< 2010 - Change is coming !! >

So January has already flown by and is about to bid us all 'adieu'. It is strange how the transition in to this particular year has gone so smoothly. I usually find myself sensing a feeling of confusion and disarray during the first month, but this year is different. Maybe it is because I have so many plans for this particular coming twelve months.

If you are a follower of my YouTube channel, you will know that there have already been some changes taking place. Well, there are more to come...

During January I announced the launch of a second YouTube Channel. This has already been revealed, but the official launch has not taken place yet. Although this has not stopped almost 500 people already subscribing to it. This channel will work in a different way to my first one because you will be able to directly contact me via e-mail and ask me a question about learning English, or a query about my video teaching work. Not surprisingly, this channel will be called 'askmisterduncan'. I have not yet announced the e-mail address. That will happen in early February. The great thing about this new channel is that there will be a new video made every week!! Needless to say this will give me a lot more work to do, but if there is a real need for it, then I'm willing to give up my time to do it.

Also this year I will be making some changes to the videos already on my first channel. You may notice some of the earlier lessons disappearing over the next few weeks. I have decided to remake some of my earlier lessons and in some cases slightly re-edit other ones. I'm already doing this with...Lesson 17, Lesson 28 and with Lesson 52. These lessons will all be back on soon with some slight changes made to them.

I have been overwhelmed by the response to the new Lesson 6. This lesson is all about being happy and feeling sad. The comments and personal messages I have received about this video have really moved me. It was not an easy lesson to make. I really wanted to put across the deep emotions connected to these feelings through the visuals, the music, and of course the words. Most people have commented on the scene where I sit alone under the tree and the message I convey during that sequence.

I have just posted my newest lesson (54) to my channel. This was filmed during the recent heavy snow which fell all across the UK. I took advantage of this weather and did quite a lot of filming over two days, including some bits to camera. It is not as easy as it looks, performing and conveying long passages whilst standing in the freezing cold, but I managed it. I ended up spending a total of 6 hours outside in the snow. Setting up the camera in these conditions is really tricky. Especially on the second day, when the snow was still falling as I filmed. I had to constantly wipe the lens as the snow landed on it. In some scenes you can see little blobs of snow on the lens slowly melting as I'm filming. A little annoying, but there is not much I can do.

So back to my plans for this year. Well I'm still hoping to get some studio facilities soon, which will allow me to have a permanent base and give me more freedom to create many more lessons. The weekly video filming will require a new look and this will only be possible in a studio environment.

(Wish me luck!)

So I hope that 2010 will be a fun year...for all of us!

That is all for now. I'm re-editing lesson 17 now.

Thank you for reading and a big hello to my new followers here on blogspot.

Stay Happy !!

...........(Misterduncan)............................................................