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So I'm in an area that has a grand total of "Just Me" go players, so I've been trying to teach two of my friends. One of them has played online a little bit, but people online tend to be tough on 22-25k players. My other friend is daunted by the "commitment" that a 19x19 game takes, but has been doing pretty well at 9x9 against some computers he has. I want to get them both comfortable with 19x19, simple opening theory (one of them just loves playing 5th line extensions from the corner and I've had trouble assuring him that there's too much room under his extension), and close combat principles, mostly related to life and death. How would you guys go about helping them get a firm foundation so that online play won't just be a sequence of somewhat demeaning defeats. I know everyone has to go through this, but one of these guys is easily discouraged, despite being very smart, and my other friend has a bit of an ego, so I want to try hard to get them to a place where they will, at the very least, be able to feel good about a few games they play online. Would you recommend maybe going over that book commenting on DDK games with them? I'm very poor, as are my friends, but I would be willing to buy a copy of that book if you feel like it would help them.
Just play the game! "Hand talk" is synonym for Go somewhere. You won't be able to trick your friends into feeling good about their Go, especially when they are smart. Go is a permanent challenge, you can't prepare them sufficiently. For online play just start at a place where there are sufficient beginners and beginner ranks so they can play even games not horribly mismatched ones.
There is no need in my opinion to discuss things like fifth line extensions are bad, when this isn't demonstrated in a game. It is also ridiculously high level stuff to discuss when you play your first 19x19 games. (When I started people told me that maybe jumping is faster development than the empty triangle I played. Or maybe I should not play in the same corner forever.)