No, it shouldn't be that hard to understand braces means a block. Why would 'begin'/'end' be easier? Just teach that { = begin, and } = end. Alternatively use

No, it shouldn't be that hard to understand braces means a block. Why would 'begin'/'end' be easier? Just teach that { = begin, and } = end. Alternatively use a different language that is simpler but will translate back to JS, like coffeescript or something like that, maybe there's a python equivalent.