Lesson Author: Marquerette Müller
Welcome to HEADQUARTERS, agents. Your first day on the job should have been simple… except there’s a DOUBLE AGENT in your midst.
In this immersive group lesson, spellers don’t just learn about espionage; they become intelligence agents themselves. Along the way, they’ll explore the fascinating real-world history of spying, undercover identities, double agents, cryptography, dead drops, microdots, counterintelligence, bizarre spy gadgets, pigeon cameras, cyber espionage and some genuinely ridiculous attempts to hide secrets.
But there’s a mission running in the background. Spellers will choose classified codenames, build hilariously questionable undercover identities, investigate suspects, recover a dead drop, hunt for microdots, crack an encrypted transmission, analyse surveillance reports and piece together evidence to expose the mole. And just when they think they’ve solved the case… HEADQUARTERS has one last surprise.
Designed for 4 to 5 spellers and packed with collaborative discussion, role-play, problem-solving and interactive group VAKTs, this is a BIG lesson that can easily be stretched across 2 to 3 sessions.
And because nobody wants to spend three hours pretending to work for MI6 while actually fighting with their printer, the lesson comes with a ready-to-print mission packet containing the codename cards, undercover identity cards, suspect dossiers, classified mission documents, surveillance and witness reports, dead-drop symbols, intercepted messages, microdot challenge, cipher materials, final clues, Agent Echo reveals, envelope labels, CLASSIFIED / TOP SECRET stamps and more.
A little disclaimer from me:
AI was used to help create the printable graphics and mission materials for this lesson. I’m a lot of things, but a graphic designer, or someone remotely talented enough to make all of this in Canva, is not one of them. 😂 The lesson content and the mildly unhinged espionage adventure, however, are very much mine.
Print the files. Prepare the envelopes. Sound the alarm. Trust no one.
Your agents’ first mission awaits. 🕵️♂️🔎
