[clara]

Hi Kris,

The fact that your six year old does not want to speak it very likely has to do with a mix of reasons: from wanting to be a part of the family, from not wanting to engage in something that is such a direct connection to what ever situation she has come out of: it could be emotionally loaded for her. It is enough that Spanish is used, and being studied: give her the freedom to explore another language than her own. By all means keep Spanish present, but she should not be forced into maintaining it. The knowldege she has of it will not disappear overnight and this is an opportunity for the whole family to engage in language learning games which bridge whatever gaps there might be.
As a language teacher, with experience teaching children, allow her to play with sounds, letters and words. Your attitude to the natural bi-linguilism, not an approach set on language as relative to the adoption context, is critical to the attitude she will develop towards both:What ever the underlying reasons for her resistance, do not focus on the resistance or those reasons - those cannot be changed: let them be: open a new play filled world of English, Spanish and what ever other languages are spoken in the larger family group. Her reaction strikes me as pretty normal.

good luck
Renée