Advice for Teaching my Wife to Drive?

The one true religion of UK driving instructors: Parking Brake Worship. 

For me, the parking break is applied when you have stopped driving, so your car doesn't roll down a hill.  Driving Instructors think it needs to be applied constantly.

There is a reason for this. Obviously, rolling back on a hill could be dangerous (especially if your foot slips when switching from the foot brake to the accelerator).

Then, when you come to a stop, the handbrake is your only good defence from a car slamming into your back and sending you into people or oncoming traffic. If you're riding the clutch and using the footbrake, a collision is likely to knock your foot off the brake. If you're in neutral, on the foot brake, then it's likely pinball city if you get rear-ended.

Also, on the USA driving license: yes, in the UK you can drive on a valid foreign license for up to 12 months. Note the word "valid" - in some states, once your residency is no longer in that state, you no longer have a valid license.  You'll want to check to see if your state considers your license no longer valid once you've moved away.

Her licence is from Washington State. Hopefully that'll still be valid. Although she's saying she wants to buy a motorcycle now (we won't be living in a major city).

Edit: apologies for the double post. Thought the forum would have merge.

Honestly, don't stress about manual versus automatic.  Let that be her decision.  Moving countries is enough of a stress-er to not throw that into the mix.I think you'll find that an automatic only license doesn't affect her day-to-day life and really isn't a big deal. 

I agree with this. I'm in the process of getting my UK license now and decided to take the practical in an automatic. For me, it's daunting enough to get used to driving on the other side of the road so driving an automatic makes that a bit easier.

Plus, if I want/need to learn to drive a manual later on, I can always retake the practical in a manual. My priority is just getting my full license before my 12 months is up (...even though I haven't even driven since I arrived  ) so I am able to drive if I want, even if it's just renting a car.

EDIT: If she does decide to stick with an automatic, it might be worth considering renting a car to practice in rather than exclusively paying for lessons. I'm doing a mix of both since (at least in Moray) I can rent an automatic car for over a day for roughly the same price as 2 hours of lessons. If you're living somewhere more populated, this might not be a great idea but if you're relatively rural like I am, there's lots of open spaces to practice and build (or rebuild) confidence in driving.

I was not a super  confident driver in the US, but I have been driving for over 16 years in an automatic and good driving history.  I started my lessons in June and wanted to give manual a try because where I am automatic cars are more expensive and there is not as much choice as manuals...plus my husband is working to get his license too and refuses to do automatic and we don't want the expense of two cars for two drivers with no driving history.  However, I don't know if it was a mistake trying manual first...now my confidence is even lower because I feel like I really don't know how to drive and 10 lessons later I am still struggling.  I don't know, let her decide but if she us a nervous driver like me, might be best to just start with what she already knows.

It is hard enough trying  not getting disoriented by the different side of road thing, spacial awareness was also different, at least for me...and then the roads really do take more looking ahead than in the areas I've driven in the U.S....just too many parked cars on both sides of the road and the attitude here to me seems more aggressive. Not many roundabouts where I was in US so I also find those tough to get used to.