Emotional Development
Goal: To increase the student's vocabulary and understanding Chapter 4 about "Emotional
Development"
Objective: By the end of the unit, the students should be able to understand and increase
his/her vocabulary from content of chapter 4 "Emotional Development" from the book
“Adolescent Development Explained” with 80% accuracy.
Method: Task-based Approach
Pre-Task: Warming Up
- Watching YouTube video "Emotional Development in Adolescence" (5minutes)
[Link]
What is the main idea contained in the video?
Main-Task:
A. Reading Activity
Please read the text below and write down the unfamiliar vocabularies!
"EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT"
Healthy emotional development is marked by a gradually increasing ability to perceive,
assess, and manage emotions. This is a biological process driven by physical and cognitive
changes and heavily influenced by context and environment. The process of emotional
development gives adolescents the opportunity to build skills, discover unique qualities, and
develop strengths for optimal health. Factors that affect how well adolescents navigate this
process include:
SELF-MANAGEMENT:
By managing their own emotions, adolescents can establish positive goals and gain foresight
into how their emotions can influence their goals and futures. To improve their ability to
manage emotions, adolescents must first learn to recognize and describe strong, complex
emotions. Although young people learn to describe basic emotions earlier in life, as they get
older they develop an ability to truly grasp what emotions are and understand their impact.
When adolescents can recognize how they feel, they can choose how they will react to a
situation. They also learn to avoid the problems that strong emotions sometimes cause.
However, because the brain’s frontal lobe which is responsible for reasoning, planning, and
problem-solving as well as emotions—doesn’t fully develop until the mid-twenties,
adolescents may find it difficult to manage their emotions and think through the
consequences of their actions. Over time and with the support of parents and helpful adults,
adolescents can develop the reasoning and abstract thinking skills that enable them to step
back, examine their emotions, and consider consequences before acting rashly.
HORMONES
These critical chemicals in the brain that bring about physical changes also affect
adolescents’ moods and heighten their emotional responses. These characteristics together
mean that teens are more easily swayed by emotion and have difficulty making decisions that
adults find appropriate. Adolescence also is a time of rapid and sometimes stressful changes
in peer relationships, school expectations, family dynamics, and safety concerns in
communities.
The body responds to stress by activating specific hormones and activities in the nervous
system so that the person can respond quickly and perform well under pressure. The stress
response kicks in more quickly for adolescents than it does for adults whose brains are fully
developed and can moderate a stress response. Not all stressors are bad. Positive experiences
such as landing a first job or getting a driver’s permit can trigger a stress response that
enables adolescents to approach a challenge with alertness and focus.
UNIQUE ISSUES IN EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Physical changes increase adolescents’ capacity for emotional awareness, selfmanagement,
and empathy, but emotional development is strongly influenced by context. This means that
many aspects of adolescents’ lives can influence their emotional development. Among these
aspects are:
SELF-ESTEEM
How people feel about themselves or the way they perceive their own talents, characteristics,
and life experiences—can affect their sense of their own worth. An adolescent’s selfesteem
can be influenced by approval from family, support from friends, and personal successes.
Research shows that adolescents with a positive self-concept experience greater academic
success than do adolescents who lack this quality. Concerns about body image also are
common and can provide opportunities for parents, teachers, and other caring adults to teach
self-care, offer encouragement, and reinforce a positive body image. For some adolescents,
the concern for body image is extreme and—when combined with other warning signs may
indicate an eating disorder. Eating disorders are one type of mental health problem among
adolescents. However, feeling good about oneself does not necessarily protect against risky
behaviors. Therefore, it is still important to limit adolescents’ exposure to risky situations and
empower young people to make healthy choices when they inevitably come across such a
situation.
IDENTITY FORMATION
There are many facets to identity formation, which includes developmental tasks such as
becoming independent and achieving a sense of competence. Adolescents may question their
passions and values, examine their relationships with family and peers, and think about their
talents and definitions of success. Identity formation is an iterative process during which
adolescents repeatedly experiment with different ideas, friends, and activities. This
experimentation is normal and can provide adolescents opportunities to learn more about
themselves and others, but it isn’t always balanced with thoughtfulness or a cognitive ability
to consider the consequences of their actions. Although this path to finding one’s identity can
prove challenging for some families, it also can motivate adolescents to learn about
themselves and become more confident in their own, unique identities.
STRESS
Adolescents live in a variety of environments and experience a wide range of stressors that
affect emotional development. Learning healthy responses to stressful situations is part of
normal development, and some stress can even be positive. However, some adolescents face
particularly traumatic events, such as experiencing or witnessing physical or sexual abuse or
school violence. Some of these events are prolonged or recurring, such as chronic neglect or
being bullied. Some adolescents also have to deal with multiple types of traumatic stress.
These more extreme forms of stress, often referred to as toxic stress, can weaken an
adolescent’s immune system, resulting in chronic physical health problems and potentially
leading to depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders. Toxic stress also can lead to
stress-related diseases and cognitive impairment in adulthood. Adolescents who experience
this form of stress also are more likely to use harmful substances, engage in other risky
behaviors, and experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition in which a
person relives a traumatic event through persistent memories or flashbacks and experiences
other symptoms such as insomnia, angry outbursts, or feeling tense. However, people respond
to stress differently, and a strong support system can help protect adolescents from
longlasting negative effects and create an environment that enables youth to thrive
(Source: Text book “Adolescent Development Explained” Chapter 4)
B. Changing vocabulary
Find unfamiliar vocabulary from the text above and then change it into familiar vocabulary!
(Synonym)
Unfamiliar Vocabulary Familiar Vocabulary
Prolonged Continuous
C. Finding the Meaning
Please work your pair to discuss and find out the meaning of vocabulary that you get! (You
can find it using online/offline dictionary)
Vocabulary Meaning
Prolonged Continuing for a long time or longer than
usual; lengthy.
Post-Task:
A. Recognising word shapes
It is important to recognize word shapes quickly, and not confuse words of similar
appearance. Pick out the words which appear in the text “Emotional Development”
and check their meaning in dictionary.
Marked / Marched / Lobe / Love
Involve / evolve / Together / To gather
Through / Truth / Grasp / Grass
B. Making a summary
Re-arrange the order of these sentences, so as to make a very brief summary of the original
passage.
a) To improve their ability to manage emotions, adolescents must first learn to recognize
and describe strong, complex emotions.
b) Although young people learn to describe basic emotions earlier in life, as they get
older they develop an ability to truly grasp what emotions are and understand their
impact.
c) However, because the brain’s frontal lobe which is responsible for reasoning,
planning, and problem-solving as well as emotions—doesn’t fully develop until the
mid-twenties, adolescents may find it difficult to manage their emotions and think
through the consequences of their actions.
d) By managing their own emotions, adolescents can establish positive goals and gain
foresight into how their emotions can influence their goals and futures.
e) Over time and with the support of parents and helpful adults, adolescents can develop
the reasoning and abstract thinking skills that enable them to step back, examine their
emotions, and consider consequences before acting rashly.
f) When adolescents can recognize how they feel, they can choose how they will react to
a situation. They also learn to avoid the problems that strong emotions sometimes
cause.
C. Checking Understanding
The teacher instructs students to only provide 1 sheet of paper on the table then they are
asked to write down the vocabulary they remember from the main-task activity.