The right instructor...
Early learning is very important. If you learn wrong, it will be hard to change later. You realy want to avoid that. And at least let this be a lesson to you. Never accept an instructor that is assigned to you. It's probably the one that is sitting around. Make it very plain that you want to speak with several instructors before you make a decision, just to be sure that you have a good raport. The right instructor can provide twice the value for your dollar (or yen, or rubel) as the wrong one. I can't advise you on how to do this gracefully, but just do it. More is at stake than you can imagine.