Research on English Language Learners (ELLs) has focused on improving academic language, literacy development and assessment (August & Shanahan, 2006), and instructional approaches (Dolson & Burnham-Massey, 2010). However, less is known about addressing the linguistic and academic demands of Long-Term English Language Learners (LTELLs), recently defined in California as 6 th-12th graders. At the individual level, this is a student "enrolled in schools in the United States for more than six years, [and who] has remained at the same English language proficiency level for two or more consecutive years" (AB 2193, 2012). This qualitative study analyzed how the teacher in a 9th grade Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE) Earth Science class provided LTELLs opportunities to learn scientific language practices, and how they took up the instructional opportunities she made available. It highlights the challenges LTELLs face in science classrooms based on evidence at the case study level, underscoring implications for the implementation of the forthcoming Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in secondary-level SDAIE classrooms.