Abstract We begin this article with a brief look at opportunities to learn for the nation's growing numbers of Emerging Bilingual children. We briefly present the research literature that supports the use of children's languages other in English (LOTEs) in literacy instruction whether the children are participating in bilingual/dual language programs or English medium (English only) programs. We suggest that cross‐language connections can occur in any type of educational program. Next, we present three different instructional examples of potential instructional activities designed to explicitly encourage cross‐language connections in bilingual/dual language and/or English medium/English only contexts. These examples include early, middle and upper elementary. Finally, we provide resources and ideas for teachers to go beyond our suggestions to create their own cross‐language learning opportunities for their students.
Escamilla et al. (Mon,) studied this question.