If you expect hardworking teachers to show up for a Sunday morning conference, it had better be a good one. “Sunday morning is a tough time, but I saw teachers engaged, excited and participating fully in the workshops,” said Ann Archer, who teaches Spanish at Arturo A. Schomburg Satellite Academy in the Bronx. Archer and 75 of her colleagues attended the citywide conference Uplifting Teaching and Learning for ELLs Through the Arts on Dec. 7 at UFT headquarters.

The Teacher Center partnered with the Center for Arts Education and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem to help teachers learn creative ways to inspire and educate students who are English language learners. Attendees learned how to incorporate spoken word poetry, blues riffs, and theater and visual arts, among other art forms, into the Common Core.

“I appreciated that it wasn’t just technically driven,” Archer says, “but creatively driven.” That’s music to Laura Daigen-Ayala’s ears. An ELL instructional liaison from the Teacher Center, Daigen-Ayala considers art the bridge to learning for all kids, but particularly students on “triple duty” — those learning English, literacy and content simultaneously. “Art isn’t a frill; it’s part of being an educated person in the world, and it has been proven to increase student engagement and achievement,” Daigen-Ayala says. Veteran ESL teacher Rosanne Caputo has witnessed that reaction firsthand with her 3rd-, 4th- and 5th-graders at PS 20 on the Lower East Side.

Among their first languages are Bengali, Chinese and Spanish. “Language is very emotional,” says Caputo, who attended a workshop on using iPads to help students write and illustrate their own stories. “Art and music lower their anxiety and intimidation levels and make them more comfortable, more willing to take risks.” Adds Daigen-Ayala: “Let’s not forget fun. As one teacher at the conference told me, ‘Art brings joy back into the classroom.’”