I am not entirely convinced you need to worry too much about types in the sense we think of types. Sure, people have to have a basic understanding that there a

I am not entirely convinced you need to worry too much about types in the sense we think of types. Sure, people have to have a basic understanding that there are different kinds of data, and that multiplying banana with poem doesn't make sense (well, actually, in Python it has an interpretation, so that was probably a bad example :-)). If your program has to figure out what type some variable is before operating on it, I think the aspiring programmer has already overcome the first few barriers and is already tackling a more advanced subject. I think initially the understanding that there are different classes of values you can assign to variables and that getting these confused can produce unwanted results is a very good first insight. And when that settles in the students mind, they might be receptive to "then there's this family of languages that get really particular about what goes where". (I also think it is important to try to not involve too much technical terminology early on. Have a look at Richard Feynman's lecture about the double-slit experiment and note how he uses absolutely no technical language. It is so well done it didn't even occur to me until after I saw the talk)