Casserole Christmas

My wild CE2/CM1 class asked me to sing a Christmas song today, and they had actually behaved really well so I obliged.  I chose to sing "Jingle Bells" because they know the tune (Vive le vent).  The kids looked thrilled and asked to learn to sing it.

Me: Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!  Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh, HEY!
The class: JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS, mumblemumblemumble mumblemumble mumblemumble HEY!!!!

They loved shouting "hey".  I thought that part would be a hit.

There are two kids in that class who lived in England for awhile, and they looked horrified.  One of them actually had his head in his hands.  The teacher was laughing out loud.  "Ils chantent comme une casserole!" 

This is a casserole in French.  And apparently, they are known for singing poorly.

This isn't the only French expression like this, I've also heard chanter en yaourt - like yogurt.

Today kind of reminded me of going to a local bar to hear a band play - the singer was singing in "English", and most likely had not counted on 10 anglophones being present.  What a lot of French singers do is mumble along making sounds that do sound vaguely like English (if you don't speak it), then belting the chorus ("NO WOMAN NO CRY!!!!").

My CM2s were getting in on this act today as well, when I held up a flashcard they'd just shout a garbled English-ized (anglo-ed?) version of the word in French, hoping...well I don't know what they were hoping, actually.  To fool me?  Guess what, guys, my English is actually pretty good, and as a bonus I know these words in French as well.  Just because the word for orange is orange, don't get excited and try that trick with other fruits.  You have a test in three days, now take those scissors out of your mouth and try again.

Yes, I saw those scissors in your mouth, because I'm also a ninja with eyes in the back of my head.  So keep the funny business to a minimum.