I'd go for a 2 meter electric powered glider. hobbyking.com has quite a lineup of them, RTF or install your own Rx.

I've been using an electrified Goldberg Lady (2m) as a trainer for CAP cadets, and they have been doing much better on it than on "trainer" type airplanes.

Things happen slowly with a glider, and you have time to correct your mistakes. Also, hand launching one of them is a snap compared to ROG with almost anything else.