With the placement system described above, the core curriculum of FOCAL SKILLS adjusts readily to the individual needs and strengths of each student. Students skip modules that they do not need, and stay in modules that they do need for as long as they need them.
A student might spend an entire semester in the Listening Module. Or, a student might skip Listening altogether and go on to Reading for 4 weeks and Writing for 12 weeks. Or, a student might take 8 weeks of Listening and then be ready to go directly to the Advanced Module.
Below is a list of the possible schedules a student might follow over the course of one 16-week semester. Each of these schedules represents a distinct individualized curriculum. If we have counted correctly, there are 33 possible curricular sequences in 1 semester — far more than would be possible in most intensive ESL programs. This great variety of possibilities is produced by a simple placement procedure repeated every 4 weeks.
1st month 2nd month 3rd month 4th month LISTENING LISTENING LISTENING LISTENING LISTENING LISTENING LISTENING READING LISTENING LISTENING READING READING LISTENING READING READING READING LISTENING LISTENING LISTENING WRITING LISTENING LISTENING WRITING WRITING LISTENING WRITING WRITING WRITING LISTENING LISTENING LISTENING ADVANCED LISTENING LISTENING ADVANCED ADVANCED LISTENING ADVANCED ADVANCED ADVANCED LISTENING LISTENING READING WRITING LISTENING READING READING WRITING LISTENING READING WRITING WRITING LISTENING LISTENING READING ADVANCED LISTENING LISTENING WRITING ADVANCED LISTENING READING READING ADVANCED LISTENING WRITING WRITING ADVANCED LISTENING READING WRITING ADVANCED READING READING READING READING READING READING READING WRITING READING READING WRITING WRITING READING WRITING WRITING WRITING READING READING READING ADVANCED READING READING ADVANCED ADVANCED READING ADVANCED ADVANCED ADVANCED READING READING WRITING ADVANCED READING WRITING WRITING ADVANCED READING WRITING ADVANCED ADVANCED WRITING WRITING WRITING WRITING WRITING WRITING WRITING ADVANCED WRITING WRITING ADVANCED ADVANCED WRITING ADVANCED ADVANCED ADVANCED ADVANCED ADVANCED ADVANCED ADVANCED
It seems reasonable that students should progress faster if they are given curricular sequences that closely match their individual strengths, weaknesses, and aptitudes.