Cover Letter For Teachers of ESL

Cover Letter For Teachers

A cover letter for an ESL teacher can be a tricky thing to write especially for those who don't have much or any teaching experience. We often get e-mails from recent graduates who want to find a teaching job in Japan but don't have any concrete teaching experience.

What  you need to think about conceptually is what you have done to date that is transferable or is an important trait in writing a cover letter. In order to do this it is important to try to understand what it is that an ESL teacher actually does.

Of course it depends upon the school and its curriculum and requirements in addition to the age of the student but nonetheless there are character attributes in addition to actual activities that what you did up until now that apply to the position.

Cover Letters for Teachers & Applicable Attributes - What to Write When Your Experience is Limited

So what are some of these character attributes that you need to apply in your cover letter if you don't have ESL experience? (We will list some of them with using different occupations to see how they can correlate.)  Well there are many but some of the big ones are:

• The ability to work within a defined parameter to reach a given goal. (For example,  a swimming teacher teaching a child how to do the crawl, back stroke and butterfly in a 2 week summer swimming course.) This relates to teaching or covering a certain curriculum item in a certain period of time doesn't it?
  
  
• Having basic confidence in your ability.  (You were selected to lead or manage a school newspaper publication because of your knowledge of English and editing skills.)
  
  
• Tolerance and patients (especially if you'll be teaching children).
  
  
• Creativity and the ability to think on your feet or create a work-around solution to a problem. (You build a website and made a mistake with SEO on keywords so you used a 301 re-direct to solve the problem.) 
  
  
• Good communication skills and delegation skills. (For example you are an event organizer and have to communicate with a committee for all the things involved in successfully getting the event organized so that it is a success.) For example space rental, food and beverages, seating, communicating the event to members about the event. etc.  This is connected to communicating effectively in class what you want the students to do in a game or activity isn't it?

Cover Letters for Teachers - Stretch Your Imagination to Make What May Seem Unrelated Relate to the Position

So even though what you may have on your resume isn't directly related to teaching, what you did and what you wish to do with the school that will  hire you have a commonality. So a cover letter for teachers isn't really any different than others you might write for other fields if you don't have much experience. However cover letters for teachers are are more people focused rather than product focused.

Your lead paragraph should show enthusiasm! And how much you want to be considered for the position.

This then should lead into another paragraph where you show the things that you did and how it relates to the position and allows that that organizations  goals can be met by your experiences.

 
A  Japanese Cover Letter for Teachers

Depending upon the company, you may need to submit a Japanese cover letter. It should be short and top out at a page. Basically it should specify your skills and how they fit in with the job you are applying for.

You might also make mention of your desire to have a long-term relationship with the company as Japanese companies highly regard loyalty to the company. Unlike a resume a cover letter or CV (shokumu keirekisho) does not have a standardized format.

Cover letter for Teachers - Don't Forget the Basics

• State clearly the position you are applying for - don't make the HR person or hiring agent guess about what you are applying for.
  
  
• All information including contact information is up to date.
  
  
• Date your cover letter or CV.
  
  
• If you don't know the persons name you can give them the title of "Dear Hiring Coordinator". Don't assume gender.
  
  
• Get to the point. Really. These people are busy and they won't wade through a long cover letter. This is especially true considering  a cover letter for teachers really needs to get to the point because the shear number of applicants are quite high considering how competitive the Japanese market is.

Cover Letter for Teachers and Readability

Another area where many applicants mess thing up is in the area of creating a very readable cover letter. What this entails is choosing a font size that is easy to read. In general this will be 10,11, or 12 point fonts.

Also the font style should be readable. Font styles that are most commonly used for cover letters are: Arial, Courier New, Verdana, and Times New Roman. Also make sure that the font style that you use in the cover letter matches the resume font style. 

A Cover Letter for Teachers & The Main Point

Although a cover letter for teachers come in all styles, the below example cover letter is pretty much typical.

Cover Letter for Teachers and the Wrap-Up

When you wrap up your cover letter it should have the following. Firstly thank them for their time in reading your cover letter. Reiterate that you want a position with them (that you are truly interested in the job.)

Then briefly mention that you are available at their convenience to discuss any matters like availability. Then state that you are looking forward to their call or contact that is most convenient to them...(given whatever contact information you have on your resume). You can get more tips at this site: Top Cover Letter Writing Tips.

So a Typical Cover Letter For Teachers  Could Read Something About Like This:

"Thank you in advance for considering my application. I am eager to meet with you to discuss this position at your earliest convenience, as I believe I would be an asset to your teaching staff and would enjoy working at  (NAME OF SCHOOL.) I am available to further discuss my qualifications and availability  and can be most easily contacted by e-mail at: (JOHNNY NEEDS A [email protected].) I look forward to your reply."

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