After a text-based demo lesson, I debated this question together with my (CELT-S) group
Are authentic materials too challenging?
Yes, they are, but that’s the point! Your text, written or recorded, is likely to be too hard, even, in some cases, for advanced students. The trick, regardless of the text used, is not to edit and grade the text, but to grade the task according to your students’ abilities. This is for three reasons: most importantly, it reflects the kind of situation your students may face in an English-speaking environment, it saves you time and finally, it encourages and motivates your students when they can ‘conquer’ a real text.
((Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.))