On the controls, I would guess the vertically oriented control is for stitch length, and possibly "reverse" when all the way up. Assuming your machine turns by hand (meaning it's not stuck) you can check by watching the feed dog movement as you adjust this lever. The bottom three, from the top down, 1. Needle position, L C R?, if so looks to be in the R position; 2. stitch width for zigzagging; 3. Reverse, if not the upper most control, but again this can be checked, or maybe it drops the feed dogs, which you could see by moving the lever side to side with the needle at its lowest position and presser foot raised.
With some cloth under the presser foot, put the upper control to a numbered position and turn the handwheel towards you from the top, the cloth should move away from you; if it moves towards you reverse the handwheel direction. Move the upper control all way to the top, turn the handwheel, and see if the cloth moves in the opposite direction. You can try this with the lowermost control also.
Threading the machine will be harder to figure out with the pictures, maybe a picture looking down on the tension unit but angled away from the machine?