The phrase should be "English teacher" with a capital "E"
as the term "English" here refers to a language of national origin/affiliation. The
names of languages are, as a rule, capitalized as in the case of French, German,
Japanese, etc.
If the teacher happened to be from England,
we would also capitalize the word "English" in the phrase "English teacher" even if that
teacher taught French or geometry, as the term "English" would then be referring to
nationality, another capitalized category in the language conventions of
English.
There is a version of the word "English" that is
not apparently directly related to the language or the people of England, but this term
too is often capitalized. This version of the word refers to spin or applying spin to an
object. Used in the parlance of games like billiards (and pool too) and bowling,
"English" describes the "side-spin" on the ball that causes a curvature of the ball's
path. This version of the word is sometimes written without a capital "e" but often
appears with the capital too.
Thus using a capital "E" on
all version of the term "English" will put you in safe
territory.
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