Why are they skipping words?

Agree with Chris - no words missing or 'skipped' in that sense of the word. If you mean the somewhat 'jerky' speech - that is due to the overall slowed pace of the speech for this A1 exercise, and the pauses between phrases. It is not the way 'natural' speech would sound, although at times some minor swallowing of vowels typical of everyday French speech may be detected. Finally, sometimes problems with internet connections can cause issues with missed or misheard words. Whichever it is, these dictations often become 'clearer' on listening again after a time.

Listening to the exercise, I can't hear any skipped words. What I do hear is the normal clipping of vowels in spoken French. It's something you have to train your ears to get used to. I found it a big obstacle in the beginning but, with time, everybody manages to get over it. The secret is to expose yourself to spoken French as much as possible.