The foundation of the reading process is the alphabet. Students must first learn the alphabet by rote memorization. Holding up large flash cards can be very effective for this purpose. Teachers should also stress the importance of learning letters and how they sound. If children can learn from an early age to sound out words and their component parts, they will have greatly improved their ability to learn words and their meanings on their own.
Most of the books and stories your young students will be reading will have accompanying images or illustrations. Use these to help them understand the words and ideas they are trying to read. Explain how they can use the objects, people and actions they see in the image to guess what the meanings of the words are.
One mistake that many instructors make when trying to teach young children how to read is that they try to make clear to the child how import reading will be in the future. For a first-grader, the future rarely extends beyond the next few days. Given their shorter perspective, a teacher should offer more near-term rewards for learning to read. This can mean simple praise, or a reading contest with prizes for the winners.
Create a reading center in your class. This is a separate area with books and other reading materials, as well as fun activities for the students to do that will help them progress with their reading. You can rotate students in and out of this area during the day, giving them various tasks to do.