- Is is better for a potential black teacher to aquire a teaching position at home or on the ground in Taiwan?
It is much better to find a position at home. I knew several excellent black teachers with years of Taiwan teaching experience who had a VERY hard time landing jobs. - Is there an actual list of school in Taiwan that are open to hiring black teachers?
I don’t know of a list, but the big chain schools like Hess and Joy are pretty good about hiring minorities. I worked at Hess.
3.Would it be better to look for schools that hire black teachers in more urban areas ie Taipei or Kaoshing or in more rural areas?
I agree that you’d be better off in an urban area, but I have no experience teaching in rural areas. Contrary to conventional wisdom though, I found Taipei to be less tolerant than the surrounding county and rural areas. - Photo or no photo for the resume?
Photo definitely. The blacker the better. Why waste your time? - Franchise i.e. Hess, Joy, et al or smaller school or foreign run buxiban?
To start, go with a chain, unless you have real good info (read: input from a black teacher) on a smaller school. - Some sort of Esl Tesol TEFl ect. certification or none?
No idea if this is helpful. I didn’t have one. - Would Mandarin ability hurt or help me in my job search?
Do you have Mandarin ability? This would be a huge help in networking, and networking is more powerful in Taiwan than in the States, but I don’t think it would directly affect getting a position. Use it if you got it, but don’t waste too much time trying to acquire it if you don’t. Just go for the basics.
Feel free to pm me if you need more details, like where to find a decent barber (if you need one that is) and stuff like that. Also keep an eye out for Namahottie, Persephone and ImanIOU. I haven’t seen miltownkid around for a bit but he’d be a good source of info too.