Who Stole My Cheese?

A set of tasks for your English classes with adults (B1/B2 levels) embedded in a video game script linked to the book Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson. What better way to finish classes than playing one last game together?

Who Moved My Cheese? is a short, light-hearted parable about change. It follows the physical and emotional journeys of four characters, two mice and two little people; they search, find, lose and must rediscover their favourite food, cheese, in a large, twisting maze.

It could be a great summer read for your students or some good quality listening time as part of the audio book is free on YouTube.

Start your last class with this short video summary of the book and go through the Quizlet flashcards together. Then tell them that you will be playing one last game together and they are the players. If you use Zoom for your online classes you can actually give permission to one of your students to control your mouse/keyboard and therefore to play the game. When there’s a task they have to complete together you can easily take control of the mouse back.

Thanks to the creators of www.sploder.com you can play the video game here WHO STOLE MY CHEESE? You control the moves of the player with the arrow keys and spacebar (spells).

You can watch a short clip here to see how to play the game.

LEVEL 1

LEVEL 2

The game is divided in two levels. The story is as follows: your students get trapped into a video game (new situation, they have to adapt to change) and they have to find a way out ASAP. The player meets a woman who knows how to get out of the game but needs some help first. Someone has stolen her main source of income – the cheese! The tracks lead to the cave of the Ogre where three wardens guard the cheese. “Will I survive this fight?” the player asks himself just then. Fear takes over him yet there’s only way to go: forward.

Finally, objective accomplished!

In return, the woman gives him a magic ring with a curious inscription written on it. The last task is to decipher the inscription, say it out loud three times and return to real life. Not the old life. That no longer exists.

The inscription is a powerful message:

The future depends on what you do today.

Mahatma Gandhi

Embracing change, leaving the comfort zone, exploring the unknown and taking risks are constant features in our lives. Change is a living process that never ends.

Do not forget. “The more important your cheese is to you the more you want to hold on to it.” Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson

We may never find out who stole the cheese in this game yet we should reflect upon what could make our cheese disappear. How do we react to change?

There are five tasks to complete (you can freely choose these tasks for your groups or you can get inspired from my list), a puzzle/brain teaser of your choice and three additional tasks that have been especially created for this game: a map, a treasure chest and a ring.

Depending on the tasks you choose the game can be completed in 1h30min or more.

I’ve got the idea after creating this game for my groups of teens and pre-teens, yet the game is longer and it’s linked to the ClassDojo characters. I thought I may as well recycle the game for classes with adults and finish this school year in a memorable way for them too.

I am a huge fan of gamification in my face-to-face and online classes as you can see.

Enjoy the game!