The Common Core Standards have defined literacy and outlined the mission for English Language Arts in a way that provides a natural fit with the National Standards for Language Learning. Taking advantage of this connection, language teachers can showcase the importance of learning languages by demonstrating how literacy is learned, practiced, and strengthened through standards-based and performance-based language learning. The Standards have guided the critical review and improvement of language programs from prekindergarten through postsecondary levels, teacher preparation programs, and teacher licensure requirements. Language assessments have also been impacted by the standards as institutions look for or design valid evaluations of language performance. Teachers of early language learners are already making connections with content across the entire curriculum. Through content-rich units, teachers add to the impact of language learning as students learn not only a new language, but also learn, review, or reinforce knowledge and skills valuable to other subject areas. How do early language learners practice the three modes of communication and build Common Core literacy? Teachers attain this goal by designing units connected with age- and grade-appropriate content. Rather than teaching a unit on a vocabulary topic like food, students explore food through the lens of making healthy choices or examine food through the causes of famine--identifying where and why people are hungry. Such a thematic focus allows for deeper development of the literacy goals described in the Common Core State Standards. With this approach, language teachers will become valuable allies in supporting literacy initiatives in their schools, and early language learners will benefit.