I see! The apple probably has a diegetic reason, but I probably just missed it- I assumed it was part of a puzzle that would require the guy on the south of the hill.
Not sure how I would approach the map (maybe have Scenes associated with a predefined coordinate value when you go to the Map Screen?), but it's fine for what it is!
I hope that your students enjoy the game, it's certainly a novel way of teaching methinks!