I'd like to add my pennyworth on the subject of advanced Japanese. This is based of my experience in learning English which is the only foreign language in which I can claim to be close to an advance level, and for which I can still remember what it felt like when I was studying at intermediate level.
First, I don't think JPOD101 teaching skills would be most efficiently used for advance material because..well we already have advanced Japanese, it is called the INTERNET! If you speak a language sufficiently well you can advance it by yourself because you can always look at the same resources a native would use and, nowadays, there is plenty to be had on the internet..So advanced learner need to be pointed to resources useful to them - that should suffice. What could be easily provided is a marker that labels a resource particularly useful to advanced learners. We can still use the forum (or ask YOSHI!) for our questions and queries.
Students which have just come to about intermediate level and beginners past the survival level are those who need most help because material is most scarce in this transitional phases. They need help to make the jump to the next level. Help with getting the Japanese expression that will help them ask a native for clarification. Help with making the most of what they know to start acquiring more vocabulary and pick words and expressions up faster when they hear native use them or see them in writing.
That is why I would like to see more 'army knife' (to borrow a very apt phrase by Peter-san) expressions at intermediate level to and that help us ask specifically for those aspects and subtle differences which are characteristic of the next level. My understanding of intermediate level jumped up after I painfully transcribed lesson 28 chit chat (see elsewhere in the forum) but why should I have to slog away at it on my own
? Why were those expressions/standard questions and replies not gone over in dept once before they were adopted for regular explanations ? It would have been more efficient.
In conclusion, YES to pointers to more advanced material, but NOT YET to dedicated advanced lessons. YES to introducing more sofisticated communication expressions to use but YES also to such expressions being introduced once before being regularly used.
Regarding the balance of lessons levels: I still need very much the beginner level because of my poor vocabolary. The audioblog is not difficult as such but I think its role is to get us to respond using our Japanese and this is something I really need to do - so by no means a lesser tool. iLOVE? uhmm.. fun, but linguistically a bit of a holiday- still, it keeps the community interested.
Best wishes to all
mikuji (not an advanced learner by any means
)