ED 345 573

AUTHORTITLE

INSTITUTIONSPONS AGENCYPUB DATENOTEAVAILABLE FROM

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LANGUAGE

EDRS PRICEDESCRIPTORS

ABSTRACT

DOCUXENT MUNE

FL 020 412

Neak, Touch; Lucas, AliceThe Mountain of the Men & the Mountain of the Women.

A Traditional Cambodian Folktale Told in English and

Khmer and Teacher Discussion Guide.Voices of Liberty, San Francisco, CA.Zellerbach Family Fund, San Francisco, Calif.

9028p.Voices of Liberty, San Francisco Study Center, 1095

Market Street, Suite 602, San Francisco, CA 94103

(the folktale is $7.00; the discussion guide, $6.00;

and the audiotape, $7.00).Guides - Classroom Use - Instructional Materials (For

Learner) (051) -- Guides - Classroom Use - Teaching

Guides (For Teacher) (052) -- Multilingual/Bilingual

Materials (171)Cambodian; English

MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDW.*Bilingual Instructional Materials; *Cambodian; Class

Activities; Classroom Techniques; *Cultural Context;

Elementary Secondary Education; English; *FolkCulture; *Literature Appreciation; StudentMotivation; Teaching Guides; Uncommonly TaughtLanguages; *Vocabulary Development

The Cambodian folk tale "The Mountain of the Men and

the Mountain of the Women" is presented in English (left page) and

Khmer (facing right page), with an accompanying teacher's guide. The

story, told by a 78-year-old Cambodian Buddhist monk, is past of a

longer legend about an unmarried queen who changes marria744 customs

so she can ask a man to be her husband. The teacher's guAe offerssuggestions for classroom use of the folk story. It begins with

specific performance objectives for using bilingual folk tales and

some general ideas for integrating literature with language In the

classroom. The second section of the guide offers background

information about the geography, history, and culture of Indochina.

The third section provides background information specific to the

story, including information about ties between schools and home in

Cambodia, and additional readings. The subsequent section outlines

ideas for whole-class and small-group teaching with this story,

including pre-reading activities, motivational exercises, and

vocabulary development activities. Finally, a student worksheet

provides question-and-answer retention, comprehension, and discussion

exercises to be used with a tape recording of the story. The tape

recording is not included. (MSS)

*WIt********************************0**********************************pReproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made

from the original document.***********************************************************************

og.

The Mountainof the Men & the

Mountain of the WomenEttgd die

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A traditional Cambodian folktale told in English and Khmer.

-PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL

IN OTHER THANPAFrR COPY HAS BEEN

o GRANTED BY0

TO THE EDUCATIONALRESOURCES

INFORWGION CENTER (ERIC)"

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VOICES OF 1 IBER

e"

PM°, Zellerbach Family Fund

This storybook is the companion piece to abilingual audiotape of "The Mountain of the Menand the Mountain of the Women" read in Khmerand in English. It is part of a set of three bilingualhooks and tapes of Indo-Chinese folktales pro-duced by the Voices of Liberty project.

Voices of Liberty is funded by the ZellerbachFamily Fund under the direction of Dr. PaulaGilktt, humanities professor at San Jose StateUniversity.

Inquiries may be directed to Voices of Liberty,San Francisco Study Center, 1095 Market Strcet,Suite 602, San Francisco, CA 94103.

Design and production:San Francisco Study Center

Khmer type: Tenderloin Times

The Mountainof the Men & the

Mountain of the Womengeo dmit dita

"-Axztizent4

A Cambodian folktale told by Touch Neak and :etold by Alice Lucas.Translated by Samol Tan. Illustrated by You-Shan Tang.

Voices of I ThertyAlice Lucas, Coordinator

4

ALONG TIME ago, in Kampong Champrovince of Cambodia, marriage cus-

toms were quite different from the customs ofthe people today. In those days, it was the girlwho proposed marriage to the boy. If the boyand his family decided to accept the girl'sproposal, she had to pay for the weddingand buy expensive gifts to give to her futurehusband.

This custom went on for many years. Itseemed very unfair to the young women.They were not as strong as men and could notwork as hard to create the wealth necessary tofind a good husband.

All over the country girls talked abouthow to correct this unfair way of finding amarriage partner. They decided to go to theking for his advice. Now, at that time, Jaya-varman the First was king of Cambodia. Itwas this king who had united the Khmerkingdoms of the south with the kingdoms ofthe north into the mighty Angkor Empire. Hehad created great cities with beautiful build-ings covered with stone ctxvings. He was avery good king and the girls trusted him tolisten to their troubles and help them. But onethoughtful girl reminded the others that theking hiniself was a man and might not wantto change a custom that profited the men ofthe country.

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"We must think of a scheme tc.: trick theking into making the young men proposemai lage to us!" cried another girl. And so thegirls made a secret plan to present to the king.The best speakers from among the youngwomen journeyed to the city of Angkor tovisit the king.

"Most high and sovereign Lord," they saidas they knelt befor the king, "we ask you tolisten to our story. We girls are such weakcreatures compared to the strong young menin our country. Yet we are the ones who mustpropose marriage to a boy, and pay for thewedding! And we must also give fine gifts tohim and his family! It is very hard for us to do

these things. Why is it that the stronger boysdo not have to propose marriage to us? Theyare more able than we to pay for the weddingceremony and buy beautiful gifts, do you notagree?"

King jayavarman remained silent for along time. He gazed down at the bowedheads and gracefu! arms and hands of thegirls. "Perhaps you are right, beautiful daugh-ters of the Khmer," replied the king. "Butwhat am I to do? This is the custom of ourland. How car I change the ancient way ourancestors have always prepared for mar-riage?"

The boldest of the girls raised her headand spoke. She pressed her hands togetherto show her respect. "Most Gracious andHeavenly Master, may we humbly suggestthat a task be set for the men and women ofthe country to decide for all time who shouldpropose marriage." The king nodded hishead. "What kind of task can be set to makesuch a decision?", the king asked.

"We have an idea, Great Leader of theKhmer people," said the girls. "May we tellyou of a possible plan?" The king nodded.

"Call all the young unmarried men andthe young unmarried women of our countrytogether," said the leader of the girls. "Tellthem you want each group to build a moun-tain to show their respect for you. Give themfive days to complete the task. On the morn-ing of the fifth day, tell them that all workmust stop. Count the days from the time theMorning Star rises in the dark sky. That is the

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time before the sun shows its face, while theNight Sky Crocodile can still be seen. Whenthe Morning Star rises on the first day, beatthe royal drum to signal for work to begin.When the Morning Star rises for the fifth time,the work must stop."

There were not many mountains inKampoon Cham province and the king likedthe idea of having two mountains built tohonor him. He tholight he could stand onthe top of these mountains and be closer toheaven. He could also watch for enemies fromthe mountain top. And being a man himself,he believed the men would win this contestand the Khmer way of proposing marriagewould continue just as it had in the past.

So, the king agreed to the girl's plan. Thenext day, his ministers called all the youngpeople to the king's palace. As they kneltbefore him, the king spoke: "The unmarriedwomen are unhappy with our country'smarriage customs. They want the men of thekingdom to propose marriage to tiwm, and topay for the wedding!"

The young men laughed at such a foolishidea. "Silence!" the king shouted. "Therefore,to be perfectly fair to the girls," the kingcominued, "I have devised a plan. Listencaretally and I will explain it to you."

As young men and women sat inrespectful silence, the king told them aboutthe plan to build two rnovntains. He ex-plained how the days would be counted bythe rise of the Morning star. "Do yci, agreeto this plan?", he asked. Everyone byeven lower to show their agreement.

"Then come with me and I will show youwhere to build." The king, followed by hisministers, who were followed by the youngmen, who were followed by the youngwomen, walked along the east bank of theMekong River to the place where the moun-tains were to be built.

"Tomorrow, as the Morning Star rises, Iwill sound the royal drum. That will be thesignal for work to begin here beside the river.

"You may work both day and night for thefive days. But," he warned them, "you must

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remember: When the Morning Star rises thefifth time, you must stop work. Then you mayrest until the sun shows his face. Do you un-derstand?"

The young men and the young womennodded. "When the day is fully light," theking continued, "I will inspect the work my-self. If the men have built the higher moun-tain, the women must continue to follow themarriage traditions of our ancestors. But if thewomen's mountain is highest, then the menmust propose marriage, pay for the weddingand bring gifts to the woman and her family."

When the king had left, the men laughedand joked about the proposal. "No woman

can do such hard work," they said to them-selves. "We will win with no effort at all! Letus go home to our parents and rest so we areready to work tomorrow."

That night, while the men were sleeping,the women met. They were afraid they mightlose unless they started work right away.Quietly, they walked to the building place bythe river. Carefully, they loosened the earth sothat the next day they could roll big stonestogether to form the base of their mountain.Then they covered their work with branchesof trees so no one would guess they hadalready started.

When the Morning Star rose the nextday, the king sounded the royal drum andthe work began. The men worked all day. Thewomen worked all day, too. When eveningcame, the men decided to rest and drink somewine. They were sure they were ahead of thewomen. But the women continued to work allnight. They took turns resting for only a shorttime.

As the Morning Star rose on the secondday, the women stopped working and hada meeting. The men saw them sitting andtalking. "Ha," they said, "Look at those lazywomen. All they want to do is sit and gossip.Of course, we will build the highest moun-tain. No need to work too hard!" That night,while the men slept, the women worked ontheir mountain again.

On the third day, as the Morning Star rose,one greup of women went to the market in

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the village to buy some thin, clear paper,some string and a candle. Another groupwent to the forest to cut some bamboo.

"Look at that group of women overthere. Some are going to the village marketand others are going to the woods to get outof the hot sun. They cannot stand this hardwork. And so saying, the men also stoppedtheir work to sit in the cool shade of a tree.Again on the third night, the women workedwhile the men slept.

On the fourth day, as the Morning Starrose, the men saw the women sitting in a dosegroup beside their small mountain. The mencould not see what they were doing. "Nowjust look at those foolish women! They mustbe chewing betel nut instead of working. Howdo you expect to build a mountain that way?"the men laughed. They worked for a while,then sat down to rest under a tree.

Now, what do you think the women hadbeen doing as they sat in the circle that day?

They had been making their own MorningStar! They used a very sharp knife to cut thebamboo trom the forest into slender pieces.They arranged the pieces in the shape of a starand tied the corners together with pieces ofstrong grass. rhen they covt red the star withthe dear paper. Now the star looked like alantern. Next, they tied a long string to theirstar and hid the whole thing in the grass.

That night, the women again worked onthe mountain as the men slept. But in only afew hours, they took the star lantern from itshiding place in the grass and put the candleinside. An evening breeze lifted the lanternhigh in the sky. There it shone bright againstthe darkness.

At once, the women began to wail and cry."Oh, no, what a short night this was! Now theMorning Star has risen for the fifth time andwe must stop building. Oh have certainlylost the mountain building race to the men."

The men hearing all this noise, woke up

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and looked at the sky. There, they saw thebright star shining. "Listen to those wailingwomen," they shouted. "Now we have clearlywon the building race. When the sun rises andthe king comes to inspect the two mountains,we will be the winners. Come, friends, let ussleep a little longer so we will be rested for abig celebration tonwrrow."

So the men went back to sleep, and thewomen continued to build all the rest of thenight. When the true Morning Star rose for thefifth time, they stopped and they too rested.

As the sun climbed over the edge ofthe earth into the eastern sky, and the landflooded with light, the king and his ministerscame to inspect the mountain. The king looked

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to the east. There stood the women's tallmountain sloping gracefully to a slender peak.

"Very nice," said the king. "It is as lovelyto :ook at as the beautiful daughters of theKhmer Kingdom themselves. Now let me seethe work of the men."

To the west, the men's mountain stoodon a broad, sturdy base. It rose sharply on allsides, but then it stopped. It was flat on top.It had no peak at all! And when the king andhis ministers stood back to compare the twomountains, it was plain to see that the womenhad won.

Because he was an honorable man, theking kept his word. He sent a proclamationOut to all the land, and this is what it said:

"From this day onward, in matters ofmarriage, it must be the man's responsibilityto propose to the woman. He must buy finegifts for her and for her family. And he mustalso pay for the wedding feast. In this way, themen of the Khmer Kingdom will show honorto the women."

If you travel up the Mekong River onHighway 7, past Phnom Penh to the KampongCham, you will see two mountains, the Moun-tain of the Men and the Mountain of theWomen. And you will see for yourself whichis the higher and the most beautiful.

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The Story

Touch Neak, a 78-vear-old Cambodian Buddhist monk, told this story in Khmer with

broad gestures, hvely facial expressions and a lot of laughter. It was recorded at his home

in San Francisco and later translated into English. It is part of a longer legend that begins

with the story of an unmarried queen who changes marriage customs so she eau

ask a man to be her husband. The two mountains, orphnoms as they are called in Khmer, really do exist,

and on top of one is a beautiful temple.

The Language

Khmer is the name of the official language of

Cambodia and of the people who make up 85 (;; of the

population. The script, derived from Sanskrit, wasbrought to Indo-China from India along with Thera-

vada Buddhism. In this story, some words used to

address royalty are Pali, the sicred language a Bud-dhism, which is part of classical Khmer, Lao and Thai

languages but may be unfamiliar to contemporaryspeakers of these languages. Khmer, non-tonal and mono-

syllabic, has no phonemic stress system. To the ears of native English

speakeis, Khmer has a staccato quality, with a rising inflection at the end of each

wntence. The Khmer alphabet has 33 consonants, 21 dependent vowels and 12 inde-

pendent vowels. Vowels are written above, below, around, before.and after conso-

nants, giving the printed page a flowing appearance. Of the two styles of Khmer

script, wedge-shaped (cuneiform) Chrieng characters are most widely used. The mor

rounded and graceful Mul characters are used for titles. A page of Khmer script has a

grace and beauty that is artistically pleasing to the eye.

)

4r;

-1_

The Author, Translator and Illustrator

Alice Lucas, a teacher in San Francisco, became interested in Cambodia and Khmer

culture through her students, and has traveled throughout Cambodia, Laos and Viet-

nam. This story, told by Touch Neak, was translated by Samol Tan. On the audio tape,

Katharya Urn read the English and Jennifer My read the Khmer. Katharine Austin

was the recording engineer.Illustrator You-Shan Tang received his training at Beijing University and the

Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. In 1984, he won the American Book

Award for his illustrations in the children's book, "Pie Biter."

VOICES OF LIBERTY

TEACHERDISCUSSION GUIDE

THE MOUNTAIN OF THE MEN

AND THE MOUNTAIN OF THE WOMEN

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING

WITH THE KHMER FOLK STORY

8

OBJECTIVES FOR USING BILINGUAL FOLKTALES

Students will:

I. Increase their awareness and under-standing of other cultures by reading andlistening to folktales in English and theoriginal language of the culture repre-sented.

2. Recognize the four elements of a folktalepresent in the folk literature of all cultures:

Simplicity of language and ideasPresence of magic, trickery or fantasyA moralTransmission of culture

3. Develop and reinforce English languageskills by listening, speaking, reading andwriting.

Suggested activities are divided into sixcategories:

Pre-reading activitiesRemembering what you readInterpreting what you readApplying what you readIntegrating literature with languageEnrichment, reinforcement and extension

MATERIALS NEEDED

Class copies of the folktale and audio-tapes of the storyA cassette tape playerA listening center, if desired, so studentscan listen to the story in both languagessimultaneouslyA wall map of the worldPictures and drawings of the culture rep-resentedArtifacts, films, videos of the culture

INTEGRATING LITERATURE WITH LANGUAGE

Here are some ideas for integrating literaturewith language that can be used any timeduring or after reading the story to developand reinforce language skills.

Listening-Speaking Activities

I. Play the game, "Who Am I?" Map thecharacters and their personalities on theboard. Divide the class into one group foreach character. Instruct them to pick outquotes from the text that illustrate the per-sonality of their character. Each groupthen reads the quotes to the rest of the classfor identification.

2. Have students act out the story, usingreader's theatre techniques.

3. Brainstorm other solutions to the charac-ters' problems.

4. Dictate key sentences from the story.*

5. Choral activities: Read one line and havethe students read the next line (or para-graph).*

Writing-Reading Activities1. Keep a reader's journal in reaction to the

story. Note:

things that don't make sensesomething that doesn't fitimportant detailsinteresting quotesfavorite passagespersonal responses

2. Write a descriptive paragraph detailing thepersonalities of the main characters in thest Iry. Compare and contrast.

3. VV rite a dialogue between the main charac-ters to accompany the action in one storyscene.

2 Voices of Liberty Teacher Discussion Guide

4. Write a different ending for the story.

5. Write a persuasive paragraph to convinceone of the characters to change his or heractions.

6. Create metaphors and similes that describethe personality of the characters.

7. Changing tenses: Ask students to changethe tense of a passage from the story.Discuss the difference in feeling thischange makes.*

8. Editing: Write a passage incorrectly andask students to find the errors.

9. Ask students to use vocabulary from thestory to write simple, compound andcomplex sentences.*

Enrichment-Reinforcement and ExtensionActivities

Make a picture book retelling the story.

Make a picture map showing the movementof the characters.

Play traditional music of the culture whilestudents write in their journals.

Research customs of the country. Chart anddisplay the information.

Divide the class into groups to draw sectionsof the story on large pieces of cardboard topresent to another class.

Make a large map of the country showingmajor cities, mountains, rivers, lakes, etc.

Read another folktale and compare with thisone.

Make shadow puppets and piesent the storyas a play.

Invite people from the community to talkabout their country.

Have a food tasting party.

Set up a class center with artifacts, picturesand books about the culture of the country.

Especially good for LEP students

,1111=MMItaCambodia: The Mountain of the Men and The Mountain of the Women 3

ft;

INDO-CHINA OR SOUTHEAST ASIA?

Indo-China is the name the French gave toVietnam, Laos and Cambodia, which weretheir protectorates from the mid-19th centuryuntil 1954. Along with Thailand, Bunna andMalaysia, they occupy the peninsula thatmakes up the large land mass in SoutheastAsia. The term acknowledges the geographicand cultural influence of the major countriesof Asia, China and India, which dominated thepolitical and cultural gyowth of the peninsulafor well over 1,000 years. Southeast Asia is

the term generally used to include Indonesia,

the Philippines, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia,Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam andLaos.

Theravada Buddhism and Hinduism werebrought to Thailand, Burma, Laos and Cam-

bodia by traders and sailors from India. Their

influence is seen in the Sanskrit origins of thewritten languages of these western and south-

ern Indo-China countries, and the traditional

SOUTHEAST ASIA

arts such as classical dance and puppetry.

During this same period, China repeatedlyinvaded and conquered Vietnam. Vietnameseliterature is filled with stories of the people'sstruggles for indept ndence from their power-ful and hungry neighbor to the north. Vietnamdeveloped ways of thought and behavior mod-eled after Confucianism and adopted theMahayana Buddhism of China. Until the late

17th century, the Vietnamese language waswritten in Chinese characters. A French priestdevised the current system using the Roman

alphabet and a combination of nine diacritical

marks.

Theravada Buddhists celebrate the New Year

on April 15 each year, while the MahayanaNew Year, Tet, coincides with the ChineseNew Year and is determined by the lunarcalendar.

1NDO-CHINA

4 Voices of Liberty Teacher Discussion Guide

21

CAMBODIA: STORY BACKGROUND

Cambodia is relatively small, about the size ofWashington state. It is a country with manynames, and has had many kinds of govern-ments, rulers and colonizers. Cambodia is thename given to the country by the French whooccupied it for 100 years from the mid-19thcentury until 1954. The people and the lan-guage are called Khmer and they speak oftheir country as Srok Khmer, the land of theKhmer.

Kampuchea means "shrunken country," and isthe name for the land that was left to the Cam-bodians after wars with the Thais and Viet-namese in the late 15th century. The currentboundaries of the country were established bythe French as they carved up their possessionson the Indo-China peninsula. Although therich Mekong delta lands were lost to theVietnamese, there are still many ethnicKhmers living in that area, as well as in theeastern part of Thailand. Some VietnameseCambodians have immigrated to the UnitedStates, bringing with them both languages andcultures.

Pali, the royal language spoken by the king in"The Mountain of the Men and the Mountainof the Women" and used to address him, ispreserved in the writings of the monks ofThailand, Laos and Cambodia. It will not befamiliar to most Cambodians today unlessthey were educated by the monks in one ofthese countries.

At the time this story takes place, the AngkorEmpire was at the beginning of an 800-yearperiod of expansion and cultural developmem.

King Jayavaraman I united all the parts ofCambodia in about 400 A.D. He and hisdescendants built a great complex of reser-voirs, canals, roads and elaborately decorated

temples, palaces and public buildings thateventually covered 79 square miles in thenorthwest part of Cambodia near the greatTonle Sap Lake. Eventually, the empirecollapsed under the pressure of exhaustedresources within, and attack by the Thais andVietnamese from without.

It is said that many centuries before KingJayavaraman I there was a queen who ruledCambodia. She had no husband, and changedthe courtship and marriage customs to make itpossible for her to choose a mate. Thismarriage custom continued for hundreds ofyears until it was changed as told in this story.

Cambodia is a country that prior to 1975relied on deference to elders, the educated,monks and royalty. Peasants had little educa-tion, wealth or power under any of its rulers.They were attracted by communism's appealfor revolt and joined with the Khmer Rouge ina military takeover that resulted in the totaldismantling of Cambodia's social structure,the destruction of the culture and the death ofup to two million people.

TIES BETWEEN SCHOOL AND HOME

Most Cambodian children in the United Statesknow little or nothing about the history, geog-raphy and culture of their country. Studentresearch and reporting projects assigned forclass may involve parents in a way thatdnhances school-home relationships, authenti-cates student escape experiences, and showsthat others value the Khmer culture.

It is suggested that the tape and story beloaned to Khmer families at the beginning ofsuch a research project, or just for the pleasureof hearing and seeing a traditional story intheir own language.

Cambodia: The Mountain ot the Men and The Mountain ot the Women 5

22

REFERENCES

Smithsonian Magazine, "The Ruins at Ang-kor," May 1989

Cambodian Folk Stories From the Gatiloke,Muriel Carirson, Charles E. Tuttle, Rutland,1987

Khmers, Tigers and Talismans, Jewell Rein-hard Cobbum; Burn, Hart and Co., ThousandOakes, 1981

A History of Cambodia, David P. Chandler,Westview Press, Boulder, Colo., 1983

Brother Enemy: The War After the War: AHistory of Indochina Since the Fall of Saigon.Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986, San Diego

Civilizations of the Past (textbook), ModernCurriculum Press, 1984

CAMBODIA

6 Voices of Libeny Teacher Discussion Guide

() `.;A. WI

IDEAS FOR TEACHING THE CAMBODIAN FOLK STORY

THE MOUNTAIN OF THE MENAND THE MOUNTAIN OF THE WOMEN

PRE-READING ACTIVITIES

Ask students what they know about Cambo-dia and list or "map" their responses on theboard. (Cambodia is the name most Western-ers use when talking about the country, but itis also known as Kampuchea. Its people andits language both are called Khmer.)

Locate Cambodia (or Kampuchea) on a wailmap of the world.

Show pictures and/or artifacts. DiscussCambodian culture, history, geography andlanguage. (See the short reference section atthe end of the story background.) Add thisinformation to the mapping activity.

MOTIVATION

Briefly introduce the four basic elements of afolktale and map them on the board. Ask thestudents to keep these elements in mind asthey listen to the story.

Introduce the characters: King Jayavaraman Iand the young Cambodian women and men.

Ask a prediction question:Ask students to tell about dating and mar-riage customs in their country. Ask if theyknow the reasons for these customs. Pointout that the reasons for most customs havebeen forgotten, even though we continue topractice the cultural tradition.

In this story there is a special request madeto change a cultural tradition. A contesttakes place which pits cleverness againststrength. Which do you think will win?

Look at the illustrations. What do they tellyou about:

The land and the climate of Cambodia?

When the story takes place, now or long ago?

The relationship of the characters?

The action or plot of the story?

VOCABULARY

You are the best person to decide which wordsin the story need explanation. After listeningand reading, students may suggest words thatthey want explained. Some words might be:

Mekong task bamboocustom profit bold

Make the new words comprehensible by usingone or more of the following strategies:

I. In pairs or small groups, students makevocabulary cards and use them:

as flash cardsto play matching gamesto do word sorts or categorizeto do close activitiesto do grammar sorts (verbs, nouns,adjectives, etc.)

2. Draw pictures of the new vocabulary andadd to an on-going word bank.

3. Create a bulletin board showing words andconcepts.

4. Keep a personal "new word" dictionary.

STUDENT ACTIVITIES WORKSHEETSshould be presented only after students haveenjoyed the entire story. ALL OF THE SUG-GESTED ACTIVITIES SHOULD NOT BEUSED. You will know best what is appropri-ate for your class depending on student needand interest.

Cambodia. The Mountain of the Men and The Mountain of the Women 7

) 4

STUDENT WORKSHEET

THE MOUNTAIN OF THE MEN

AND THE MOUNTAIN OF THE WOMEN

PART ONE

Your name or names of students in your group

After listening to and reading the whole story, listen to the taped story a second time, whilefollowing in the story in the book. When you hear more music: STOP

Work alone, with a partner or in a group to answer these questions:

Remembering What You Read

1. What was the marriage custom in Cambodia at the time of the story?

2. What was the young women's special request?

3. What reasons did the young women give the king for wanting to change the custom?

Understanding What You Read

1. Why might King Jayavaraman I want to keep the custom the same?

2. The young women trusted the king. What great thing had he done for the Kingdom of

Cambodia?

3. What would you have done if you were the king?

8 Voices of Liberty Teacher Discussion Guide

PART TWO

When you have finished these questions, start the tape recorder again and listen as you read untilyou hear the music again, then answer these questions.

Remembering What You Read

1. What is the task the young women propose to the king? Who is to work on this task?

2. The task is to take five days. How will the young men and young women know when to startand stop work?

3. Which rises in the sky first, the Morning Star or the Sun? Is the sky still dark when theMorning Star rises?

Understanding What You Read

1. What were the king's reasons for agreeing to the plan?

2. Who took credit for the plan to build the mountains?

3. Why did the young men laugh when the king told them that the young women wanted tochange the marriage custom?

Cambodia: The Mountain of the Men and The Mountain of the Women

1

9

PART THREE

Listen to the taped story again until you hear the music, then answer these questions.

Remembering What You Read

1. What is the first thing the yowl!, women did to get ready to build their mountain?

2. When did the young women do mosL of their work? What were the young men doing at these

times?

3. What did the young women do on the second day? On the third day? On the fourth day?

What did the young men think the women went: doing?

Understanding What You Read

1. What happened when the young women lit the candle in their Morning Star lantern? What did

the men think?

2. Did the young women in the story get what they want? How did they do it?.

3. Do you think it was fair for the young women to win the contest the way they did'?

10 Voices of Liberty Teacher Discussion Guide

27

Applying What You Read

(These questions may be used by the teacher in a class discussion or assigned to a more ad-vanced class as a writing assignment. In either case, all the questions should not be used.)

1. The story says that boys or young men are stronger than girls and young women? Do you

think this is true? Are there different kinds of strength? What kinds of strength were shown in

this story?

2. The author of this story sometimes calls the characters boys and girls and sometimes young

men and young women. People married when they were 14 to 16 years old in Cambodia. Do

you think they are old enough to be called young women and young men?

3. What values were important to King Jayavaraman in this story?

Cambodia: The Mountain of the Men and The Mountain of the Women