After 18 years on the Ukrainian educational market, we know one thing for sure: custom-made materials aren't just a nice-to-have. They're an essential part of delivering truly effective English training.
At YAPPI, every single lesson is created by our in-house team — from scratch. This creative process didn’t come together overnight. It took time, testing, and lots of real-world feedback. But thanks to the daily experience we gain with our clients, our materials are constantly evolving.
It all started with occasional client requests for custom trainings or one-off lessons. Today, we're capable of building full textbook series for all levels — complete with trial lessons, level testing, spaced repetition features, homework options, and more.
Want some numbers to get a feel for the scale of our creative lab?
Between 2023 and 2024, we developed full Business English and General English textbooks for Intermediate to Advanced levels — totaling 372 lessons. That’s just the core content. In addition, we created dozens of tailored programs upon request: Military English, English for Hosting, English for IT, English for Game Artists and more. Add to that over 100 grammar and business training modules, 300+ conversation course lessons, and 400+ mini-lessons covering niche professional vocabulary.
Every lesson at YAPPI starts with an idea: what course it belongs to, what the program looks like, how long it will run, and what level it’s aimed at. From the start, we think about the student — their experience, schedule, and even where they might be six months or a year from now, once the course is up and running.
Then comes the heart of it all: building the course content and finding the right context. We steer clear of the usual suspects like Steve Jobs bios or bland dialogues between John and Mary. Our students are adults — not kids. They’re curious, critical, and can sense when something’s off.
“Adults have a radar for what’s real.”
Next, we move on to planning the individual lesson. Sometimes it starts with a meeting between the editor and the author, where we outline the entire flow from A to Z. Creating a single lesson might take a day — or a full week. It depends on the complexity and depth.
For certain specialized courses, we bring in field experts to consult. For example, our Military English course was developed with input from several military professionals.
Another key step? Editing. Every lesson goes through careful review. The author gets feedback, revises, and resubmits. Sometimes, multiple rounds of edits are needed. On rare occasions, a lesson might be rewritten from scratch — usually when we’re just starting to work with a new author.
The final touch is design. We package the lesson visually, add it to the textbook, and voilà — it’s ready to use with students.
Curious to see how this all looks in real life? Check out our open-access lesson “How does it work?” for Intermediate level — and test our online platform while you're at it!
Up to 10 specialists can be involved in creating a single lesson at YAPPI. Here’s who makes it happen:
Our team of creative authors also work as teachers — but it’s important to note: not every teacher can write materials. That’s a skill on its own. One of the biggest myths in ELT (English Language Teaching) is that if you know English, you can teach it — and if you can teach, you can write a textbook.
But no — a translator is not a teacher, a teacher is not a methodologist, and a methodologist is not an author. These are separate roles, each requiring unique skills and training. In Ukraine, most university programs don’t prepare you to teach English to adults — and they certainly don’t train you to become a materials developer.
We started out encouraging teachers to create their own materials in any format they could — any creative spark was gold. Now, we’re at a stage where we can actually train our authors. We offer video tutorials, ongoing support from editors, and feedback at every stage of the process. And there’s another layer — the tech side. Our interactive platform, Smarte+, is where all the materials live. Authors need to be trained to use it properly. Behind this part of the process stands a separate team: a technical editor and a platform designer.
Today, our R&D department is like a busy kitchen — full of specialists, creators, and master chefs working together to cook up great lessons.
Each lesson at YAPPI goes through multiple stages — and multiple filters — before it reaches a student. Here’s what that process looks like:
Every lesson must follow the communicative approach — no exceptions. This means real-life contexts, active student engagement, and a clear focus on communication.
The storyline of a lesson is just as important as its vocabulary or grammar goals. Our adult students come with experience and critical thinking — and they’re not easy to impress. So we don’t just give language, we wrap it in real, thought-provoking stories.
Relevance is key. We avoid outdated examples or overused references. Sometimes, we create lessons just days or weeks after a major world event — which means our textbooks often double as current affairs guides.
After the full-scale war in Ukraine began, we recognized the importance of inclusivity. By 2023, themes like Urban Inclusiveness appeared in our yBook course materials.
We don’t allow content that promotes or implies discrimination — including ageism, sexism, homophobia, or any kind of bias.
We also strictly avoid any references to Russian or Belarusian culture, public figures, or content associated with the aggressor country. That includes avoiding quotes or stories from artists who support the war.
All our textbooks are hosted on an interactive platform. But we treat digital lessons with the same rigor as traditional print materials. Fonts, colors, formatting — everything is checked by our technical editors before going live.
The process doesn’t stop once a lesson is published. We regularly update content if the world changes — replacing outdated stats, updating names or timelines, and sometimes rewriting full lesson blocks to keep things fresh and relevant.
At YAPPI, our programs focus on the two most in-demand language skills today: speaking and listening. We keep our finger on the pulse of social change and evolving learner needs. Our lessons blend elements of gamification, the lexical approach, and — most recently — AI integration. We were among the first in the industry to adopt ChatGPT back in late 2022. While AI hasn’t replaced our authors, it has definitely helped us speed up content creation and enhance lesson quality — especially with voiceover and pronunciation tools. Today, our textbooks even include an AI pronunciation checker students can use directly in their lessons.
“We change every time we interact with someone else.”
This quote defines how we see education. Our materials are more than just content — they are tools of human interaction. That’s why we design lessons to inspire, motivate, and uplift. Between the grammar points and vocabulary sets, you’ll find stories that:
This is the unspoken mission of our materials: not just teaching English, but shaping mindsets — and reflecting the spirit of our time.
