Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 816, Running a Pilot Program.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 816.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
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This episode is a dialogue between Jimmy and Rosalind about starting a new program, a program that's testing something.
Let's get started.
How is the pilot program coming along?
We'll be ready to launch it in another month, but I have some serious reservations.
Like what?
We haven't worked out all of the bugs yet and we might come up against some resistance from the community.
Isn't that the nature of a pilot program?
When you're paving the way, you're always going to have skeptics and dissenters.
You're right, of course, but there's a lot at stake.
I just hope this trial run will win over some of those skeptics.
It would be a shame to scrap this program after we've put in so much work.
After the program is launched, you'll have six months to prove its worth, right?
Yeah, that's right.
That's plenty of time for the dissenters to see the light.
From your lips to God's ears.
Rosalind says to Jimmy How is the pilot program coming along?
A pilot p i l?
O t here means something that you are doing to test a program, to test an idea, to see whether it will be successful.
Usually a pilot program is with a small group of people.
First you test it with a small group of people and then, if it is successful, if it works, you use it with a larger group of people.
That's a pilot program.
The word pilot has a couple of different meanings in English, however.
Take a look at our learning guide for some of those.
So Rosalind says to Jimmy, how is the pilot program coming along?
Meaning, how is it progressing?
How is it developing?
How is it going?
Jimmy says, we'll be ready to launch it in another month, but I have some serious reservations.
To launch, L-A-U-N-C-H, means to start something new.
At least that's what it means here.
To do something for the first time.
You might launch a new product for your business.
You're going to start selling something that you've never sold before.
That's to launch, to begin a new project or a new activity.
Jimmy says, I have some serious reservations.
Reservations are doubts, concerns, worries about something.
Rosalind says, like what?
In other words, give me an example.
Jimmy says, we haven't worked out all of the bugs yet.
To work out all of the bugs is a phrase meaning to fix all the problems.
This is especially used when we're talking about software problems.
Bugs are problems.
Bugs can also be little insects, little animals.
But here it means a problem in something, in some program, perhaps even a computer program.
Well, Jimmy says they haven't worked out all of the bugs.
They haven't gotten rid of them.
They haven't solved all the problems.
He says, and we might come up against some resistance from the community.
To come up against means to be opposed by someone or something, or it can mean simply to face to confront.
I've come up against some problems, meaning I now have some problems that I didn't see before or that I perhaps didn't realize were there.
Jimmy says that they might possibly come up against some resistance from the community.
Resistance is opposition.
When people don't want to do something or even want to stop something.
Sometimes we talk about governments and resistance movements.
Resistance movements would be people who are against the government, who try to stop it or oppose it.
Here, Jimmy is worried about resistance, opposition from the community.
We're not sure what that community is.
Rosalind says, isn't that the nature of a pilot program?
Nature N-A-T-U-R-E here means the way something is done, or a characteristic or feature of something.
So when she says, isn't that the nature of a pilot program?
She means, well, that's what a pilot program is supposed to help you with.
She says, when you're paving the way, you're always going to have skeptics and dissenters.
To pave P-A-V-E the way means here to do something for the first time, to be the first person or group to do something, which of course is always more difficult than the second or the third or the fourth person to do something.
If you're the first person, it's more difficult.
If you are doing things that other people are going to be able to do after you, that is particularly a situation appropriate for this expression to pave the way.
Rosalind says you're always going to have skeptics and dissenters.
A skeptic.
S-K-E-P-T-I-C is someone who questions or doubts whether something will work, someone who doesn't believe in another person's ideas, who's always going well, maybe not, I'm not sure.
I don't think that's right.
That person would be a skeptic.
More common would be the adjective skeptical.
I'm very skeptical about this idea.
A dissenter, D-I-S-S-E-N-T-E-R, is a person who dissents, D-I-S-S-E-N-T-S.
The verb to dissent means to have a different opinion than the majority of people, to disagree with something.
Usually, you're disagreeing with most of the other people.
Jimmy says, you're right, of course, but there's a lot at stake here.
The expression at stake, S-T-A-K-E, means at risk or in question or that could be affected by this.
So this is an important thing he's saying.
There's a lot at stake.
I just hope this trial run will win over some of those skeptics.
A trial run is an attempt to do something first before you do it with a larger group or do it on a larger scale.
Really, it's the same as a pilot program.
A trial run is I'm going to test it to see if it works before I use it with a thousand people, for example.
Win over is a phrasal verb meaning to persuade, to convince, to change someone's opinion so that they will agree with you.
Someone who's a dissenter or a skeptic, for example.
To win them over means to get them to say, oh, okay, I agree with you.
Jimmy says it would be a shame to scrap this program after we've put in so much work.
When we say it would be a shame S-H-A-M-E, we mean it would be sad, it would be disappointing, it would be unfortunate.
It would be a shame to scrap this program.
To scrap, S-C-R-A-P, means to decide not to continue to do something or to throw something away.
More often it means to stop doing Supporting or promoting a particular project or idea.
We're going to scrap this project or we're going to scrap this program means we're going to eliminate it.
We're going to delete it, if you will.
Rosalind says, after the program is launched, after it is started, you'll have six months to prove its worth, right?
To prove P-R-O-V-E something's worth.
W-O-R-T-H means to demonstrate or to show that something works, that it's valuable, that it should be continued.
Jimmy says, yeah, that's right.
They'll have six months to prove its worth.
Rosalind says, that's plenty of time for the dissenters to see the light.
The expression to see the light means to understand something that was difficult perhaps, to understand before, or to understand a very important, perhaps even profound thing, so that now you're going to change your mind.
You're going to change your actions even.
Rosalind is saying that in six months, the dissenters, the people who don't like this program...
We'll see the light.
They'll agree with Jimmy.
And Jimmy says an old expression, from your lips to God's ears.
Lips, L-I-P-S, are the two things that form your mouth.
You have an upper lip and a lower lip, two of them.
The idea here is from your mouth, from what you say, to God's ears.
This is another way of saying, I hope what you are saying is true.
It's sort of like I hope that God hears you, hears what you're saying and therefore will give me my wish, will make this successful.
From your lips to God's ears means, I hope what you just said really is true.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
How is the pilot program coming along?
We'll be ready to launch it in another month, but I have some serious reservations.
Like what?
We haven't worked out all the bugs yet and we might come up against some resistance from the community.
Isn't that the nature of a pilot program?
When you're paving the way, you're always going to have skeptics and dissenters.
You're right, of course, but there's a lot at stake.
I just hope this trial run will win over some of those skeptics.
It would be a shame to scrap this program after we've put in so much work.
After the program is launched, you'll have six months to prove its worth, right?
Yeah, that's right.
That's plenty of time for the dissenters to see the light.
From your lips to God's ears.
Our scriptwriter has certainly proved her worth here on ESL Podcast.
That's the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
