Introduce yourself to your students. Tell them something about yourself and gain their trust by showing that you are kind, open to new ideas and well aware of the difficulties reading might present.
Assess the reading level of each of your students. Do this through individual tests or one-on-one reading sessions. Do not force students to share information about their skills with the entire class.
Divide the class into ability levels. Put those with no reading ability in one group, those with a knowledge of the basics but no reading skills in a second group, and those with some reading ability at a low level in a third group.
Divide your class period into four sections, depending on the amount of time you have for each class period.
Spend one-fourth of the class time working with the group of students with no reading skills. Introduce them to the alphabet and begin to work with the sounds that each letter makes. Progress to lessons about putting sounds together to form easy words.
Spend the next quarter of your class time working with the group of students with low levels of skills. Start with an overview of how to put sounds and letters together to form words. Move on to reading simple sentences and start with early reader books designed for adults.
Spend the next fourth of your time working with the highest level of your class. Assign individual reading assignments based on students' reading levels. Read together and talk about comprehension.
Spend the final fourth of your time working with the entire class. Talk about the stigma of being nonliterate. Do reading exercises as a class on the board and out loud. Read to your students daily.