It comes as no surprise to find Warina (May) Punyawan is a gifted teacher, as she is the daughter of two teachers. But what is a surprise is that such a charming, beautiful and young looking woman is such a successful businesswoman with many years experience.
May was born in Nan in a family of six children. May’s abilities were obvious right from the start when she excelled in school, being one of three children to win a scholarship for further education.
However, early family life was not easy, as their father died unexpectedly when May was eleven. “My mother raised six children by herself; she never remarried. She taught us how to stand on our own feet; she showed us how to be independent.”
May studied teachers training and then earned her Bachelor of Education at Chiang Mai University. She graduated from University in 1976 at the time of the revolution and chose to contribute by volunteer teaching for two years. “Everywhere there was talk of fighting and I wanted to go away and teach upcountry. I didn’t want a salary; anyway at that time a teacher’s salary was 850 baht a month. I taught the Mon people for two years in a tiny village 20 k north of Nan.”
After two years her mother pleaded with her that she had done enough and persuaded her to return.
May then spent the next nineteen years on and off in Bangkok, seven of those years teaching mathematics, English and computer science in various schools and technical colleges.
During that time livng in Bangkok, May had adoppted a son from a Cambodian family, who was seven year old and the love of her life. (Her second passion is computers.)
She then tried out several different careers, as a secretary, a marketing manager and even a boutique owner. Why the career change? “My friends, everyone said money was the issue; you can’t get rich teaching so I just went with the flow. I don’t regret the experience, you learn a lot of things, but it gives you pain working like that. It is not honest, you can’t be yourself when you are trying to sell things. The best job is teaching, you can’t lie.”
I was first introduced to May when I took a Thai conversation course and I was not disappointed. May certainly knows how to teach effectively (in spite of resistant students like me) and makes learning fun. I have come to the conclusion that good teachers are definitely born - not made.
May’s principle of gaining experience is reflected in her advice to school leavers, “Don’t keep to the one idea that now I will get a job and make money, then I will have a family. Life is not like that, you need to have as much experience as you can. Change jobs every six months if necessary. You have to be able to see the wider picture. The more you know yourself and understand, the better and happier you will be.”
May values heath as the most important attribute and when she is not working, her main interest is working out. “I used to exercise a lot, I really went crazy. I would be on the front line of the aerobic classes every time. Now I can’t exercise so much because I am working but I try to ride my bicycle for an hour every morning. Health and fitness is most important to me.”Success to May is, “Certainly not fame. When you are famous you lose your freedom. I guess it is to be happy every day. That is what I want to teach my son, be honest and not selfish, and caring and loving and work hard at the right time. What I mean is that you must have something that is fulfilling and be happy every day and balance that with studying hard and enjoying with friends too.
May believes that it is a mistake to plan too far into the future, as you may not be able to lead your own life. She would like to work less and write her own books and if she never had to work again she would just sit in front of a computer. “I really love them. If you don’t know computers you miss so much. Even if I didn’t have any arms I would find some way to create with computers. You can just learn so much just by searching the Net.”
Does her Internet cafe seem to be an odd mix with her language and business school? “Not at all,” says May. “I originally intended to just teach farangs Thai, but then I was shocked that so many older farangs did not know how to use the Internet. Sometimes we need ten to twelve computers here to teach Thai and farangs computer use, so when we are not busy it is a natural flow on to have an Internet facility. Anyway, it keeps the staff busy,” she said with a laugh. May really does love her computers, even to the extent of designing web pages. (To be continued)