Spanish V Students Escape the Room in Interactive Lesson

The escape room exercise has evolved over time. “When I started this module, we used to take the students to an escape room outside of Rivers,” said Villagrán. That escape room was run in English, but students were directed to speak Spanish for the exercise. Villagrán noticed they were sometimes shy about speaking Spanish in the new setting, though. So, she created her own experience at Rivers, tailored to the Spanish V curriculum, which explores the reasons why cultures and individuals use narrative and art as escapes from reality. 

The setup is elaborate. Over the years, Villagrán has amassed an impressive collection of knick-knacks—Argentine pesos, a ticket stub from Cairo, Egypt, an old dial phone, multiple old-school briefcases, newspaper clippings, even a plastic skeleton. Clues could be lurking anywhere—on a Scrabble board, in a jigsaw puzzle, hidden in a suitcase, obscured by a cypher, or written in invisible ink. 

Students received a simple directive, which was written on the door to the room: “You will be trapped in a classroom where reality and fantasy mix and time is not what it seems. To escape, you will need to complete five tasks before the sand timer runs out.” They were also given three rules: speak only in Spanish, work in groups, and have fun!

“Each challenge had a specific number, letter, or word that all seemed very random until the end,” said Jason Richardson-Miles ’25. “These involved solving numerical and word puzzles, finding hidden words and objects in simple tasks, and finding lock codes.”

Taylor Ehler ’25 commented on the rigor of the activities. “Initially, I thought it was hard,” she said, “but then we got in the groove. Some of the clues were also misleading, so you needed to know what you were looking for.”

For example, one clue was hidden in a song on a CD. Ehler’s group found the CD player first and knew to look for a CD, which they found hidden in a box, which required a passcode to open.

With clues scattered and the line between reality and fantasy intentionally blurred, it became evident to the students that the only way to solve the puzzle and escape was to collaborate. 

Richardson-Miles recalls the moment his class got over the hump in solving the mystery:  “When we all came together and connected the individual puzzles that we were solving, it helped us to understand the puzzle,” he said.

Several objects in the room were callbacks to course materials from earlier in the year, such as a poster from the short film Viaje a Marte (Journey to Mars) by Juan Pablo Zaramella and a copy of a Chilean newspaper from the era of Pinochet—both had been discussed in class. In the escape room, they contained answers to clues.

Ehler credits Villagrán with sparking insightful discussions and debates year-round in the class.

 “She really emphasizes that there is not just one perspective to a story,” she said. “When we’re reviewing history, we look at many different perspectives. It’s been a really interesting and fun class.”