In the katakana project, we examined how Katakana is used in the actual context and compared those actual usages with the Katakana descriptions in various textbooks. We hope that you have had interesting insights through this project. As some of you already mentioned in your analysis, textbooks are never able to exhaust all rules. Textbook authors always need to select and organize particular constructions of reality from the vast universe of knowledge.
There are many notions that we all tend to consider as self-evident. For example, we may think that Katakana is used only for loan words, textbooks present correct, neutral, and essential information and knowledge, or Japanese people speak Japanese language. But do these “self-evident” notions truly reflect the realities? We believe that questioning or reflecting on your understanding of these “self-evident” notions is the first step in making yourself involved in the target Japanese community, not as passive receivers of knowledge but as active producers of knowledge. We should not just wait for the community to take the initiative to change but change the community by ourselves. Hence the katakana project was an attempt to put this concept into practice.
Another reason why we conducted this project is because we wanted to encourage students to explore Japan- related topics. In order to focus on content learning foremost, we emphasized researching and writing in any language, not limited to Japanese.
As educators we feel that it is extremely important for us to help students gain critical thinking skills and cross-cultural understanding. With these abilities and knowledge, we will be able to become responsible for our future community. Let’s make a better world together!
先週の木曜日に、クラスメートのせんりゅうやマンガを評価（ひょうか:evaluation）しましたね。その中で、とてもいい作品（さくひん:piece of work）を紹介します（しょうかいします:to introduce）。
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