I think the mistake in teaching languages is to start students with a blank page. I learned by typing in code from a magazine, and thus started from a working p

I think the mistake in teaching languages is to start students with a blank page. I learned by typing in code from a magazine, and thus started from a working program to tinker with. So, when my then 9-yr-old son wanted to learn, we spent a weekend hacking the Minecraft code. We did the first change together: making it so the Endermen didn't kill you for looking at them. Then I left him to it. By the end of the weekend he was flying around on the Ender dragon.