I am a learner myself so I can't tell much from tutor's perspective, but here is one thing I did like to point out by my(student's) point of view.

Learning basics, syntax and so on wasn't very interesting and engaging for me and probably for my classmates as well, and I was in middle school. It was more like a liability in for our brains having more important things to do.

Therefore, when you begin with them, don't tell them the boring stuff. Even if it is the building block of their programming learning experience, they might not really believe it's useful. So, show them how amazing and powerful programs are. How they can use them to make their life easier and so on.
That will help you enjoy teaching and them learning.
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