Meaning of "だけに"

Question

I know that だけ can mean only and I'm learning its seemingly new meaning as in an expression だけに from a 日本語の森 video.

An example sentence given there is:

1. 人気者のズン先生だけに授業がとても面白い。

and it's meaning, as explained there, is:

The lesson is very particularly interesting because of popular Zun sensei.

But I feel like this meaning might also be a correct one:

The lesson is very interesting to Zun sensei.
(Zun sensei thinks it's very interesting.)

Which of these meanings is correct?


Also, are these 2 modified sentences correct? What would be their meaning?

2. 人気者のズン先生であるだけに授業がとても面白い。

3. 人気者のズン先生だけには授業がとても面白い。

How would I say:

The lesson is very interesting only because of popular Zun sensei.
(Without Zun sensei it wouldn't be interesting at all.)

日本語の森: Learn Japanese JLPT N2 文法 #20「のことだからＶＳだけに」

Answer 1

Upon reading/hearing the sentence, without any context :

「人気者{にんきもの}のズン先生{せんせい}だけに授業{じゅぎょう}がとても面白{おもしろ}い。」

99% of native speakers would think that it meant:

"The class/lesson is so much fun because it is taught by (none other than) the ever-popular Mr. Zun."

It would take a pretty unusual context for the sentence to mean:

"The class/lesson is so much fun only for the ever-popular Mr. Zun."

Why so?

1) When we read/hear 「～～先生」, we tend to think automatically that the person is the one teaching the class and not one of the students taking (and possibly enjoying) it.

2) It would be quite unnatural to use the qualifier 「人気者の」 to refer to a person if he is the one enjoying something. One can enjoy things regardless of one's own popularity, correct?

Thus, while the second interpretation might not be totally impossible, it would be somewhere between highly unlikey and almost impossible.

Also, are these 2 modified sentences correct? What would be their meaning?

人気者のズン先生であるだけに授業がとても面白い。

Correct. This means the same (first interpretation) as the original sentence.

人気者のズン先生だけには授業がとても面白い。

Correct but it suddenly means what the second interpretation says. Zun is the only one enjoying the class.

Power of particles.

Finally,

How would I say:

The lesson is very interesting only because of popular Zun sensei. (Without Zun sensei it wouldn't be interesting at all.)

You could say:

「人気者のズン先生が教えているからこそ、その授業はおもしろい。」

(I do not have a habit of writing 「おもしろい」 using kanji.)