Dorothy Koomson Promise Me short story lesson

A year 7 diverse short stories lesson on Promise Me by Dorothy Koomson, focusing on narrative perspective and writer’s deliberate language choices.

Students will read the story in sections, exploring concepts like unreliable narrator and how authors manufacture a surprising twist ending. There is scope within this lesson for students to practise extended analytical writing as well as a re-creative task where they can write a new version of the story from an alternative character’s perspective.

The version of the story I used was published in EMC’s Literary Shorts Anthology, but a freely available version can be found online at the Express. The link to this story included in the first slide of the lesson material.

This resource is part of a short scheme of learning on short stories by diverse British writers.
You can download my lesson on The Mouth Organ Boys for free here.
You can download my lesson on A House Like No Other for free here.
You can purchase the complete SoL here.