The purpose of this session is to highlight how collaborative group discussions on historical fiction can help facilitate cultural understanding. The session will begin by briefly discussing the research of Jaran Shin, who suggests that teaching historical fiction both helps with language proficiency while also developing cultural knowledge. The speaker will then introduce the historical fiction novel “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet,” which gives students an understanding of both past and current racial and class tensions in the United States. The speaker will then describe collaborative discussions on the novel in the form of Discussion Circles, which allow students to form their own hypotheses about characters and events, form their own questions about the target culture, and shape their understanding of the United States. Attendees will come away with an increased awareness on the usefulness of historical fiction and peer discussion for developing cultural knowledge, especially in the context of Discussion Circles.