English Teacher Resume Examples to Help You Build Yours

English teachers shape the minds of tomorrow with their lessons. Here’s how to create a resume that shows recruiters that you’re ready for the challenge.

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By Ho 5 minute read

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English Teacher Resume Example RHUS

English Teacher Resume Example RHUS

What to highlight in an English teacher resume

English teachers shape the minds of tomorrow and conduct critical duties while holding a teaching position. Candidates looking for teaching jobs will need to show hiring managers and recruiters that they know how to work with different learners, grade work, teach English Language and English Literature and much more!

Ultimately, an English teacher resume sample should show that you have the right skills and experience to manage a classroom successfully.

Create your resume

How to write your English teacher resume

The structure of your resume will largely depend on the type of resume format you choose. There are three main types of resume formats:

  • Chronological: Chronological resumes are the most common type of format. This resume focuses on employment history, showing employers that you have in-depth knowledge of working with different learners, distributing course materials and working with students. 
  • Functional: Functional resumes are a good option for candidates without experience but many industry skills and qualifications. You can talk about extracurricular activities that you think contribute to your career in this resume type. 
  • Combination: This hybrid resume combines both skills and employment focus and is a great option for candidates with over a decade’s worth of experience and skills. 

Regardless of the type of resume you choose, your resume will probably have similar sections such as: 

  • Summary/objective 
  • Work experience 
  • Skills 
  • Education 

Header

The resume header section is an important part of your resume that presents your contact information. In this section, you should include:

  • Your name 
  • Location (Not exact address) 
  • Phone number 
  • Email address

If you have lots of industry experience and skills but can’t fit all of your information into a resume, then you can include a link to professional networking sites like LinkedIn. This is a great way of giving the hiring manager or recruiter more information about your key achievements and industry contacts without cluttering your resume. 

Resume summary or objective

Your resume summary is an opportunity for you to briefly summarize the content of your resume. How do you write a professional summary for a resume? You should provide two to three sentences that provide eye-catching information designed to hook the hiring manager or recruiter. 

In this section, you can talk about your main achievements, certifications, or skills that you think make you the ideal candidate for the role.

 

If you don’t have a lot of experience in teaching, then you can use a resume objective. This is similar to a summary but focuses on your career goals instead of achievements. You can state your intentions for the role and why you think the role is perfect for you and your idea of career progression. And if you lack inspiration, you can browse our objective resume examples.

Skills

An effective resume will have a skills section that clearly outlines the types of skills you’ll take into a classroom. If you’re a newly qualified teacher without a lot of work experience, your skills section might be the most important part of your functional resume. 

Regardless of the type of resume you choose, all English teacher resumes should have a good combination of hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills are role-specific and soft skills are personality type traits that are transferable across many industries. 

If you’re struggling to think of the right terms that sum up your professional and personal qualities, then you can include these resume skills examples in your resume:

  • Time management 
  • Monitoring student performance 
  • Organizational skills 
  • Classroom management 
  • Behavior management 
  • Conflict resolution 
  • Interpersonal skills 
  • Patience 
  • Empathy 
  • Critical thinking 
  • ESL (Teaching as Second Language Certification)
  • Research skills 
  • Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) 
  • Written and verbal communication skills
  • Knowledge of multiple teaching methods 
  • Reinforcement of a positive learning environment 

Work history

If you have previous work experience
as a teacher without specialization or you have many years of experience as an English teacher, then your work experience section might be the main focus of your chronological or combination resume. 

In this section, you should list your previous employment experience in reverse chronological order. You can do this by starting from the most recent example and working backward. Below each job title, you should include your previous school’s name, location and the date you started and finished.

You can also include brief bullet points below each job title that explain your primary duties and key accomplishments while working, such as preparing coursework, creating lesson plans and other teaching duties. You shouldn’t go into too much detail, but you can use an English teacher cover letter to explain further. 

Education

If you’re looking for an English teacher role, then you’ll usually need a bachelor’s degree in education, majoring in your sub-specialty. You can major in English Language or English Literature, learning the curriculum before working with pupils as a student-teacher.

Depending on your state, you might need to go through additional licensure before you’re eligible to teach English. Under this heading, you can state the title of your degree, the college you studied at and the year you obtained your degree. 

You can also include your college GPA in this section and any additional achievements such as making the Dean’s List or graduating cum laude. 

Create Your Resume

Do's and don'ts for an English teacher resume

Do's
  • Study the job description. This can help you identify keywords that you can include in your application to help you navigate applicant tracking systems (ATS). 
  • Thoroughly proofread your final work for any spelling, punctuation or grammatical errors. After all, you're a teacher and should present a mistake-free document.
  • Use a resume builder to help you create a professional resume with a polished layout.
Don'ts
  • Don't get verbose with your resume. Keep your bullet points concise and focus on the skills an requirements the employer is looking for.
  • Don't include your high school GPA. This is an example of irrelevant information.
  • Don't forget to use a resume template. This can help you keep an organized structure. to your resume

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FAQ: English teacher resumes

Have questions? We’re here to help.

Yes! A cover letter is a great opportunity for you to explain your skills and experience in greater detail. You should use a cover letter as a support to your resume and explain why you’re the ideal candidate for an English teaching role. In a cover letter, you can include anecdotes from your teaching experience that shows you’re the right candidate for the role. 

In a cover letter, you can also talk about any volunteering experience or your passions for language arts and how this contributes to your professional development. To create a great cover letter, use our cover letter builder. 

 

To create the perfect resume, you need to tailor it for each application. While there are some sections you can keep the same for each application, your objective statement is a great place to tailor your content. You can find role-specific keywords from the job advertisement and description to include in your statement. 

You should also alter the skills and experience you mention and ensure that it’s relevant to the specific role. You can also change parts of your work experience section and ensure that the experience you provide is relevant to the role. 

 

Hiring managers and recruiters like to see that your teaching has a real impact. To show this, you can reference data from your previous teaching roles. For example, you can talk about how much your teaching improved student grades. Quantifiable data is a great way to prove your value to a hiring manager. 

 

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WRITTEN BY Ho

Ho is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and editor with two decades of experience in content strategy, creation, and development. He holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University and his background includes experience aiding military veterans as they transition to civilian careers.

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