At the risk of being laughed at, VB is what rekindled my interest in programming.  I played quite a bit with BASIC and logo on my Apple IIc as kid, but never really did any serious programming.<p>Then after high school while working my first job, I happened to pick up a book on VB(4 I think) at the local library that came with a demo version.  I was blown away by how quickly and simply I could create complete apps.  Over that weekend I wrote an app that solved a real problem at work and that was installed and used by the people working there.  After seeing that I could use programming to quickly simplify real world problems I got into programming again.  I moved from VB onto other languages and haven't touched VB since then.  But if I had been sat down with a C++ compiler instead of VB I probably never would have gotten into programming.<p>Right, my point.  Don't focus on language, focus on problem solving.  Show someone how programming can quickly solve an actual problem they are having.  First find a problem that appeals to your audience, then pick the language the best solves that problem, and teach them that (even if it is VB).  If after that they are interested they'll go on to learn as much as they can, if they're not then there probably isn't much you can do and no programming language can change that