For a “Complete Noob”
IMO,
Start with teaching them how to do specials. The games almost pointless if they can’t do the basic moves (fireballs, dp, hurricanes, etc). I know shotos are tired and old, but they are solid, and are great first characters. If they eventually learn to do the specials for Ryu, Guile, Chun & Geif, they will be able to play “Any character”.
Anyway, let’s just assume they’ve learned the speacials. For the next step, I would then introduce them to simple basic combos (2-in-ones).
IMO, strategy, zoning etc. etc. are all ongoing facets of the game that are just learned with experience and a little advice here and there.
I’m actually in the process of teaching my daughter, (7 years old). She’s at the point where she’s getting comfortable with fireballs, throws & blocking. I’m hoping by the end of this summer she’ll be able to do a DP or two…
Fighting games are arguably the hardest games to learn. The learning curve is pretty steep. I know it took me atleast a month to do a Dp half-way consistently. The one thing I wouldn’t do, is to beat them down mercilessly, (unless they specifically said so). You could easily turn them away from the game by doing this. I did this to my brother, he was actually getting pretty decent, but I starting giving him beatdowns, and he totally stopped playing… That was probably 10 years ago. A lot of players can NOT handle repeated harsh beatdowns. Some can (and appreciate it), but most can’t. Streetfighter games in particular, can make the recipient of such beatdowns, feel extremely hopeless…