It's not a crazy idea at all, nor is it even a new idea (see BASIC, Pascal, etc.), but it is not appropriate in all cases.
I would never recommend trying to teach C to a group of high school kids that were otherwise indifferent to computers (eg not curious tech-nerds).
Teaching methods and knowing your audience are important, too like recognizing that most of your class is bilingual and making an analogy that would be useful and relevant to them. I once explained Computer Science in a nutshell to my sister --a pianist, one of those self-proclaimed not-good-at-math people, but someone I know and communicate with very well-- in about 45 minutes; starting with binary logic and circuits and putting it all together with and ending with high level languages and the internet. She didn't retain it all of course but I pointed her at the Head First HTML/CSS book and she picked it up no problem.
I would never recommend trying to teach C to a group of high school kids that were otherwise indifferent to computers (eg not curious tech-nerds).
Teaching methods and knowing your audience are important, too like recognizing that most of your class is bilingual and making an analogy that would be useful and relevant to them. I once explained Computer Science in a nutshell to my sister --a pianist, one of those self-proclaimed not-good-at-math people, but someone I know and communicate with very well-- in about 45 minutes; starting with binary logic and circuits and putting it all together with and ending with high level languages and the internet. She didn't retain it all of course but I pointed her at the Head First HTML/CSS book and she picked it up no problem.