[Yr11 Information Technology] Request for opinions, help, comments or any other feedback

[Kevork Krozian]

Hi Folks,


    I am at the horns of a dilemma ( sort of ) and need your help.

I am taking a Yr10 Programming class in 4 weeks for Semester 2 and can't decide which language to use. I can count on 18 weeks at 3 periods of 72 min per week.

My criteria are :
  1. It has to be fun, exciting and addictive so the kids are hooked and want to follow through with more in senior level(s).
  2. It has to be reasonably rigorous and not a wizard driven, micky mouse gimmicky all sugar and no educational nutrition type of experience.
  3. It has to be educational with the teaching of correct programming techniques, and extendible skills into future programming and other languages
  4. It has to have some file storage capability and understanding of input and output beyond only user generated input at runtime.

My choices are ( these are more than 2 horns I admit ) :

 1. VB.NET 
 2. Flash and Actionscript
 3. Python (we do this in Yr 11 )
 4. PHP and MySQL ( we do this in Yr 12 )
 5. Java ( too hard )
 6. C/C++ ( too hard )
 7. other 


    I am leaning towards Flash and Actionscript not least for its whiz bang features and some OOP programming and object handling as well as web based deployment and beautification of web applications.  


   Any feedback welcome 


Take Care



Kevork Krozian
IT Manager , Forest Hill College
k.krozian at fhc.vic.edu.au
http://www.fhc.vic.edu.au
Mobile: 0419 356 034