Before deciding to prepare an individualized course, teachers should pause to take inventory. First, they should consider the amount of time, energy, and expertise needed to carry out the project once it is begun. They should ask themselves if they would like to use this approach. Are they willing to initiate a long-term project that will require a continuing commitment to change and revision over a period of years? Do the students need and want such a course? Will there be support from the administration, the parents, and the students? Are the needed funds and facilities available? Some resource persons should be available for consultation prior to beginning the project and often thereafter. Before making the final plunge, they should visit a teacher who has an ongoing individualized program to see for themselves how it functions, to discuss the program's good and bad points with the instructor, and to gain insights into pitfalls to be anticipated and avoided.
As soon as the teacher has made the decision to individualize, he needs to occupy himself with procedures for implementing this decision, just how does one individualize a class? He may be thoroughly familiar with the reasons for and convinced of the desirability of individualized instruction, but how to do it is another question. For the reader who needs assistance in planning step-by- step procedures for preparing an individualized program, the best descriptions of the "nuts and bolts" of putting an individualized program together are Individualized Foreign Language Instruction by Grittner and La Leike (Skokie, III: National Textbook) and Individualized Foreign Language Learning: An Organic Process by Logan (Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House). If at all possible, the teacher should have some lead time to prepare as large a percentage of the needed paper work as possible. Putting himself in a situation in which he must teach as well as prepare materials is less than desirable for various obvious reasons which need not be listed here.
Even after reaching a decision and fortifying the likelihood of success with reading, consultation, and visitation, the advice of most teachers with experience is to begin slowly and in a reasonable fashion. At first, for any given class a segment of the text or a selected number of class periods can be individualized. If the initial reactions to individualized instruction are favorable and the results seem to justify an expansion of initial efforts, the teacher can make plans to expand the number of individualized segments. One possibility, especially since students seem to like variety, is to reserve part of each week for individualized activities. For example, part of each class period might be set aside for this type of activity, although a longer period of time would normally seem to be called for. Another variation is to have regular class meetings for the major part of the week, but to let the students work on individualized materials for one day, or two days, if they prefer. The number of days might eventually be expanded if the results warrant increased use of individualized materials.
The next step is to individualize an entire class. Two possibilities exist at this point. The teacher may either individualize the lowest level course or the highest. If she decides on the lowest, she has the obligation to take the students through the other levels following the same procedures (given a reasonable amount of success with the program). Beginning at the beginning commits the teacher to a great deal of work over a period of years. The advantage of starting with beginners is that they are accustomed from the start to working with individualized materials. On the other hand, many experienced teachers recommend beginning with the highest level. Individualized instruction at the lower levels can be implemented in subsequent years. The latter approach would not involve as strong a commitment as the former.
Establishing an individualized program of study for certain groups of students within a class is also a possibility. The teacher may want to identify groups of students with certain abilities or interests for which special materials can be individualized. For example, those students with a special interest in conversation and travel might be offered materials covering these two interests.
Another obvious possibility is to individualize parts of the course. With a text like Spanish for Communication (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972), the grammar might well be treated through an individualized approach. Sounds of French (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1974) is a self-instructional program that gives the students the responsibility for learning on their own. Readings have long been assigned as independent study projects. With a little extra preplanning, readings can be individualized by giving students the choice of what to read and at what pace. With time and ingenuity, LAPs focusing on culture can be prepared for the students to do when convenient to the class schedule. In addition to reading and culture, individualized LAPs can be prepared in each of the other language skills. Tapes and/or records can be the basis of listening comprehension projects. Students can be asked to prepare oral reports, to
discuss some topic with selected classmates, and to give an oral report on the conclusions reached, etc. LAPs can be prepared in which the final product is a composition or a dialog written by the student. Obviously, various combinations of the language skills can be included in any given LAP. For example, students can listen to a dialog on a tape and then give a written or oral summary of the contents, or they can react orally or in writing to the content of the tape.
The purpose of the preceding discussion is not to convey the impression that an individualized program must be established piecemeal. The concern is that the teachers experiment with this curricular approach to ascertain how it works for them and for their students. They should determine how much time and energy the preparation of LAPs will take; gain experience and expertise in the writing of LAPs and in administering the program in the classroom; and have some free time for themselves and for their family and friends. No innovation should require more of teachers than they have the time, the energy, and the knowledge to accomplish.