Literacy is the manipulation of thoughts and language to express ideas. It helps to build an understanding of various texts, people and situations, and promotes self-empowerment. Global society depends increasingly on literacy as a major factor for progress. Unfortunately, at a time when the ability to read and write is becoming imperative in order to contribute actively to society, many children do not have access to education. Skills in reading enable learners to benefit from educational activities, and to participate fully in the social and economic activities in which they take part. In addition, reading is fundamental to progress and success in all other school subjects. Reading development involves the participation of children, parents, educators and the community as a whole. This manual was developed to assist teachers in teaching reading at the primary school level. It is intended to help teachers create an educational vision for ensuring reading abilities and develop an educational philosophy based on this vision. This philosophy should ultimately assist in the development of the scope and sequence of reading strategies used in the classroom. Reference is made to reading experts and specialists from as early as the 1960s to show that the thinking has persisted over a period of time. This manual is based on the results of work with teacher trainers with the technical support of Dr V. Elaine Carter. The reading methods have been complemented by the work of Mavis Irwin in Jamaica, and studies carried out by UNESCO in 1993 in China, Ethiopia, and Jamaica. The materials from these texts and others have been compiled to create a general guide to enhance reading achievement at the primary level. The reading programme integrates reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, so that they reinforce each other. Literacy can underlie every aspect of education across the grades, empowering all students to reflect on, and potentially reshape, themselves and their world. The information in this manual provides a framework to help educators facilitate effective reading instruction and enable learners to acquire the necessary tools to become literate. An interest inventory is appended. [This document was produced by the Section for Primary Education, Division of Basic Education, Education Sector, UNESCO.]