In this contribution, we propose critical literacy as a concept that allows to anchor democratic education in foreign language teaching, namely in the context of cultural and digital learning. We suggest a framework for planning teaching units and present practical examples based on ethnographic research on critical literacy education in Canada, which span the full range from primary school to teacher training at university. On this basis, we discuss implications and further questions related to democratic education in the first phase of teacher training at Bielefeld University and beyond.