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.