Harold Pinter's 1959 drama, A Night Out, was given a new lease of life by 20 undergraduate students on 27 and 28 June 2003. The performance was a striking one for the audience with excellent performances from a group of theatrical novitiates. For the performers, all of whom were student teachers of English, it presented a brand new experience in language learning and teaching.

Mark Almond directed the play. Mark is a visiting lecturer from the United Kingdom whose principal area of interest is in the use of drama techniques in the training of language teachers and learners. As he remarked, Chinese learners often have difficulty mastering the intonation and rhythm of natural English. Since Pinter specialises in reproducing the contours of natural speech, his plays provide an excellent opportunity for learners to improve their spoken English skills. "They can experiment with different ways of producing short utterances," he said, "and this play contains interesting idiomatic language."

Teaching is sometimes a hair-raising experience, especially for new teachers having to teach groups of 40 or more students for the first time. 'Stage fright' in the classroom is a common experience. Standing on stage in front of a much larger audience will help them overcome this fear and build up their confidence for teaching. "Even if you have forgotten the lines, you have to act naturally in order not to let the audience know!" Rainbow Zhang, the leading lady, proclaimed.

Starting from scratch, the actors and backstage crew had never imagined how difficult it would be to stage a play. At the end of the day, all actors and the backstage teams shared the joy of success. Co-operation, commitment and communication were the keys to their success. As the curtain drew, Mark Almond was tossed in the air by the joyous students in gratitude for bringing them an experience to treasure for life. Mark's tips on using drama in language learning: "You have to be willing to model things for your students, to show them what you mean, and encourage them to try it themselves." In this sense, drama is no different from other forms of teaching - providing a role model for students to follow is a key function the teacher must always be prepared to perform.