INTRODUCTION

Personal information

My name is Georgina Hernandez, I am 20 years old and I am Majoring in English teaching at Don Bosco University. Right now, I am in my fourth year of my career, something that makes me feel extremely happy, though I cannot deny that it has been difficult to me to start learning English from zero. One of my goals, before I started the major, it was to learn a new language, and speak it with fluency. When I was in high school, I received English classes but they were too basic. For that reason, when I started the major "Learn to speak English" was the main goal.

It took me around 3 years to learn English, but I must say that “Every day is a learning experience”.

I decided to study English teaching because I wanted to discover the way how a new language is taught and how teachers give their knowledge to others to learn a new language, it is something that always caught my attention. Moreover, I can say that learning a new language is incredible and it something that I want to share with others. For that reason, I want to be a good teacher that can inspire my students as my teachers that I have had during this four years have done.  “They have planted a seed in my life”.

One of my dreams is to be a good teacher, a teacher that can give the opportunity to my students to learn the language without any worry. I know that learn a new language is challenged but I want to give to my students my complete trustfulness, build step by step their learning and celebrate together their improvements. I know that my dream will become true and I hope in God that he will help me to be one of the best teachers.

After reading about my personal information, I want to invite you to read a little bit about the experience that I have gotten in these four years of my career.  The first time that I had to teach an English class, was for a subject that we have in our major called “Practicum I”, this subject was created to teach children around the ages 5-7 years old. Honestly, when I realized that my first practice giving English classes was going to be with children, it made me feel happy and at the same time worried; the reasons were because I love children and because I already had had some experience with children in my church, although those classes were in Spanish.

I remember that I did not know what to expect about the first class, I did not know if children were going to understand me or they were going to learn something. To my surprise, they could understand me very well and we could enjoy together and developed the complete class without any problem. Something that I learned from children was that, they are very intelligent and express all what they feel and think, that is why is necessary to treat them with love and respect; but if you want to know more about my practicum 1 (with children) you can visit my blog and click on “Practicum 1”. There is a complete description about each class with some images about the good time we enjoyed together.

After the Teaching practicum 1 this year, I had the opportunity to develop my second experience teaching English in my social hours at Don Bosco University. This has been a great experience for me since, as I explained before the Practicum 1 was the first time teaching English, but with this project I could develop what I had learned in my first practicum with children to implement it in my social hours. The social hours allow me to teach English to students from different institutions around the ages 11-13 years old. It was the first time that I had to teach children around those ages, I was nervous and worried at the same time because I did not know if they were going to pay me attention or if they were not going to make the activities. I started the class playing a game and since that moment, I could realize that we were going to be good friends. Until now, I am teaching them English and I can say that every day I learned something new from them; they demonstrated me that respect and loyalty are the best values in life and not matter how difficult it is, we always can be what we want. I really appreciated them, and I always tell them that more than a teacher I am their friend. I know that I need to keep working on some things that I might to improve, but I am really grateful with God to give me the opportunity to meet children that every day make me smile and learn more together.

After present part of my experience teaching English with children in my Practicum 1 and in my social hours; Now, I want to share you what I know about teenagers and what are some Physical, cognitive and psychosocial changes that they present in their life based on different information that I have read.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEENAGER

What I knew.

 I want to share with you what I knew about teenagers. Honestly, I did not know a lot about this topic, maybe because I did not pay attention about what happen in this stage. Basically, I knew that in this period, adolescents suffer different social problems in their life such as Drugs, alcohol, depression and many physical and psychosocial changes. Besides, I knew that for many people this stage is the hardest one since, teenagers tend to be kind of aggressive, and they do not like follow rules. They feel that anybody accept them in their social groups even their parents and that is why they present certain type of rejection with others.

Moreover, I knew that in this stage teenagers suffer different physical changes as for example; the reproductive organs, menstruation (for girls) and the production of sperms (for boys), and different physical changes in their body etc.

But, after share my knowledge about what I knew with teenagers, I would like to show a series of information about the Physical development of teenagers based on the theories.

 Physical development of the teenager

 What I learned.

First, I will start making a question about what is Adolescence?  According to Hall (1904) states that “Adolescence is it as a time of subversive or rebellious behavior and biological maturation (puberty)”.

 In other words, adolescence is a period of time that teenagers present in their life which shows different behaviors that make the adolescent being mature. Nowadays, Adolescence development it is widely used for teaching languages, since this presents a view of how teachers can notice the behavior of students in their classes and help them.

Stanley Hall (Hall’s theory is probably the earliest formal theory of adolescence and so for that he is called the father of ‘a scientific study of adolescence.) developed huge interesting information about adolescence. He believed that this period begins at puberty at about 12 or 13 years, and end late, between 22 years to 25 years of age, and it is in this stage that teenagers begin to have some changes in their body. (Keniston, 1971, p. 4-5). As a result, Hall shows the specific changes that teenagers present in this stage:

• Height and weight gains;
• Growth of pubic and underarm hair;
• Body sweats more;
• Hair and skin become more oily;
• Breast development and menstruation in girls;
• Growth of testicles and penis,
• Nocturnal emissions (wet dreams),
• Deepening of voice,
• Growth of hair on face in boys (Arnett, 2006).

Nevertheless, according to Erikson (1963) argues that “Is characterized by rapidity of body growth, genital maturity, and sexual awareness… Youth is confronted with a physiological revolution within himself that threatens his body image and interferes with the formation of an identity.”  So, it means that, teenagers start to experiment different changes in their body which represent a problem with their identity, they feel uncomfortable with their body and think that they will not be accepted in a social group because of their appearance or they feel that people judge them about the way that they wear cloths, the way that the express their thoughts etc. In this period, youths feel that they are not seen in a good way, they present rejection about others, just because they are not the same as other. 

What I will do as a Teacher.

In conclusion, it is necessary that we as teachers help teenagers to overcome these issues, but how we can involve teens in a way that they can feel comfortable about their physical appearances and the reactions that others share to them? Well, based on what I have learned until here, we as teachers can involve teens in different activities where they can feel that are valued. One example is, in a class youths (in this stage) do not want to work in the activities where they have to work individually, because they think that are judged by their classmates if they pass in front of the board, they feel nervous and frustrated at the same time. However as a teacher I would implement in my class a technique that is called “Pair work or Group work” where teens can work in pairs or in groups. Working in pairs or groups, make adolescents feel more comfortable about what they are expressing each other, without worry if someone makes a mistake since, teens feel that talking with people that are in the same ages, they can express their thoughts in a way that they do not feel judged. Moreover, they can help each other if someone make a mistake and it does not make teens frustrated. For this reason, I must be honest and say that I will try and incorporate their interests into classes during the course; also I will pay more attention about student’s feelings, and develop lesson plans with activities that help them to participate and motivate them.

PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEENAGER

Psychosocial Development of the teenager

 What I knew.

To follow talking about teenagers’ development; the adolescence theory share other interesting change that teens present in their growth, this is called “Psychosocial development”.

Honestly, at the beggining of my career i did not know anything about the Psychosocial problems that teenagers suffered. I just knew that in this stage, teens feel that they are not accepted in any social group, this is because they experiment certain changes in their body and also in their brain, they feel that they are uggly, that they do not have a good body (talking about girls) and that is why they believe that are the worst in the classroom or in their social group. One good example about what i knew about Pshychosocial was that, in this period teens fall in love in a first time; boys feel attracted by girls, and girls feel attracted by boys, but they do not like that anybody else know about it since, they think that will be rejected. Moreover, I knew that in this period they present a series of emotional feelings where they cry for simple things, they get angry easily etc. 
But let me share you about the experts say about Psychosocial Development.
 

What I learned.
  
According to Erickson (1959) states that

“The psychosocial conflict of adolescence is an identity versus identity confusion. The "virtue" that should arise from this conflict is fidelity”. That is why, adolescence is called a vulnerable period. This means that, at this stage, teenagers present many issues in their identity; they do not know what happen in their life and get confused easily. This period present a series of issues that adolescents show in their life. As Erikson said adolescence is characterized by persistent feelings of exaggerated rebelliousness, emotional volatility, and feelings that everybody is against one. That refers that the feelings that teenagers presents are the problems that have with people that are around them, as for example “Family”. According to Erikson (1958) argue that “Family interactions change during the teenage years. There is more intimacy, but also more conflict over issues of autonomy. Conflict with parents tends to be most frequent during early adolescence and most intense during middle adolescence. Authoritative parenting is associated with the most positive outcomes.” This is because they feel that parents ignore them and think that the attention is not focused on them. However, there are many factors that makes teenagers have different aggressive behaviors, some of them are for example; the place where they grew up, the people who were with them and influence in a bad way in their life etc. In other words the experience of adolescence is heavily influenced by one’s social and cultural environment. That is why, in this stage, teachers and parents need to give the opportunity to teenagers to have a better communication among them. Adults need to help adolescents in this part since, is where teenagers feel more insecure, and need to have someone that can understand them and help to guide them to the best road.

 What I will do as a Teacher.

In conclusion, the psychosocial development that teenagers present can affect their learning. For this reason, I would like to focus in teenagers’ problems such as; the feelings and emotions that they present in this stage and how I can apply good strategies that can motivate them in the classroom. As a teacher I must involve my students in a space where they can feel comfortable; that is why, it is necessary to be patient with my students so that they feel valued and respected and feel safe enough to share ideas. One strategy that I can use to involve teens to share their ideas is to leave them to create their own rules for the class, this means that they can give their opinions about what are the rules that they will follow in the class. This is a good example about how teachers can involve teens to express their thoughts and feelings in the classroom. Moreover, it is necessary to know about teens problems, and I can develop a good strategy, creating plans with each student for their learning goals for the year and refer to them regularly when students meet a goal. In this way, I will motivate students and I will let them know that I am interesting in their life and their goals. For this reason, I might encourage respectful communication in the classroom, even when viewpoints differ, this will help us to create a better environment where they will share their ideas without any problem.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEENAGER

Cognitive Development of the teenager

 What I knew.

If we talked about Cognitive development before start my career, I could not express almost nothing since, I just know a little bit about this topic. I just knew that teenagers present a lot of reactions in this period. For example they feel better with their friend, instead of their parents. Probably because their friends "helps them" to feel that are secures in their groups making them try drugs, alcohol and doing certain things that are not good for them.Moreover, I knew that teens reject their parent's opinions, and this is because they believed that their parents just want to bother them. However, it is better if I present the best explanation about this Cognitive development based on the theorists.

 What I learned.

Keep talking about the changes that teens experiment in their adolescence, and one of the most interesting changes is called Cognitive Development, which is based on the ability to think, reason, and make choices. As we know children begin the process of learning from the moment they are born, but the ability for teens to think, reason, and make good choices is built on the levels of development they have formed up to this point. In this period, teenagers start to think more clearly about the things that they consider are the best, and they try to form reasons that will help them to have a successful life. Base on different videos that I could watch for my practicum 2, I could realize that, we as human have different sections in our brain that are the ones that help us to make good decisions; these parts of our brain are called Prefrontal Cortex and the Limbic area. The Prefrontal Cortex is the responsible to think very well, make good decisions and judgements about the things that we are doing well or not; however the limbic area focuses on the emotions and decisions that we make in our life.

But now, let me show you what I found about Cognitive development base on the best psychologists. According to Piaget (1947) argues that “adolescence is the stage of life in which the individual's thoughts start taking more of an abstract form and egocentric thoughts decrease”. (Inhelder and Piaget, 1947, p.343). This allows the adolescent to think and reason with a wider perspective. Furthermore, cognitive development permit teens solve their problems or implement a deductive reasoning. But what does it means? Well, in this stage teenagers are able to make decisions that are important for their life, it means that they can think more deeply about the decisions that they will do in the future and they can take advantages about their reasoning, not more as children. However, to enter a little bit more in Cognitive development for teenagers Piaget developed 5 characteristic indicators that are called:

·         Formal operations

·         Hypothetico-deductive reasoning

·         Propositional thought

·         The imaginary audience

·         The personal fable

According to Piaget (1958) states that the adolescent years are remarkable because youth move beyond the limitations of concrete mental operations and develop the ability to think in a more abstract manner. This means that, at this stage teens are able to think and make predictions more certainly, they can reason about the problems and give good answers about what they think.

On other hand, Piaget (1958) argues that, teens become more scientific and logical in the way they approach problems. This is called Hypothetico-deductive reasoning. So, we can say that if teens have a problem, or a situation that needs to be solve, they can estimate the most likely outcome if one or more variables are changed or manipulated. It is the same with Propositional thought which represents how adolescents can determine if a statement is reliable or not, they have the ability to make a good analysis about the problems or situations. As Piaget (1958) claimed that “Youth can determine whether a statement is logical based solely on the wording of the statement, rather than having to observe or re-create the actual scenario to determine if it is logical.”

However, there is a characteristic that really caught my attention and is called The Imaginary audience. This indicator permit teens become more interesting in observation and interpretation. In other words, adolescents can observe and interpret what other people say about them, the expressions and behaviors that others show them, and with this they can make reasonable judgements about what others says about them. That is why according to Piaget, these new cognitive abilities appear at the same time that younger adolescents are struggling with insecurities about their changing appearance, changing identity, and changing life experiences, and it is because teens try to do not make mistakes. Although it happens in teen’s life, also there is a characteristic that make adolescents feel that they are unique in their own environment and this is called Personal fable. According to Piaget (1977) claims that “While the ability to use abstract thought and keen observational skills enables youth to become more attuned to others and more sensitive to people's needs, it can also lead to some new social and emotional difficulties when youth use their new cognitive abilities to compare themselves to others.” This means that, teens develop a series of characteristics that make teens feel that they have unique abilities, different problems in their life that anyone else has in the world etc. For that reason, it is necessary that in this period of time adults can monitor teens since, it can result in some devastating consequences that can make adolescences have some risks in their life.  

What I will do as a Teacher.
To sum up, we could realize about the different characteristics that teenagers suffered in this stage, and Cognitive development present one of the hardest issues that affect teens. In this stage, students feel that they are unique, they present different emotional difficulties that make them believe that all the things that they do are good, such as addictions, social problems, familiar problems etc. For this reason, it is necessary to create a relationship where students can express their social and emotional feelings with the teacher in order to create a connection that allow  them to know that teacher cares about them. Nevertheless, the implementation of activities in the classroom also will allow teens feel that they can do their goals by themselves but always following teacher’s directions. An important activity to involve students in classroom and also to break the ice, is asking them their preferences about music, animals, colors, food, cloths, movies etc. This activity can be done in pairs or in groups, and the purpose is that they express their emotions and judgements by demonstrating complete understanding throughout the activity. Moreover, in this stage teens are very variable since, they experiment certain behaviors that represent insecurities. They prefer to socialize among them instead with the teacher. That is why as a teacher I need to choose the best strategies that can make students feel more confident in the classroom. One strategy that I must use is giving students the time they need to understand and absorb an activity by themselves, as I explained before, with these strategies students will feel that they can do the activities without help and they can compare each other. For this reason, it is important to develop well-done lesson plans that involve teenagers in each activity and they can feel that are cared by others.