Copyrte, Clair Lasater, Ph. D. -- Words 187.

Pachelbel on Ice

I use the best strings version I’ve heard, of Pachelbels Kanon, to set the mood for the first class, and every class, of each semester. Pachelbel’s master work “breaks the ice” with my college and university English-language learners, in the Peoples Republic of China.

A Harvard Ph. D. German professor worked something of the sort, in our second-year German classes at Indiana University. He actually played Pachelbel during parts of his thinned-out esl-size classes. This won’t work, of course, in Chinese university classes -- typically over forty students, some, sixty students.

I play it leading into each class -- almost as a theme song -- while the students file into the lecture rooms, find seats, then remain seated, awaiting the bell. I believe this sets my classes far apart from all other teachers’; it’s relaxing; and it helps these sweet kids feel “big university scholar.”

Clair Lasater