A focused first week in German builds the gender-and-article habit early, since it's much easier to establish from day one than to correct later.
Confirm the 26 base letters plus ä, ö, ü, and ß (see German Alphabet) — genuinely new sounds, not stylistic variations, worth learning deliberately.
Learn 20–30 common nouns, each paired with der, die, or das from the very first time you see it — never as a bare noun.
Practice basic statements using the vocabulary you've learned, noticing that every German noun is capitalized (a genuine reading and writing aid, not just a spelling quirk).
See also the reference page: German for Beginners.
Always learning nouns together with their article (der, die, das) from the very first encounter — this is far easier to establish early than to correct after the fact.
No — ä, ö, and ü represent genuinely distinct vowel sounds, worth learning deliberately rather than treating as stylistic variations of a, o, and u.
No — these are better saved for once basic sentence structure feels comfortable, since they add a layer of complexity best introduced after the fundamentals are solid.
Yes — capitalizing every noun is a genuine reading aid that helps you quickly spot nouns in a sentence, not just a spelling rule to follow when writing.