (see After the session). If a kit needs a change for everyone, tell us at hello@moraph.org.