Teach students the letter shapes and sounds using the primer's first few pages, which show the Roman and italic alphabets in upper and lower case.
Help each child to read the words in his lesson aloud.
When the student has studied the words in the lesson thoroughly, ask him to spell them aloud. The goal is for the child to become familiar with the words and to reinforce the sounds that each letter makes.
If the lesson includes a story, ask the student questions about the story or ask him to tell you the story in his own words. This practice develops reading comprehension skills.
When the child reaches the lessons which have a word-list at the end of the lesson, begin asking him to tell you what each word means. When he is able to write, you may wish to have him write the words and a definition or a sentence that correctly uses the word.
As students progress through the readers, choose poems, speeches or other portions of lessons for memory and recitation work. This enhances reading skills as it develops elocution and public speaking skills.