Notices and Signs Around Town: Understanding Public Signs in English

Learn English for recognizing public signs, reading short notices, and explaining what their messages mean. This free A1 lesson for adult beginners begins the unit on your community. Its 21 interactive slides include picture activities, two videos, vocabulary audio, a short reading, matching tasks, grammar practice, quizzes, and a sign-writing activity.

What you will learn

• Identify at least five common public signs.
• Explain the meaning of three short written notices.
• Match signs to their meanings.
• Write two simple sentences describing what signs mean.

Talking about signs in your community

A community is a group of people connected by a place or shared activities. Think about signs you see in streets, schools, libraries, shops, or other public places. A sign can use words, a symbol, or both. A notice is a short written message giving information or an instruction.

The warm-up asks you to describe pictures as safe or unsafe. The discussion asks What do these signs mean?, Where do you see them?, Why are signs important?, and Do you follow signs in public places?

Practice a short answer such as This is an exit sign. or I see this sign in a library. Say the name first, then explain the message.

Common public signs vocabulary

Listen to the vocabulary cards and repeat the words. Use the pictures to connect each name with its meaning.

The cards also include Ladies and Gents, labels used for women's and men's toilets. Other activities introduce fire exit and emergency exit as ways out used in an emergency.

Recognizing signs by their names

The first picture quiz asks you to choose the correct sign. Practice names such as No entry, Warning! Electricity, Wear safety boots, Wear gloves, Go straight, No left turn, and No bicycles.

Other examples include cattle crossing, children crossing, pedestrian crossing, recycle, and wear a seat belt. Read the name carefully before selecting the picture.

In the short video, listen to the repeated question What is this sign called? Practice answering with Stop sign, No entry, Warning, One way, Fragile, Parking, No parking, Recycle, and Danger.

Reading about safety colours

The lesson colour chart pairs red with fire, danger, and stop; orange with warning; yellow with caution; green with safe; and blue with notice. Use these pairings to follow the lesson chart and reading activity.

Read the short text Safety Colours and answer the questions about its messages. Practice the English words danger, warning, caution, safe, and notice. Describe the specific sign you are looking at using its words and symbol as well as its colour.

Spelling, matching, and finding the context

Complete the missing letters in sign names such as Bus stop, Wi-Fi, Lift, No smoking, Keep tidy, First aid, Toilets, and Exit. Say each completed phrase aloud.

Next, match pictures with signs and notices. The location activity asks where you might see the pictured signs: in a school or college, in a library, or in the street. Look at the whole message before choosing the location.

In the meaning activity, connect a sign with a sentence such as Buses stop here., You can park here., or This is the way out. This helps you move from naming a sign to explaining it.

Permission, obligation, and prohibition

Use different expressions to explain what a sign permits, requires, or prohibits. In this lesson, can expresses permission, must expresses obligation, and can't or mustn't expresses prohibition.

Use subject + modal + base verb. Keep the verb unchanged after can, can't, must, or mustn't: You must wear a helmet. The modal is followed directly by the verb, with no to or -s.

Using be allowed to

Be allowed to is another way to describe permission. Use am with I, is with he, she, or it, and are with you, we, or they.

• You are allowed to park here.
• You are not allowed to park here.
• We are allowed to use this entrance.

Notice the difference in form: You can park. uses the base verb directly, while You are allowed to park. includes to. Practice expressing the same meaning with both patterns.

Listen to Ryan and Maya discussing parking in the lesson dialogue. Identify sentences that give permission, state an obligation, or explain a prohibition. Focus on can, must, must not, and are allowed to.

Watching permission and prohibition examples

The second video contrasts example notices about water, swimming, smoking, and rubbish. Listen for pairs such as You can swim here. and You can't swim here.

The video also connects You are not allowed to ... with prohibition, and You must ... or You have to ... with obligation. Watch again in quiz mode and choose the expression that matches each example message.

Matching signs with complete sentences

The later matching task uses signs for swimming, parking, helmets, smoking, and pedestrian crossings. Match each lesson picture with the sentence that expresses its meaning.

For example, match No parking with You mustn't park here. and Wear a helmet with You must wear a helmet. The final picture quiz checks the meaning of a No pedestrians sign.

Writing what a sign means

The writing activity asks you to explain pictured signs using can, can't, must, or mustn't. Start with these two model sentences for English practice:

1. No parking: You mustn't park here.
2. No swimming: You can't swim here.

The slide includes a completed Wi-Fi example and further pictures for Turn left, Give way, Don't turn left, No fishing, and No eating. Use the picture and its label to choose a suitable expression.

Check that each sentence has a subject, a modal, and a base verb. Read your answers aloud and explain whether each message gives permission, states an obligation, or prohibits an action.

Teachers can show a sign and ask learners to give both its name and its meaning before the writing task. For self-study, repeat the vocabulary audio, complete the picture activities, and record two explanations. Finish by sharing one new word or phrase you learned.

Review railway station vocabulary and information questions in Lesson 30, or explore more free A1 English teaching materials.