Shadowing Practice: 04 OMEGA FILE 522 Galapagos, Ecuador - Learn English Speaking with Video

Omega File 522 Galapagos, Ecuador Got your sun hats? said Ala.

Why? asked Jude.

Where are we going now?

South America, Ala said.

Big place, said Jude.

How about Chile?

I like Chile.

No, it's Ecuador.

You're going to the Galapagos Islands, a thousand kilometers out in the Pacific Ocean.

Oh, right, Hawker said.

Are you going to tell us Why?

Alla looked unhappy.

There's something strange going on.

EDI is getting emails every day from the Galapagos.

They're all about Isabella Island, and they all say things like this.

He gave Hawker and Jude a piece of paper.

Important news, important news.

A new time is coming for our planet.

The first visitors are now on Isabella Island, Galapagos.

Don't fight them.

Don't be afraid of them.

Be friendly Tell your government Now Orca and Jude looked at Arla And then laughed

There are a lot of crazy people out there on the internet Said Jude You don't believe this one Do you?

Perhaps it's crazy And perhaps it's not said Alla.

But when we email back with questions, they don't answer.

The Americans are watching the island by satellite, but they don't want to tell us why.

There are two Australian ships going there.

The Mexicans are getting very excited, and the Ecuadorians are saying, Nothing.

Something is happening on Isabella.

What is it?

We want to know.

From Brussels to the Galapagos is a long way.

Hawker and Jude took a plane to Cuba, A second plane to Ecuador,

then a third plane out to Bultra Island in the Galapagos.

When they got out of the plane, a wall of hot air hit them.

Whew, said Hawker.

He put on his sun hat quickly.

They went across to Santa Cruz Island and down to Puerto Ayora.

There, they found a boat, the Sea Lion, to take them to Isabella, about ninety kilometers away.

At first, the boatman, Gonzalo, did not want to take them.

My boat can take ten people, he said.

It's a very good boat, but very expensive for only two people.

Jude smiled at him.

Not for two rich people.

Rich, said Hawker.

It's not our money.

Ouch!

Jude hit him hard on the arm.

We're on holiday, she told Gonzalo.

We want to see the giant tortoises on Isabella, she looked at Hawker.

Don't we?

Uh, yes, that's right, said Hawker quickly.

We're very interested in the giant tortoises.

On the way to Isabella Island, Jude read a book about the Galapagos.

and Hawker watched the sea.

Isabella is a very young island, Jude told him, and it has,

listen to this, six volcanoes.

One erupted only two years ago.

Oh, that's great, said Hawker.

Crazy emails, strange visitors in the middle of the Pacific, and now erupting volcanoes.

Thank you, Arla.

Not many people lived on Isabella, and Puerto Villamil was usually a sleepy place.

But when the sea lion arrived, there were about fifty people down by the sea.

There were two small boats,

and on them Hawker and Jude could see chairs and tables,

beds, boxes, and bags, and a bicycle.

Gonzalo called out in Spanish to the people on the boats, then turned to Hawker and Jude.

"'Lots of people are leaving Isabella,' he said.

"'They are afraid.' "'Afraid of what?' asked Jude.

"'Go and talk to them, Hawker.

"'Your Spanish is better than mine.' "'Hawker came back half an hour later.

"'You're not going to believe this,' he told Jude.

the people here say there's a spaceship on Isabella.

It came down ten days ago,

right down inside Volcano Alcedo, and it's still there.

How do they know that? said Jude.

There's an Australian, Dr. Jim Miller, up on Alcedo.

He works here, studying giant tortoises.

He saw the spaceship, and now he's waiting for the visitors to come out.

So, the visitors in those emails are extraterrestrials,

ETs, little green men from another planet.

Oh dear, said Jude Can we go home now, Hawker?

Hawker laughed No, we can't We climb Volcano Alcedo,

he said Talk to Dr. Miller Say hello to the ETs Oh dear,

Jude said again I was afraid of that Gonzalo took them in the sea lion up to Shipton Cove.

There, very early the next morning, Hawker and Jude began their climb up the volcano.

There is a path, Gonzalo told them,

but it is five hours to the top and hard climbing and very, very hot.

You must carry water, two liters for one person for one day.

You must sleep at the top and come down tomorrow.

but not when the sun is high in the sky.

And be careful, please.

Careful of the spaceship visitors, you mean, said Jude.

I don't know about spaceships,

smiled Gonzalo, but Volcano Alcedo is always a little excited.

She is always doing something new.

It was a very hard climb.

After two hours, they stopped under some trees.

They drank some water and looked out over the blue sea.

100

The black volcanic rocks under their feet were hot from the sun.

101

it's so beautiful here said Jude hmm yes

102

and no said Hawker then hey Jude look that animal over there, by that rock.

103

What is it?

104

Oh, wow, whispered Jude.

105

It's an iguana, a Galapagos iguana.

106

Isn't he wonderful?

107

The iguana stared at them with its hot orange eyes and did not move.

108

Its body was about a meter long and an orange-yellowy color.

109

It looks about a thousand years old, said Hawker, a very strange animal.

110

Everything about this island is strange, said Jude.

111

they climbed and climbed and the sun got hotter

112

and hotter after three more hours they came to the top

113

and looked down into the great crater of alcedo 200 meters deep and seven kilometers across

114

to the north and the south they could see more volcanoes

115

and across the sea to the west the island of fernandina

116

but they could not see dr miller or his camp we need to go round the crater to the south," said Hawker.

117

"'It's another two hours' walk,' the villagers said.

118

It was hard walking over the black lava rock, and once Hawker nearly fell.

119

Jude caught his arm.

120

"'Don't break a leg here,' she said.

121

"'I don't want to carry you back down to the boat.' "'Why not?' said Hawker.

122

"'I carried you home once.' "'We weren't on top of a volcano then,' said Jude.

123

At last, they saw Dr. Miller's camp, and ten minutes later, they arrived.

124

Dr. Miller was short, very brown, and angry.

125

"'Go away!' he shouted.

126

"'You're Americans, aren't you?' No, we aren't, said Hawker.

127

We're European.

128

How do you do, Dr. Miller?

129

What are you doing here, he said angrily.

130

We'd like to talk to you, said Jude quietly, about the spaceship down in the crater.

131

Why are you so angry?

132

Because nobody listens to me, said Dr. Miller.

133

Nobody believes me.

134

The Americans say, oh, crazy man.

135

The Australian government says, get some sleep.

136

What can I do?

137

Something very important is happening on this planet and nobody is listening Well,

138

we're here now and we're listening,

139

Jude said Dr. Miller looked at them Who do you work for?

140

Europe, said Hawker Europe is very interested in this spaceship Please,

141

tell us about it Ah,

142

the emails did get through then Said Dr. Miller Who did the emails come from?

143

Asked Hawker Ecuadorian friends Said Dr. Miller Over on Santa Cruz Look,

144

I've got some beer here You want one?

145

They sat on the black lava rocks under the hot sun and drank hot beer.

146

Below them, clouds of smoke and steam moved this way and that way across the crater.

147

And was there, under those clouds, a spaceship from another planet?

148

it sometimes i think i can see it down there said jim miller

149

but mostly i can't it's a great white thing

150

and long legs came out of it when it came down but why here jim said jude why into a volcano

151

who knows said jim perhaps they like hot places perhaps they need something from the hot lava

152

and why are you angry with the americans jim hawker asked i know their beer's no good but

153

They watched this spaceship on their satellite.

154

I know they did.

155

They know it's here, but they don't want the world to know.

156

They don't want people like you and me to meet any extraterrestrial visitors.

157

Oh no, they want it all to be a big secret.

158

Then they can be top dog.

159

Just then, there was a sudden noise, a boom, deep below the ground.

160

What, what was that, Jim? asked Jude.

161

Oh, Alcedo does that all the time, said Jim.

162

Then hot water comes up, and steam, dust, sometimes a little lava, but not much.

163

That's why there are always clouds in the crater.

164

You can never see anything down there.

165

Can we climb down into the crater? asked Hawker.

166

Are you crazy?

167

It's dangerous down there, Jim said.

168

All evening, Hawker and Jude stared down into the crater.

169

but they could see nothing through the clouds of steam and dust.

170

Just before the sun went down, Hawker saw something near the top of the crater and shouted to Jude,

171

but it was only two of the giant tortoises.

172

They came slowly past the camp and went away down the other side of the volcano.

173

Later, four more came past, going the same way, moving slowly and quietly over the black rocks.

174

They're very strange animals, said Jude.

175

Hawker and Jude did not sleep much the rocks were hard

176

and below them they heard again

177

and again the deep boom of the volcano late in the night they turned their radio on it It was very noisy,

178

but through the noise they could hear a voice from Santa Cruz.

179

Hawker listened hard.

180

They're talking about Volcano Alcedo, he said.

181

They think it's going to erupt in the next twenty-four hours.

182

Jude sat up.

183

Oh, no!

184

We're seven hours away from the boat.

185

Let's get moving.

186

Go and call Jim.

187

But Jim Miller did not believe Santa Cruz Radio.

188

It's the Americans again, he said.

189

They want us all to go away way.

190

Please come with us, Jim, said Jude.

191

Please, you can come back in a day or two.

192

You too go, said Jim, but I'm staying right here and watching that spaceship.

193

It was a hard climb down.

194

When they got to the sea, they saw Gonzalo with the little boat.

195

Hurry, he shouted.

196

Did you hear on the radio?

197

Alcedo's going to erupt.

198

Quickly, they went out to the sea lion and climbed up onto the boat.

199

Go, go, go, Gonzalo shouted to his men.

200

And before long, the sea lion was a kilometer out at sea.

201

two hours later volcano alcedo erupted there was a sudden great bang

202

and then clouds of dust flew up into the sky red hot lava came out of the volcano's sides

203

and ran down to the sea The noise did not stop,

204

and with every bang, rocks flew hundreds of meters up into the sky,

205

then fell slowly back down to the ground.

206

For hours, the night sky was filled with great flowers of red and orange light.

207

It was a beautiful and a terrifying thing to watch.

208

What happened to Dr. Miller?

209

I asked.

210

Poor Jim went to the great spaceship in the sky, Jude said.

211

Five hundred meters of red-hot lava fell on top of him.

212

and was there a spaceship in the volcano no said jude yes said hawker he looked at jude

213

and they laughed then jude looked at me what do you want to believe she asked

214

They weren't very clever extraterrestrials, were they?

215

Sitting there in their spaceship, in an erupting volcano?

216

Hawker smiled.

217

Ah, but perhaps the spaceship left just before the volcano erupted.

218

Gonzalo and I saw something in the clouds of dust.

219

A white light moving very fast, faster than the dust.

220

It went up very high.

221

Well, I didn't see anything, said Jude, and that's because there wasn't anything in that volcano.

222

Hawker looked up into the blue Greek sky.

223

How do we know?

224

He said slowly, One day someone or something is going to visit us from out there.

225

Perhaps that was the first visit all those years ago in the Galapagos. Who knows?

226

Thank you.

227

Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “04 OMEGA FILE 522 Galapagos, Ecuador”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: jude, hawker, volcano, spaceship, jim. This video has 227 sentences and 2078 words to shadow. The speech runs for 23:45. The speaker talks slowly, about 88 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
hawker noun	/ˈhɔkɚ/	A peddler, a huckster, a person who sells easily transportable goods.
volcano noun	/vɑlˈkeɪ.noʊ/	A vent or fissure on the surface of a planet (usually in a mountainous form) with a magma chamber attached to the mantle of a planet or moon, periodically…
spaceship noun		A manned vehicle that flies through space.
climb verb	/ˈklaɪ̯m/	To traverse a slope or contour, either upwards (ascending) or downwards (descending).
crater noun	/ˈkɹeɪ.tɚ/	A hemispherical pit created by the impact of a meteorite or other object.
erupt verb	/ɪˈɹʌpt/	To eject something violently (such as lava or water, as from a volcano or geyser).
lava noun	/ˈlɑvə/	The molten rock ejected by a volcano from a vent such as a crater or fissure; magma that has breached the surface of the earth.
visitor noun	/ˈvɪzɪtɚ/	Someone who visits someone else; someone staying as a guest.
lion noun	/ˈlaɪən/	A big cat, Panthera leo, native to Africa, India and formerly much of Europe.
tortoise noun	/ˈtɔɹ.təs/	Any of various land-dwelling reptiles, of the family Testudinidae (chiefly Canada, US) or the order Testudines (chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland…
shout verb	/ʃaʊt/	To utter a sudden and loud cry, as in joy, triumph, exultation or anger, or to attract attention, to animate others, etc.
extraterrestrial adjective	/ˌɛk.stɹə.təˈɹɛs.tɹi.əl/	Originating from outside of the Earth's atmosphere, from space, or from another planet; alien to Earth or its environment.
iguana noun	/ɪˈɡwɑnə/	A green iguana (Iguana iguana), a large tropical American lizard often kept as a pet.
meter noun	/ˈmitəɹ/	A device that measures things.
stare verb	/stɛɚ/	To look fixedly (at something).

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
come down verb		To descend, fall down, collapse.
go away verb		To depart or leave a place.
come back verb		To return to a place.
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.
come up verb		To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.
get out of verb		To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
get through verb	/ɡɛt ˈθɹu/	To overcome; to endure.
go down verb		To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Where are we going now?
We're very interested in the giant tortoises.
Why are you so angry?
Can we climb down into the crater?
Did you hear on the radio?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Comparatives -er than / more … than — comparing two things	better than · faster than
Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now	is getting · is coming · are watching
Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming	You're going to the · You're not going to believe · it's going to erupt
Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary	must carry · must sleep · need to go

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 35 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, we're, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

Long words — get the stress right: extraterrestrial /ˌɛk.stɹə.təˈɹɛs.tɹi.əl/, kilometre /kɪˈlɑmɪtəɹ/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like hawker, volcano, spaceship.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: 04 OMEGA FILE 522 Galapagos, Ecuador - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?