Article

Teaching English as a second language is a division of education that is continually growing. Teachers wishing to acquire a job in education may be more likely to do so if they look for a job in an area such as ESL or ESOL.  The competition for ESL jobs is usually not as stiff as the competition for regular classroom teaching jobs. 

If you prefer to work in a different teaching role, ESL can be a great pathway to eventually get another teaching position of your dreams.  If you answer a school’s call when they are desperately seeking an ESL teacher, they will most likely return the favor at a later date and transfer you to another position in the school that suits you best.

Individuals who wish to teach ESL will find a myriad of opportunities both locally and abroad.  In order to seize these opportunities, you will need a quality resume that highlights you ESL related skills.  When composing your ESL teaching resume, be sure to include the following things:

Discuss Skills Related to the Position

When creating a succinct resume, you do not have room to mention every skill that is in your repertoire; so make sure that you only list skills that will be directly related to your occupation as an ESL teacher.  While knowing how to write web-content or being an avid fisherman are interesting skills to bring up at a cocktail party, they do not belong on an ESL teachers resume. Ensure you include all the related keywords in your resume, this is critical especially if your resume is scanned. Many school districts do scan resumes, and if yours doesn’t include them it may not get to the human eye.

List Relevant Work Experience

Schools looking to hire ESL teachers will prefer to see that you have some previous experience in the education field. Even if you don’t have a teaching degree, you probably have some type of education or training experience.  Make sure to highlight any experience that is even remotely related to the job for which you are applying. While you obviously don’t want to lie and invent experiences that you never had, there is no harm in pushing unrelated work experience to the background and bringing related work experience to the beginning of the resume.

Mention Language Experience

Because it is directly related to the job for which you are applying, be sure to mention any language skills you may possess, regardless of how limited they may seem. You don’t have to be fluent in a language to include in your ESL teacher resume. If you can understand some basic conversational phrases, your skills will likely be helpful in your ESL teaching job.

Include International Travel

Many hiring committees are impressed by ESL teachers who have experienced international travel. Regardless of whether you are applying for an ESL position in your home country or abroad, having previous international travel experience can give you a leg up. If you are applying for a domestic ESL job, it allows the administrators or interview committee to see that you are worldly and experienced. Traveling to other countries indicates that you are not scared to go out on a limb and take chances so include this is your resume or cover letter.

Depending on the student population in the school district, some areas may have only one ESL teacher.  While ESL jobs are usually easier to find than jobs in other educational areas, it is still important to present a well-organized, professional job search documents so you are the person the school district chooses for the ESL program. Teaching ESL can be a large responsibility, and schools are not going to be eager to place that responsibility on your shoulders if you do not look like someone who can handle the position.