A great way to motivate students is to have them race to complete a task. However, not every classroom lends itself to a full on race. So, why not use a PPT?
Below are the links to 3 different themed races. The first being the classic horse race. Second is an Angry Birds race (still huge in China and Asia in General) and the third is a customisable class race. For this you will need to take pictures of your class, either individually or in teams, upload said pictures onto a computer and change the dull squares with the pictures you took. On newer versions of PowerPoint, right click on the image and select "Change Picture". You can select the image you want without having to reanimate anything.
Once you've downloaded the game of your choice, and taken/changed the pictures as required, simply divide your class into six teams. Ask them questions. The first team to put their hands up and answer correctly can come to the board and press the button at the bottom of the screen. His moves their horse/bird/team photo. The first team to cross the finish line (seven correct answers) wins!
This works well for all ages and will have them desperately seeking the answers. It works particularly well when you ask them questions about a specific text, the longer the text the better, and you can watch them frantically reading through for the answers.