Jasmine Garden Education Journal
Our Practice
What fifteen years of working with children in the real world has taught us.
These are editorial adaptations of articles first published in Chinese in Jasmine Garden Education Journal. They are not translations: each has been re-edited for readers outside Taiwan, with the context an English reader needs and without the explanations a Taiwanese reader does not. What has not changed is the judgement — and the discipline of ending each piece with what we still don't know. The first English adaptations are being prepared for publication.
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Before a Child Can Learn From Failure, Failure Needs a Second Attempt Forthcoming
On a May evening at a campsite on Taiwan's north coast, a team of children failed the same task three times. The leader standing beside them did not step in with the answer. That was deliberate: the next attempt was still theirs to make. What children need is not to avoid failure, but a structure in which failing still leaves the next attempt open.
To be adapted from an article first published in Chinese, May 2026.
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Children Don't Need More Choices. They Need Choices That Are Real. Forthcoming
A kindergarten group reaches a fork on the trail: a wide, familiar paved path to the left; a narrow track to the right, covered in leaves and fallen branches, where you have to find your own footing. No adult chooses for them. It is a very small decision. In outdoor education, we care a great deal about decisions this small.
To be adapted from an article first published in Chinese, June 2026.
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Why We Leave Time in the Day When Nothing Is Supposed to Happen Forthcoming
On Taiwan's northeast coast, a third-grader crouched in front of a bare rock face for close to ten minutes — running a hand over the grain, watching the water lines left by the retreating tide fade. The leader saw him and did not walk over. Those ten minutes were not what was left after the itinerary was done. They were on the itinerary.
To be adapted from an article first published in Chinese, May 2026.
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Outdoors, Doing It Well Is Not the Same as Following the Plan Forthcoming
It was a day after a week of high temperatures; the heat index measured on site was close to 40°C (104°F), and a group of third-graders was halfway up a mountain-and-sea route. The team on the ground cancelled the second half. Nobody was hurt and nobody had given up — the conditions simply no longer supported the original decision. Most adjustments are far smaller, small enough that the children never know they happened.
To be adapted from an article first published in Chinese, June 2026.
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A Loud Classroom Isn't a Lost One Forthcoming
A mother came early to pick up her child and opened the classroom door on market hour: popcorn for sale, shaved ice, a pinball table, bracelets being made, and nobody sitting in a seat. It took her a few seconds to find her own child. That evening she asked for a refund. She wasn't wrong to ask. We had never told her what to look for.
To be adapted from an article first published in Chinese, September 2026.
Jasmine Garden Education Journal is published by Jasmine Garden Education, Taipei. English adaptations are not updated in step with the Chinese originals; where a Chinese article is corrected on a point of fact, the English version is corrected too.