A British ethnolinguistic study described the language behavior of 12 preschool children during their first experience in a formal educational setting where they constituted a linguistic minority. All were third-generation, British-born children of Moslem parents of ethnic Pakistani background; their home language was a vernacular Panjabi. Data were drawn from naturally-occurring classroom discourse, recorded on individual tape recorders, and observation of interactions. Data analysis focused on patterns of language use. Specifically, it looked at when individuals chose to speak, preferred interlocutors, choice of language, the individual's role in discourse (initiating, responding, terminating), silence, and discourse topic. The first level of analysis demonstrates the creation of social contexts through language use. Tape-recordings allowed reconstruction of each student's movements around the nursery, time spent on selected activities, and roles of other participants in those activities. The second level of analysis was of emerging social networks, the dynamics of group membership, and related patterns of language use. The report focuses on the language use of one child in particular, and applies the concept of the linguistic ecosystem to this context to explain the language preferences exhibited. A brief bibliography and activity and social network maps for the child are appended. (MSE)