There's also the mysterious Bernard Bovy, who may or may not be related to Virginie but stands to gain financially from her untimely death. There are also seven peripheral characters, primarily relatives or friends of the others. Up to 14 students can participate at one time. The mysteries are set in Toluca, Mexico, and Cinet, France. An illustrated town map serves as the home page for the mystery, linking students to clues, background information, and the Internet.
Students participate in four rounds of play, collecting and sharing clues as they go along.
The clues point in a number of directions, implicating at one time or another each of the seven unsavory characters in the core group. The idea is to get students interested, says Oliver, who has been teaching Spanish for over 30 years. Typically in foreign language classes, says Oliver, students create inauthentic dialogues with each other when they are required to practice conversation. The students are bored and don't feel invested in speaking the language. They don't give answers to questions that are real or very interesting.