It is not necessary to go right down to assembly level to introduce these concepts, though. Just a language with a transparent memory storage model and explicit

It is not necessary to go right down to assembly level to introduce these concepts, though. Just a language with a transparent memory storage model and explicit reference vs value distinction is enough. C is still the lingua franca of the programming world and IMHO it is useful to know basic C for these reasons even if you rarely write much code in it.