Faut-il enseigner l’argot ?

Abstract

Should slang (argot) be taught at school? If the answer is yes, one has to examine other essential questions: What are the reasons for teaching slang?, What are the goals that we want to achieve?, At what age/level should this teaching start?, What kind of competence do teachers need in order to be able to teach slang?, What kind of tools can they use? and probably the most interesting of them all: Should we try to form bilingual speakers of French and French slang or simply people capable of understanding slang to some extent?