Educational interventions designed to serve the needs of English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. public schools are developed within a fractured social context. Recent language and immigration policy debates in the U.S. have focused on the importance of English in attaining socio-economic success. On the other hand, research in applied linguistics has shown that immigrants who become English monolingual do not fare better than their counterparts who develop bilingual skills and maintain a connection to their heritage. All of these discussions place the emphasis on what individuals have and do not have. The paper presents an alternative view of how to address issues of multilingualism in education by framing them in terms of opportunities the environment affords. This perspective is illustrated with a professional development program focused on designing environments with opportunities to develop critical language awareness. The case study reports work done with history teachers working with ELLs in the mainstream classroom. (Contains 1 figure, 1 table, and 5 footnotes.)