Muna Askar, 7

“The uniform for Lycée Français de Chicago is blue skirt, white shirt, red shirt. Blue, white and red like the colors of France. I wish I could wear my regular clothes to school. But I’d get in trouble if I did.”

Photo: Andrew Nawrocki

What’s up?
My dad and I are getting my brother from the Walt Disney Magnet School. He just picked me up from my school, Lycée Français de Chicago, that’s down the street.

Is that a French school?
Yes. We learn French and English. I get to go to the park twice a day, and, um, we have lunch at 12 o’clock. [Laughs]

Ha, all right. Lunch is important. Does the school serve French food at lunch, too?
No. But I had it when I was in Brussels. My mom’s relatives live there. They speak French there, too. I’ve been to the South of France when I was little, but I was too young to remember.

Do your friends speak French?
Yes, I have 17.

Exactly 17 friends who speak French?
Yes.

Well, okay then.
All of my friends are from the French school. There are 350 Lycée schools around the world. Each one does this project where we make a cutout of a little puppet named Clement and we send it around the world to each school. It’s like a chain letter. Then they write back about things in their country. I learned a lot about people around the world.

Cool. I see you have a pilot wings pin from American Airlines on your jacket. Do you fly a lot?
Yes. A pilot gave this to me while we were on vacation. I’ve been to lots of places: [counting on fingers] Brussels, Libya in North Africa, Chicago, France, Mexico, Florida, Washington, D.C., San Diego, London.

You’re running out of fingers!
Oh, and Canada. I like traveling a lot. Sometimes on vacations we travel one place, do a vacation there, go to another place and do a vacation there. All in one whole vacation. Um, I don’t know what else to say.

Tell me something in French.
Bonjour is hello. Merci is thank you. Ouvert is open. Poupée is doll. And au revoir is goodbye.