It all started in 2012 when I enrolled in Cohort21. I was a young Modern Languages teacher who was shocked at how poorly our educational systems prepared students in becoming proficient in a foreign language. Cohort21 was based on the Google Teacher Academy, now Innovator Academy and challenged me to develop an action plan for a year. I received a lot of feedback and was first introduced to the iterative process of developing a program that focussed on developing listening & speaking capabilities. I have been in constant pursuit of this goal and I have worked as a facilitator with Cohort21 since 2014.
Fast forward to 2016, and picture my son perched on top of a desk, speaking with Siri in French. "Comment ça va Siri?" (How are you Siri) he says, to which she replies "Je joue au premier qui rit perd et je pense que c'est moi qui gagne!" (I'm playing first one to laugh loses, and I think I am winning). From that moment, I knew that this was going to be the key to something great. A plush toy that grows with you, and allows you to learn a foreign language in the most natural way possible, when children are terrifically wired to learn languages.
Au Pair the Bear was born!