Ma Cherie Amour

Covering a year 8 French class, the kids were asked to compose a love letter en Français.

The exercise in their textbook was like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure love letter. It offered the following choice of greetings:

a) Mon Cher/Ma Cherie;
b) Mon Lapin; or
c) Mon Amour;

then a few risqué options for the body of the letter, followed by some saucy farewells. I explained to the class what they needed to do, and they started work.

As I did my rounds of the room, one girl stopped me.

"What does Lapin mean?"

"It means rabbit, or bunny," I said, crushing the problem with all my weight.

Most of the lesson then passed without incident; I answered questions effortlessly, all the while hiding my answer sheet. Towards the end of the lesson, the same girl stopped me again.

"What do these farewells mean?"

I looked at my answer sheet for a moment, as if it were something else that needed doing, then told her:

"Well, this one is 'Hugs and Kisses'; this one is 'My heart is yours forever', and this one is 'You drive me crazy'.

She looked confused.

"What's the trouble," I asked.

"Well, if I'm writing to a rabbit, I don't think I'd say any of those things."