How do you manipulate the baguette?

It's been a long time. I'm annoyed with myself for not better cataloging my adventures, mostly because a lot of great stuff has happened, which, lacking a written record, is now sinking into the obscure depths of my memory. Here is a small taster, though:

I had my students prepare a short presentation on a holiday they celebrate with their family, and one chose the Chinese New Year. At the end, I gave the others a chance to ask questions, and one boy raised his hand.

"But..." he hesitated, thinking. "How do you manipulate the baguette?"

I was entirely baffled; I was imagining breaking bread, perhaps in some unique, creative way somehow connected to the Chinese New Year...but then I remembered. Baguettes is the French word for (among other things) chopsticks.

"Chopsticks!" I exclaimed. "How do you use chopsticks!"

Problem solved.

Another classic occurred today when I was asking the class to list characters in a royal court in medieval times. One girl suggested "valet". I replied that this was the middle ages, and there were no cars yet, but perhaps we could list "carriage driver." Little did I know, "valet" also means "knave" in French...

These are actually wonderful illustrations of how much you can learn about a foreign language simply by examining mistakes its speakers make in your own native language!